A 31-day journey with the heroes of the Reformation.
The First Lady in France: Marie Dentière (c. 1495–1561)
What Marie Dentière lacked in feminine modesty or humility for her day, she made up for with unrivaled zeal for the gospel.
10/12/2024 • 5 minutes, 11 seconds
The Protestant Melting Pot: Martin Bucer (1491–1551)
He was the German glue of the Protestant movement — the unifier between the diverse strands of Reformation.
10/11/2024 • 6 minutes, 35 seconds
The Underground Translator: William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536)
William Tyndale gave his life so British commoners could know the Bible — not in Latin, but in their own mother tongue.
10/10/2024 • 5 minutes, 55 seconds
The Monday Morning Protestant: Thomas Becon (c. 1512–1567)
Thomas Becon brought the Reformation from the churches to the kitchens, courts, shipyards, and battlefields. All of life is a stage for worshiping God.
10/9/2024 • 5 minutes, 53 seconds
The Phoenix of Florence: Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562)
After fifteen years of preaching Catholic doctrine, Peter Martyr awoke to the gospel, fled his home, and championed the Reformation across Europe.
10/8/2024 • 5 minutes, 46 seconds
The Fearless Pacifist: Menno Simons (1496–1561)
While searching for the doctrine of transubstantiation in Scripture, he discovered the gospel instead.
10/7/2024 • 6 minutes
The Protestant Peacemaker: Wolfgang Capito (c. 1478–1541)
He sought to win his opponents not with violence, coercion, or insults, but with endless gentleness.
10/6/2024 • 6 minutes, 6 seconds
The Bride of the Reformation: Wibrandis Rosenblatt (1504–1564)
She was wife to four husbands, mother to eleven children, and disciple to one Lord who never left her side.
10/5/2024 • 6 minutes, 56 seconds
The Gentle Lutheran: Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560)
While Luther was brash, impulsive, and forceful, his brilliant young disciple was a timid, sober-minded unifier.
10/4/2024 • 6 minutes, 15 seconds
The Florentine Forerunner: Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498)
Girolamo Savonarola condemned the pope’s abuses and elevated the authority of Scripture — all while Luther was only a child.
10/3/2024 • 6 minutes, 13 seconds
The Goosefather: Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415)
Jan Hus was a preacher, a political figure, a prophet, a proto-Reformer, and a martyr of the first class.
10/2/2024 • 6 minutes, 2 seconds
The First Tremor: Peter Waldo (Died by 1218)
This proto-Reformer’s protest against the Catholic Church was the first tremor of the coming spiritual earthquake.
10/1/2024 • 6 minutes, 49 seconds
The Morning Star of the Reformation: John Wycliffe (c. 1330–1384)
John Wycliffe died almost exactly a hundred years before Martin Luther was born, but his impact on the Reformation is unmistakable.
9/25/2024 • 5 minutes, 55 seconds
Here He Stood: Martin Luther (1483–1546)
Luther stood not on the pronouncements of popes, or the decisions of councils, or the winds of popular opinion, but on “that word above all earthly powers.”
10/31/2017 • 8 minutes, 1 second
The Runaway Nun: Katharina von Bora (1499–1552)
Katharina married Martin Luther to survive as a runaway nun, but their marriage proved to be a model in a time when “pastor’s wife” was a new role.
10/30/2017 • 6 minutes, 6 seconds
The Administrative Pastor: Johannes Bugenhagen (1485–1558)
The Reformation required more than theological giants. It also demanded organizational geniuses.
10/29/2017 • 6 minutes, 31 seconds
The Happy Professor: Zacharius Ursinus (1534–1583)
He took the lead role in writing the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most ringing affirmations of faith in all of Christian history.
10/28/2017 • 5 minutes, 17 seconds
The First Calvinist: Theodore Beza (1519–1605)
Theodore Beza gave form to what we now call Calvinism by explaining and defending the biblical doctrines Calvin had rediscovered.
10/27/2017 • 6 minutes, 15 seconds
The Teenage Martyr: Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537–1554)
Lady Jane Grey was a teenage victim of social and political conspiracy, beheaded at seventeen for her faith. But her life is far from a tragedy.
10/26/2017 • 6 minutes, 2 seconds
The Fly of Friedberg: Balthasar Hübmaier (c. 1480–1528)
German Reformer Balthasar Hübmaier had a powerful voice, a mightier pen, and a life that echoed his Reformed and baptistic beliefs, even under torture.
10/25/2017 • 7 minutes, 29 seconds
The Smile of the Reformation: Pierre Viret (1511–1571)
Pierre Viret knew how to contend for the truth of God’s word with theological rigor and courage. He also knew how to do it with a smile.
10/25/2017 • 5 minutes, 6 seconds
The Ink: Robert Estienne (1503–1559)
Robert Estienne was the premier printer of the Protestant cause. He put Reformation doctrine and the Bible itself into the hands of ordinary people.
10/24/2017 • 6 minutes, 37 seconds
The Genius of Geneva: John Calvin (1509–1564)
The key to John Calvin’s life: he recovered and embodied a passion for the absolute reality and majesty of God.
10/23/2017 • 6 minutes, 50 seconds
The Champion of the Kirk: John Knox (c. 1513–1572)
John Knox feared the face of no man, which equipped him to bring reform to his homeland in the Highlands.
10/22/2017 • 6 minutes, 11 seconds
The Radical Reformer: Conrad Grebel (c. 1498–1526)
Conrad Grebel is known as a “radical Reformer” — a leader who took the movement one step further by insisting on separating church from state.
10/21/2017 • 5 minutes, 35 seconds
The Majestic Beard of Zurich: Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575)
Without Zwingli there would have been no Reformation in Zurich. Without Heinrich Bullinger it would not have lasted.
10/20/2017 • 6 minutes, 15 seconds
The Ordinary Virgin Mary: Hellen Stirke (Died 1543)
Hellen Stirke did not debate theology, write a treatise, or preach to hundreds. She just staked her soul on Scripture — and paid for it with her life.
10/19/2017 • 5 minutes, 20 seconds
The Accidental Reformer: Hans Gooseflesh (c. 1400–1468)
He never preached a sermon and never authored a theological treatise. He was a Reformer by accident — or, better, by common grace.
10/18/2017 • 6 minutes, 17 seconds
The Reformation’s Third Man: Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531)
If the Reformation could be summarized in three men, then alongside Martin Luther and John Calvin would be the Swiss giant, Huldyrch Zwingli.
10/17/2017 • 7 minutes, 1 second
The Swiss Giant: Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)
Ulrich Zwingli brought the people of Zurich away from pomp, hypocrisy, and idolatry and back to the Bible, the gospel, and Jesus Christ.
10/17/2017 • 7 minutes, 1 second
The British Candle: Latimer (c. 1485–1555) and Ridley (c. 1502–1555)
One Lord, one faith, one stake. The story of two great Reformers burned at the same stake.
10/16/2017 • 6 minutes, 40 seconds
The Apostle of the Alps: Guillaume Farel (1489–1565)
Though once utterly enchanted with Catholic piety, William Farel would be used by God to liberate countless thousands from the bondage of Roman superstition.
10/15/2017 • 7 minutes
The French Firebrand: Guillaume Farel (1489–1565)
Guillaume Farel had faults — and they were real and known — but this French firebrand loved the gospel and devoted his life to sharing its riches.
10/15/2017 • 6 minutes, 20 seconds
The Gospel Lobbyist: Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556)
Thomas Cranmer led England from Roman Catholicism, and shaped England’s theology perhaps more than any other Reformer.
10/14/2017 • 6 minutes, 26 seconds
The Princess Protector: Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549)
To some a queen, to others a heretic, Marguerite de Navarre used her royal power to win others to Reformed faith — and then protect them under persecution.
10/13/2017 • 7 minutes, 9 seconds
The Monastery’s Lost Houselamp: Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531)
When Johannes Oecolampadius returned to Basel in 1522, the people sung Latin in Mass. Ten years later, the Mass was gone and the songs were German.
10/13/2017 • 4 minutes, 28 seconds
The First Lady in France: Marie Dentière (c. 1495–1561)
What Marie Dentière lacked in feminine modesty or humility for her day, she made up for with unrivaled zeal for the gospel.
10/12/2017 • 5 minutes, 12 seconds
The Protestant Melting Pot: Martin Bucer (1491–1551)
He was the German glue of the Protestant movement — the unifier between the diverse strands of Reformation.
10/11/2017 • 6 minutes, 35 seconds
The Underground Translator: William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536)
William Tyndale gave his life so British commoners could know the Bible — not in Latin, but in their own mother tongue.
10/10/2017 • 5 minutes, 55 seconds
The Monday Morning Protestant: Thomas Becon (c. 1512–1567)
Thomas Becon brought the Reformation from the churches to the kitchens, courts, shipyards, and battlefields. All of life is a stage for worshiping God.
10/9/2017 • 5 minutes, 53 seconds
The Phoenix of Florence: Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562)
After fifteen years of preaching Catholic doctrine, Peter Martyr awoke to the gospel, fled his home, and championed the Reformation across Europe.
10/8/2017 • 5 minutes, 46 seconds
The Fearless Pacifist: Menno Simons (1496–1561)
While searching for the doctrine of transubstantiation in Scripture, he discovered the gospel instead.
10/7/2017 • 6 minutes
The Protestant Peacemaker: Wolfgang Capito (c. 1478–1541)
He sought to win his opponents not with violence, coercion, or insults, but with endless gentleness.
10/6/2017 • 6 minutes, 6 seconds
The Bride of the Reformation: Wibrandis Rosenblatt (1504–1564)
She was wife to four husbands, mother to eleven children, and disciple to one Lord who never left her side.
10/5/2017 • 6 minutes, 56 seconds
The Gentle Lutheran: Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560)
While Luther was brash, impulsive, and forceful, his brilliant young disciple was a timid, sober-minded unifier.
10/4/2017 • 6 minutes, 15 seconds
The Florentine Forerunner: Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498)
Girolamo Savonarola condemned the pope’s abuses and elevated the authority of Scripture — all while Luther was only a child.
10/3/2017 • 6 minutes, 14 seconds
The Goosefather: Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415)
Jan Hus was a preacher, a political figure, a prophet, a proto-Reformer, and a martyr of the first class.
10/2/2017 • 6 minutes, 2 seconds
The First Tremor: Peter Waldo (Died by 1218)
This proto-reformer’s protest against the Catholic Church was the first tremor of the coming spiritual earthquake.
10/1/2017 • 6 minutes, 50 seconds
The Morning Star of the Reformation: John Wycliffe (c. 1330–1384)
John Wycliffe died almost exactly a hundred years before Martin Luther was born, but his impact on the Reformation is unmistakable.
9/25/2017 • 5 minutes, 55 seconds
Here We Stand
Martin Luther didn’t stand alone 500 years ago. Nor does he stand alone today. To mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we invite you to join us on a 31-day journey, just 5–7 minutes each day, to meet the many heroes of the Reformation.