This book will interest all CMF members. Our CMF statement of faith declares many of the biblical truths which the subjects of this book laboured diligently and fearlessly to proclaim and for which they suffered poverty, persecution, abuse and exile. Many of the freedoms we enjoy today are the fruit of their work.

It is a lively book giving vivid cameos of Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox, their family background and contemporaries, with fascinating accounts of the diagnostic and therapeutic methods of sixteenth century medicine. John Wilkinson' s painstaking research, sifting of evidence, clear documentation, refutation of fallacious popular opinions and well- reasoned conclusions, his spiritual insight and sympathy with his subjects make it a pleasure to read.

Martin Luther, 'a prodigious man in a prodigious age, a hero in a time of heroes', suffered gout, renal calculi, urinary retention with acute renal failure, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, chronic suppurative otitis media, chronic venous ulceration and many febrile episodes.

John Calvin, though slandered as a cold detached individual, is shown through his letters 'as a deep fountain of tenderness and affection'. He suffered gout, renal calculi, anaemia, malaria and pulmonary tuberculosis from which he died.

John Knox while a galley slave for 19 months, 'a form of life which for unutterable horror is perhaps without parallel in the history of humanity', suffered 'galley fever'(possible louse-borne typhus or bubonic plague ), dehydration, malnutrition and renal colic. He later suffered a mild cerebral thrombosis with left hemiparesis and finally died with acute bronchopneumonia.

Despite their physical and mental suffering they achieved a monumental volume of work including Bible commentaries, theological treatises, and copious correspondence in the midst of daily preaching, teaching and pastoral work and responsibilities as Reformation leaders. Their motivation was their deep strong faith and experience of the saving grace of God in Christ. John Knox, for example was 'a great Christian leader and statesman who exhausted himself in his battle for the political social and above all the religious freedom of his people...He left a national and religious heritage...(whose) influence can still be seen in the character, literature and institutions of Scotland today'.

This book is an inspiration and challenge from the lives of great Christian leaders.

Reviewed by:
Stephen Browne
General Practitioner in Birmingham