Author Description

For 500 years, John Oecolampadius, the great linguist, biblical scholar, theologian, preacher, and pastor of the Swiss-German Reformation has remained relatively unknown by the English-speaking church. Thanks to a new generation of scholars, however, his seminal and pivotal work is finally emerging from the shadows cast by better known figures. In this short vita of the Reformer of Basel, first printed in 1864, biographer Theophil Sthelin declared, Oecolampadius "has pulled the light of the Gospel out from under the bushel and has set it on the candlestick, so that it shines to all those who are in the house, and by God's grace it has shone forth to this day and Basel has become a city on the mountain, from which the rays of the Gospel spread far.... He is worthy of his name and his work will not be forgotten, and to that end may the following short description of his life be of service."