Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 70:2 (Fall 2008)
Article: Guillaume Farel’s Spirituality: Leading In Prayer
Author: Theodore G. Van Raalte

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Guillaume Farel’s Spirituality: Leading In Prayer

Theodore G. Van Raalte

Theodore G. (Ted ) Van Raalte is co-pastor of Redeemer Canadian Reformed Church of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is currently a Ph.D. student in historical theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich.

I. Introduction

Guillaume Farel (1489–1565), a French Reformer rather neglected by scholars in the English-speaking world, merits greater consideration, especially by those who study that crucial question of the initia reformationis. Considered historically, Farel’s credentials are impressive: the first French-language exposition of the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed for Protestants,1 issued by at least thirteen different printers between 1524 and 1545;2 the first French-language dogmatics of the Reformation which went through several editions between 1529 and 1552;3 the organization of the first Reformation churches in the French-speaking Swiss cantons;4 and the first French-language liturgical forms for the new churches (baptism, marriage, Lord’s Supper, manner of preaching, and visitation to the sick).5 Higman has shown that up to 1551 Farel had

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published twenty-six editions of various works involving sixteen titles.6 In light of the above, it does not suffice to turn aside momentarily for Farel in the midst of studying Calvin.7 Farel deserves to be known for himself.

Most of his works were shorter and more basic than Calvin’s, but the important factor in the study of Farel has more to do with his pivotal place in the history of the French Reformation and the proximate effect of his works than their size or the complexity of their thought.8 These writings were more occasional than systematic, written by one whose bold preaching made him the first agent of the Reformation among the French-speaking Swiss, where he indeed oversaw the reform of Montbéliard, Aigle, Neuchâtel, Morat, Vaud and its villages, and even Geneva.9

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This article aims to contribute to the study of Guillaume Farel by moving the discussion ahead in more than one respect. In the first place, no study of Farel can...

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