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French Calvinism in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Davenant Press

French Calvinism in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

A History in Biography

by Martin I. Klauber, Stephen M. Davis, Michael A. G. Haykin

For too long, the Huguenot story has lingered at the margins of Reformation history. While Protestant thought took deep root in Germany, the Netherlands, and Britain, the Reformed faith that once flourished in France was met with mounting hostility and, after 1685, brutal suppression. The result is a rich theological and pastoral tradition whose leading voices remain largely unknown to modern readers. This volume recovers that tradition by telling the story of French Calvinism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the lives of fifteen remarkable figures. Drawing readers into the turbulent world of pre-Revolution France—a landscape shaped by wars, synods, edicts, assassinations, and exile—it traces the full arc of the Huguenot movement. Part biography, part theology, part sweeping narrative history, this volume opens a window onto a world hitherto largely unknown.

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About the Authors

Martin I. Klauber

(PhD, University of Wisconsin) is Scholar in Residence at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids. He is the author and editor of several books on post-Reformation Reformed history and theology, including Between Reformed Scholasticism and Pan-Protestantism and a three-volume series on French Reformed history and theology.

Stephen M. Davis

(PhD, Columbia International University) is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Two of his books on French religious history, The French Huguenots and Wars of Religion, and The War of the Camisards (1702-1704), were selected by the National Huguenot Society for the Scholarly Works Award in 2022 and 2024.

Michael A. G. Haykin

(ThD, University of Toronto and Wycliffe College) serves as Professor of Church History & Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as the Director of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at Southern. He also has an appointment as a Sessional Professor of History at Redeemer University; Ancaster, Ontario. He has written widely on fourth- and fifth-century Christianity in late antiquity and eighteenth-century British Baptists, in particular, the life and ministry of Andrew Fuller and his circle of friends.

Publication Details

  • Publisher: Davenant Press
  • ISBN: 978-1-949716-84-9
  • Publication Date: June 25, 2026
  • Pages: 240
  • Author: Martin I. Klauber, Stephen M. Davis, Michael A. G. Haykin

Endorsements

  • The Huguenot movement has been neglected for too long in historical-theological reflection… Written by three seasoned church historians, this book makes progress in resolving that problem. By introducing a veritable who’s who of French Huguenots, these scholars revive the legacies of these men, share them with a wider audience, and bring their theological contributions back into the mainstream of post-Reformation Reformed studies… This book is a fascinating testament to the providence of God in the French Reformation and, I trust, will encourage revival of interest in a much-neglected field of study in church history. Prendre et lire!

    — Dr. Joel R. Beeke, Chancellor and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary; Pastor, Heritage Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan

  • This readable collection of biographies provides a welcome introduction to the many changes in French Protestantism from 1600 to 1800, covering theological debates (Du Moulin, Rivet, Amyraut, Claude) as well as the social, political and economic consequences of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685…

    — Otto Selles, Professor of French, Calvin University

  • This book offers a compelling window into the lives of Protestant church leaders who shepherded Christ’s church through seasons of escalating pressure, persecution, and exile. With vivid and carefully researched portraits, it showcases a generation of faithful leaders whose courage, theological convictions, and pastoral faithfulness speak with relevance to the church today.

    — Brian DeVries, Principal, Mukhayno Theological College, South Africa

  • French Calvinism in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A History in Biography provides a vivid biographical window into a pivotal era in Protestant history… The result is both an accessible introduction to this largely neglected strand of Protestant history and a timely reflection on faithfulness, persecution, and religious liberty for the contemporary church.

    — John Aloisi, Professor of Historical Theology, Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary

More Endorsements (1)
  • While some histories of the Reformation conclude with the Wars of Religion, the contributors to this volume provide historians and the church with a much-needed examination of the tumultuous history of Protestantism in France throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries…

    — Mark Draper, Associate Professor of Church History, Lancaster Bible College

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