Customer Reviews

The Betrayal: A Novel on John Calvin

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wonder what Calvin would have said, what he would have thought, if he could have peered five centuries into the future and seen how he would be honored on the five hundredth anniversary of his birth. Several new biographies; a long list of conferences; books discussing every aspect, every facet of his theology; a bobblehead; and now The Betrayal, a novel that recounts his life as historical fiction.

The Betrayal, published by P&R Publishing, comes from the pen of Douglas Bond who has written several historical fiction novels in the past. In this new book, he writes from the perspective of a lifelong sworn enemy of Calvin--a boy who grows up in the same town and who, as a man, remains involved with Calvin's life to the very end. As the publisher says, "This fast-paced biographical novel is a tale of envy that escalates to violent intrigue and shameless betrayal." I hesitate to say too much about the plot lest I inadvertently ruin it for those who would like to read the book. Perhaps there is value, then, in simply sharing a few of the endorsements for it.

Burk Parsons, editor of John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology says, "With masterful insight, Douglas Bond offers us an illuminating portrait of the life, ministry, and theology of John Calvin. For readers of all ages, this well-researched, historical fiction takes us back to the sixteenth-century Reformation as if we were eye-witnesses of all that God accomplished in and through the life of His humble servant John Calvin. If you enjoy reading the fictional works of C. S. Lewis, you will love this book."

Joel Beeke, who has written several books on Calvin and Calvinism writes, "Douglas Bond introduces John Calvin to us in a gripping way, colorfully taking us back to Geneva and its times, unveiling Calvin as the principled man of action, commitment, and love that he was. The Betrayal makes for an exciting read, showing the great Reformer's heart for theology, piety, and doxology, while almost effortlessly and implicitly undoing caricatures about Calvin along the way. If you want Calvin and his times brought to life in a page-turner, this is the book for you!"

And David Hall, who heads up Calvin500, writes "Douglas Bond's latest novel introduces many to a prejudicially ignored character: John Calvin. This historical fiction brings Calvin back from an unwarranted oblivion. Thanks to Bond's vivid writing style and thorough acquaintance with the period, readers now have a looking glass into the life and history of a great man. I am pleased to commend this fine book to readers, especially those who will meet Calvin in these pages just in time for the 500th anniversary of his birth."

As for me, well, I'll be honest and say that I read fiction only on rare occasions and my preference would always be to read a standard biography over a historical novel. However, I do know that a lot of readers prefer fiction and for these people, I think The Betrayal will be a great way of getting a useful overview of Calvin's life. I was sometimes amazed at just how much of Calvin's life is present in this book but never in such a way that the novel becomes bogged down in irrelevant details. Bond has done a great job of integrating reality with fiction so the reader will hardly know when one begins and the other ends.

If you are a fan of novels or of historical fiction, and if you are anxious to learn a little bit about John Calvin, this man who is so fondly remembered even five hundred years after his birth, you cannot go far wrong in reading The Betrayal.

Released last year for the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Douglas Bond has written The Betrayal as a sort of novelized version of an introduction to Calvin. The story is not told through Calvin's eyes, but rather through the fictional character Jean-Louise, Calvin's personal servant. What makes the plot interesting is that Jean-Louise secretly works for the Crown, denouncing those fledgling Protestants who come and meet with Calvin. Many go to the stake through Jean-Louise's efforts, leaving him rejoicing and Calvin mourning as Calvin's friends are consumed.

In a lot of ways, this book doesn't know if it wants to be a novel or a theology manual. Bond undertook a difficult task in trying to novelize Calvin's life, as he is a man remembered not primarily remembered for some heroic deed, but rather for what he said and thought. Unlike figures such as Churchill, Washington or Patton who are remembered as great statesmen or military generals, Calvin's main impact on history was through his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

As a theology book, The Betrayal does serve to give the reader a broad overview of the issues surrounding the Reformation. The first half of the book spends a great deal of time illuminating the spiritual darkness and corruption that gripped the Roman Catholic Church. Bond chooses three doctrinal distinctives of the reformation (the sufficiency of Scripture, the sacraments, and predestination/free-will) and deeply explores Calvin's thoughts of the matter. Most of the words spoken by Calvin in the novel are drawn from his writing in the Institutes.

As a novel, this book is difficult to adjust to stylistically. Since most of Calvin's lines are drawn from the Institutes, the remainder of the book is written in rather formal language to match the tenor of Calvin's other words. For an uneducated servant, Jean-Louise seems to have a rather large vocabulary! The book is written as a deathbed confession, making everything past-tense. This serves to put some distance between the reader and the story. While I had a difficult time with the first half of the book, the book picks up speed once Calvin is betrayed.

Bond's book both succeeds and fails. Don't pick it up expecting a gripping novel set in the religious-political turmoil of 16th century France. The book moves slowly and is full of detailed theological arguments. However, that doesn't make it a book not worth reading. If you're looking for a broad overview of Calvin and the issues facing him and other leaders of the Reformation, this is probably the book for you.

Nate Brooks <[...]>

Before you start booing me for writing a review before finishing the book please hear me out:

Ok, this year we celebrate John Calvin's 500th Birthday. Calvin was a pivotal person in the Protestant Reformation. He gave us the first body of Systematic Theology as well as many books, sermons and commentaries that continue to enrich the Church after all of these year. John Calvin was a man God greatly used.

The book is a about a fictional enemy that grew up with Calvin and hated him deeply. Calvin's enemy follows him around and eventually becomes his right hand man though he hates Calvin deeply. Calvin has no idea that this childhood "friend" turned companion is secretly trying to turn him in to the authorities. The book sticks to historical facts about Calvin's life and even has his sermons and writings woven into it. From my limited knowledge the book seems to be historically accurate with the settings and descriptions of France at that time.

Here's the problem...

I honestly don't care much about Calvin in the book. The villain steals the show. Its similar to The Dark Knight movie. The Joker stole the movie to the point where whenever a scene had Batman in it alone you were wondering what the Joker was up to. This is same thing. Calvin was a hero and changed history but I never found his life as intriguing as say Luther or Zwingli. The villain draws you in with his conflicted thoughts and behavior. One minute he's setting Calvin up to be captured and killed by the Inquisition and the next he's tipping Calvin off and helping him escape with his life. He has a love/hate relationship with Calvin that really had my interested peaked. Whenever Calvin takes center stage in a chapter I found myself bored. I think the book would have been better if Calvin had been taken completely out of it and focused on the villain who you can't help but identify with on some level.

Die hard Reformation fans may love or they may hate. Either way, it's worth a try. If you don't have a copy and you know someone who does, borrow it.

Even though it is historical fiction, Calvin's great love for Christ comes through poignantly in his writings that are condensed and interspersed throughout the novel. I found myself pausing to look up scriptural references and then pondering the different viewpoints interpreted from those scriptures. A great read with a sobering insight into the Reformation.

The governing body of Geneva, which was largely protestant, put Servetus to death for creating a non-trinitarian theology, of which he refused to recant. Though Calvin wrote subpoenaed papers against Servetus, there were many, many other men that were much more instrumental in his execution, via the French Inquisition.

In fact, Calvin initially plead for leniency for Servetus:

"...of the man's effrontery I will say nothing; but such was his madness that he did not hesitate to say that devils possessed divinity; yea, that many gods were in individual devils, inasmuch as a deity had been substantially communicated to those equally with wood and stone. I hope that sentence of death will at least be passed on him; but I desired that the severity of the punishment be mitigated."

Calvin even argued that Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva and should be merely banished, as the state had no right to execute him.

Once sentence was passed on Servetus, Calvin even asked that Servetus be put to death in the more "humane" manner of decapitation, rather than being burned at the stake.

Calvin did NOT pronounce judgment, was not a civil servant, and was not primarily instrumental in Servetus' sentencing. Though a tertiary belligerent witness to Servetus' heresies, Calvin was not the frothing-at-the-mouth inquisitor that everyone (i.e., Unitarians, anti-reformers, and anti-Christians) makes him out to be.

Douglas Bond is the master of everything historical in John Calvin's era. Nearly every paragraph has historical context. While reading it, I felt as if I came to know everything even remotely important about John Calvin's life and ministry. I also enjoyed his attention to detail concerning cities and architecture. Bond's approach to this novel is appealing. He doesn't attempt to get into Calvin's head and explain his everyday thought process, but rather shows Calvin's actions through the eyes of an ever-near character. However, he does leave the reader to consider the words of Calvin as recorded by the bystander. This book easily earns five stars!

For adults who have enjoyed Douglas Bond's other historical fiction novels, The Betrayal will come as no surprise.

Douglas Bond's meticulous research adds rich detail to this story of John Calvin's life, told from the view of a fictional boyhood rival, Jean-Louis Mourin. The story unfolds as a manuscript, penned by Jean-Louis in the 1500's, is found in the bombed ruins of a building in Noyon during World War I. We then read the tale of a life of a gifted boy who grows into an articulate man who's writing and preaching help to shape the course of the Protestant Reformation in France and Geneva, Switzerland.

The author quotes John Calvin's writing in his book, using the subject's own words to tell the story of his life and thought. At the same time, Jean-Louis uses those words as evidence against Calvin during the time of the Huguenot persecution in France - but can Jean-Louis resist the combination of Calvin's persuasive arguments and God's relentless pursuit of his soul?

One word of caution for those desiring to read this book: This book, in its vocabulary and mature logical arguments presented by Calvin, is written for older students and adults. Readers who have enjoyed Douglas Bond's fiction for middle-grade and high school students should be content to wait a few years before reading this book, but it is well worth the delay!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher with no requirement to write a favorable review.

Okay, I'm a sucker for a good cover, and this book has a great one. It intrigued me from the start. When I found out that it would be a historical fiction of the life of John Calvin, I had to pick up this book.

The writing in this book is a strange mixture of Les Miserable and Frankenstein. And much like those two books, it's hard to get involved with the characters until you are thoroughly soaked in the action of the story rather than the characters themselves.

I am not a historical fiction fan. I am a character-driven novel fan. It's the characters that I care about: not the plot or even the events. This is an event driven novel. One that centers around the places and actions, rather than the characters themselves. Consequently, I was dragging though the boring details that were trying to set the scene, while the characters remained flat and lifeless. I did not care about them, so I could hardly care about what happened to them.

What I liked: The author did an beautiful job of transcribing and detailing the words of Calvin, himself, and making his genius shine through.

What I didn't like: too much boring detail with scene setting, and at times the novel was jarring in its pov switches.

Overall, It is a pretty good novel, but I still don't know that I would describe it as fast-paced or gripping. I recieved a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book kept me up long past my time to retire, for I could not put it down. Though the first few chapters are less than gripping and somewhat confusing (particularly the language in "The Accusative Case"), mostly the book has a strong flow, and Bond has made us sympathize enough with the MC to not want him to fail, yet to abhor his work enough to dread him succeeding. It was far too late at night for me to follow all of Calvin's speeches/letters/arguments/etc, so I cannot say whether I agree with him, yet everything he said did seem to be founded on Scripture. Douglas Bond clearly did his research on this book and, other than possibly painting Calvin in too glowing colors, it shows well the results. I appreciated how everything is shown to be the working of God for good, even if it is evil in itself. Fascinating, edifying book that I would not give to children because of the darkness and the descriptions of martyrdom.

Murder, corruption, political intrigue... this is the stuff of blockbuster movies and top-selling novels today, but it was reality for those living in Europe during the turbulent 16th-century Protestant reformation. It is a fascinating time to study -- not to mention an important part of our Christian heritage -- but often comes across as dry and unappealing in the history books and traditional biographies. Thankfully, Douglas Bond has brought this period to life in this novel, which shows us just how exciting history can be!

The Betrayal is a historical novel which follows the life of the French theologian and pastor, Jean Cauvin -- whom we have come to know as John Calvin. The story is told from the perspective of a fictional character who, though a lifelong rival, has a life intertwined with Calvin's right up until his death. Though the character and some of the dialogue are fictional, the events chronicled are historical events, and Calvin's words in the novel are taken straight from his letters, books, and sermons. The author even references Calvin's writings in an appendix titled "For Further Reading", so that we can be sure that the conversations that take place in the book are representative of what Calvin actually believed and taught at various stages of his ministry.

Without going into too much detail about the plot (I don't want to ruin it for you!), I can tell you that this is a gripping story that never feels bogged down in details. I was engaged from very beginning, and my attention was held to the final page! John Calvin and the other historical figures are portrayed accurately as great but flawed men who were used mightily by God to advance the cause of the pure doctrines of Jesus Christ in the face of resistance from every side.

Having read several biographies and writings of John Calvin, as well as books on church history, there was nothing in this novel that was totally "new" to me. However, doctrines and dates that had previously been confined to the realm of intellectual knowledge came to life in a way that was totally new, something I didn't really expect from a novel. It was a pleasant surprise!

To those who have read Calvin before: I believe this book will have the same effect on you. To those who are turned off by history books and biographies: This book will serve as a great introduction to a man and a time period that you should know about. Do I personally prefer it to a well-written traditionaly biography? No, but I still give it a very high recommendation.