Jeannine E. Olson

I come to this book by way of a self directed study on the issues of the ministry of mercy in the Church and in particular the role of the deaconate.
As the author writes: this work is a biography of an institution. Its purpose is to bring to light new information on Reformation Genea by looking at tone particular institution, the Bourse francaise, a fund for poor Protestantrefugees from Roman Catholic France founded by John Calvin and his friends and run by deacons of the Reformed Church of Geneva."

It is a work of technical history, but the author is not overly or discouragingly writing for just professional historians. She is an excellent and interesting writer and the first two chapters are a worthwhile read, in the bookstore or library to see if you will read the rest. Not only did i find it an enjoyable read, but more importantly i found it an informative and intellectually satisfying one. What the bourse did, especially versus what the General Hospital, a department of the Genevan city-state did, and how this institution defused the potential refugee crisis are crucial pieces for understanding Calvin's Geneva.… (mehr)