Zwingli: God’s Armed Prophet
Zwingli: God’s Armed Prophet, by F. Bruce Gordon, is definitely the best available biography of Ulrich Zwingli in English. There are plenty of other biographies, but most in English are far too short to be worth purchasing and the balance are in German. This book does a nice job of following Zwingli from boyhood to his days in Zurich, and then through to his death in 1531 and reputation today. Zwingli is much less known in general when compared to Martin Luther even though his reforms in Zurich paved the way later for Calvin in Geneva. Zwingli was a crucial part of the Reformation and should be studied more.
The book is very readable but I have two critiques. One, at times this reads like something from two hundred years ago. The style is just a bit disjointed and, at times, too ornate. Two, there are a LOT of direct quotations. Sometimes whole pages are quotations, which is good for me as a podcaster so I liked it, but if I was reading the book I think I would find that the sheer number of quotations bogs down the work.
Still, this is by far the best available Zwingli biography in English. Do not waste your money on some of the super-short versions available on Amazon. This one is worth it.
Score: 4/5