SOURCE: "The Pathfinder: Calvin's Image on Martin Luther," in The Old Protestantism and the New: Essays on the Reformation of Heritage, The University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp. 27-48.

Below, Gerrish compares the two great Reformers, Luther and Calvin, asserting that, though Calvin never met Luther, Calvin's image of Luther can be fairly well ascertained through the Genevan's correspondence.

Martin Luther and John Calvin were, by common consent, the two most eminent figures of the Protestant Reformation. There were other distinguished leaders in both Germany and Switzerland—Melanchthon and Zwingli, for instance—to say nothing of national heroes in other lands. But they do not quite measure up to the stature of the two giants, who can justly be compared only with each other. One naturally expects, then, that the question will have been asked frequently, almost too frequently: What is the relationship between these two? How, in particular...