The Book of Ruth Explained in Twenty-Eight Homilies by Ludwig Lavater

Reformation Heritage Books - 2022.  hb.  272pp.

Ludwig Lavater compares the short book of Ruth to “precious jewels” of “exceptional worth,” which provides “the greatest usefulness to all parts of life.” Bringing this important study into the modern era, this new translation by Michael Hunter, with a biographical introduction by Jonathan Gibson, makes accessible these biblically rich sermons from a sixteenth-century pastor and scholar. Lavater’s sermons on Ruth promote virtuous living for Christian men and women and culminate by showing how the genealogy of David points us to Jesus Christ. The Book of Ruth Explained is a useful guide for laypeople, pastors, and scholars who desire to study the book of Ruth and apply it to everyday life.

Author

Ludwig Lavater (1527–1586) was a Swiss Reformed theologian and colleague of his father-in-law, Heinrich Bullinger. He served as archdeacon at the Grossmünster in Zurich and was briefly antistes of the Zurich church as the successor of Rudolf Gwalther. Lavater was a prolific author, composing homilies, commentaries, a survey of the liturgical practices of the Zurich church, and a biography of Bullinger. His work on ghosts (De Spectris ...) was one of the most frequently printed demonological works of the early modern period.

Translator

Michael Hunter is a PhD student in New Testament and a teaching assistant at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. He received his BA in Greek from Wake Forest University, his MSt in Greek and Latin languages and literature from the University of Oxford, and his MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. He has served as a translator or assistant editor on several projects, including Reformation Worship (2018) and volume 3 of Petrus Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology (2021).