Often the lesser-known Reformers are the most important. History, after all, has a tendency to pay more attention to the celebrity and not the scholar; the star and not the changemaker. That is clearly true in the case of Myconius, who was one of the most significant early Reformers and yet is today widely unknown except among specialists. Thankfully, the present volume seeks to redress that wrong. Part 1, with essays by Petera Wiegel and Johannes Karl Schlageter, provides an overview of Myconius as a Franciscan. The life of Myconius, as explained in the first part, was both interesting and influential. The essays help readers to a deeper understanding of that life and provide details about his training as a Franciscan, generally lacking among modern readers. There is little doubt, as Weigel and Schlageter so ably show, that Myconius was who he was in no small part because he was a Franciscan. Part 2 treats the Reformation network, with contributions by Christine Mundhenk and Daniel Gehrt, and highlights Myconius's transformation from Franciscan to Reformer. The authors paint an extraordinary picture of a man deeply affected by his colleagues. This may be the most important part of the volume, as it helps readers comprehend more clearly how it was that Myconius became the figure we ultimately recognize.

Part 3, dealing with Thuringia, contains essays by Dagmar Blaha, Andreas Dietmann, Stefan Michel, and Friedemann Witting. From Franciscan to Reformer to theological investigator: the road that Myconius traveled on his intellectual and spiritual journey to become one of Thuringia's most influential thinkers is the focus of this part of the volume. Blaha's essay in particular raises the profile of Myconius in terms of theological importance for the budding Lutheran movement. Part 4 contains essays by Johannes Hund, Armin Kohnle, and Michael Beyer that detail Myconius's activities in foreign relations on behalf of the Saxon government. This is the section in which we discover that Myconius had larger concerns than theology. In that regard he was very much like Luther, who was also deputed to represent the wishes of the government as their emissary and their spokesman.

In part 5, historical and memorial texts make up the selections, with essays by Harald Bollbuck, Sascha Salatowsky, and Ernst Koch. These contributions will hold the attention of those whose primary focus is the history of the Reformation (in contrast to the theology of the Reformation). Part 6, “Bibliography and Letters,” is the final section of the volume, with the essays of Franziska König and Ernst Koch. These two contributions are useful to those wishing to compare the writings and letters of Myconius. These materials are extremely important sources for firsthand knowledge of Myconius's thought, both publicly exhibited through his tracts and other works and privately on display through his letters. The sorts of materials shown here clarify many questions concerning Myconius's depth of thought and intellect.

The benefit of a volume of this sort is that it places in readers’ hands a historical examination of a man who has long deserved such an examination, again, because his theological efforts were terribly important. Take, for example, the closing segment by Koch, which provides an important list of the correspondence of Myconius. There, readers have the opportunity to get an overview of the expansiveness of his contacts and the people who both sought his advice and whom he advised. Koch lists 816 letters to and from Myconius, the first dated to 1524 and the last to, tentatively, 1544. Correspondents include Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon, and a whole host of persons unknown, as well as towns and cities and their leaders who needed his assistance. He was not as prolific a correspondent as Heinrich Bullinger, who had well over ten thousand letters in his in- and out-box, but his corpus is significant.

The only failing of this well-formulated volume is that it is too brief. There need to be sections on Myconius's theology beyond merely skimming his views. A sustained, critical, thorough investigation of Myconius's own theology is a serious desideratum. Perhaps in the future the contributors to this volume will put their hands to that, and that would be a welcome work indeed.