Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples: Pioneer of French Reform

This journal article examines Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (c. 1455-1536), a French humanist scholar who played a pioneering role in preparing the theological groundwork for the Reformation through his study of Paul's epistles and emphasis on justification by faith, though he himself remained within the Roman Catholic Church. The article addresses the historiographical challenge of evaluating Lefèvre's legacy, noting the scarcity of English translations of primary sources and the varying Protestant assessments of his influence on sixteenth-century French reform movements.