J. C. Ryle

John Charles Ryle served as the first Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 until his death, but his influence rests as much on his pen as on his episcopate. A committed Evangelical within the Church of England, he wrote Holiness and Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, among many other works, in prose that was plain enough for any reader and careful enough for any student. Ryle held Reformed convictions with clarity and defended them at a time when Evangelicalism in the Church of England was under considerable pressure.