1. Zwingli in Zurich Calvin in Geneva
The Swiss Reformation
Zwingli in Zurich
Calvin in Geneva

3. Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) Born in Wildhaus, Switzerland.
Studied under leading renaissance scholars in Basel and Vienna, he earned an M.A. in 1506 and began the study of theology. He was ordained a priest in 1506.
He became the parish priest of a country church at Glarus ( ). He studied Hebrew and Greek. He also acted as chaplain for Swiss mercenary armies in Italy (Milan).
In 1516 he became the priest of Einsiedeln where the famous “Black Virgin” attracted floods of pilgrims. Visited Erasmus in 1516.

4. Moving Toward Reformation
He was a great admirer of Erasmus and was overjoyed with the appearance of the printed Greek text. Read the patristic literature, especially Chrysostom.
During his stay in Einsiedeln, he began to question (though not oppose) the sale of indulgences and questioned the value of pilgrimages.
January 1, 1519 he was elected to the main pulpit in Zurich (population 6,000 with 200 clergy and monks).

5. Zurich Reformation
Zwingli began preaching from the Greek text out of Matthew.
Zwingli endeared himself to the Zurich church by ministering to them during the plague of 1519 (in which Zwingli’s own brother died) and he almost died himself.
In 1522 Zwingli preached that it was permissible to eat all foods at all times. On Ash Wednesday, he watched some of his members eat two fried sausages. Some were imprisoned. Zwingli defended them from his pulpit and published Concerning Freedom and the Choice of Food

6. Pestleid (Plague Song)
Help me, O Lord, My strength and rock; Lo, at the door I hear death’s knock.
Uplift your arm, Once pierced for me, That conquered death, And set me free.
Yet, if your voice, In life’s mid-day Recalls my soul, Then I obey.
In faith and hope, Earth I resign, Secure of heaven, For I am Yours.

7. Zurich Disputations
First (January 1523): Zwingli presented 67 articles of belief that questioned human ceremonies and requirements (10% of town present).
Had previously published On the Certainty of the Word of God defending sola Scriptura
In 1522 Zwingli had secretly married (which he made public in 1524).
Second (October 1523): Convinces the council to proceed with reform based on scripture alone (15% of town present).
Images removed from the churches
Monasteries were dissolved
Third Disputation (January 1525): Council fully supports reform.
Easter, 1525 is the first fully Protestant worship in Zurich.
Zurich is officially a “Reformed church.”
This disputation also concluded in favor of infant baptism and the exclusion of those who opposed it.

8. Nature of Zwingli’s Reformation
He opposed the use of icons and stripped churches in Zurich of their religious art.
He opposed the use of instrumental music and the organ was silenced in 1524 and destroyed in 1527.
The Reformed principle was to include in the worship only that which was clearly authorized in the New Testament.
He opposed the Catholic Mass and simplified the liturgy. Preaching became the primary focus of liturgy.

10. Johannes Oecolampadius from Basel (1482-1531)
Studied at University of Tubingen where he met Melancthon; he was appointed Cathedral preacher in Basel (1515)
Was a proof-reader for Erasmus; corresponded with Luther; entered monastery in Augsburg for two years ( ).
Returned to Basel in 1522 as lecturer in theology at the University.
Leads the reformation of the church in Basel and became Zwingli’s supporter in Switzerland.
Wrote first major OT commentary of the Reformation
Master of Patristics
Defended Zwingli’s position on the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

11. Oecolampadius’ Four Theses (1523)
Sola Scriptura
Our righteousness is unclean; therefore justified by sola fidei
Opposed the use of saints and the need for intermediaries.
Proclaimed that believers have freedom in Christ and are not bound by human traditions and innovations.

13. The Conclusions at Berne
1. The holy Christian Church, whose only Head is Christ, is born of the Word of God, and abides in the same, and listens not to the voice of a stranger.
2. The Church of Christ makes no laws or commandments apart from the Word of God; hence all human traditions are not binding upon us except so far as they are grounded upon or prescribed in the Word of God.
3. Christ is the only wisdom, righteousness, redemption, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. For this reason it is a denial of Christ to confess any other means of salvation or satisfaction for sin.

14. Conclusions at Berne
It cannot be shown from Holy Scripture that the body and blood of Christ are substantially and corporeally received in the bread of the Eucharist.
5. The mass, as it is now celebrated, in which Christ is offered to God the Father for the sins of the living and the dead is contrary to Scripture, a blasphemy against the most holy sacrifice, passion, and death of Christ and on account of its abuse, an abomination to God.
6. As Christ alone died for us, so he is also to be adored as the only Mediator and Advocate between God the Father and us. For this reason it is contrary to the basis of the Word of God to direct worship to be offered to other mediators beyond the present life.

15. Conclusions at Berne
Scripture does not tell us there is a place beyond this life in which souls are purged. Therefore all services for the dead, vigils, masses, processions, anniversaries, lights, candles, and other such things are vain.
It is contrary to the Word of God, contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments, to make images for use in worship. For this reason they are to be abolished, if they are set up as objects of worship.
Marriage is not forbidden in Scripture to any class of men, but is commanded and permitted to all in order to avoid fornication and unchastity.
Since according to Scripture an open fornicator must be excommunicated, it follows that fornication or impure celibacy are more pernicious to the clergy than to any other class on account of the scandal.

16. Three Positions on the Supper
Transubstantiation – the bread and wine are transformed into real body and blood of Jesus (Roman Catholic)
The substance changes (bread to body)
The accidents remain (still looks like bread)
Consubstantiation – the body and blood of Christ are added to the presence of the bread and wine (Luther)
Symbolism – the bread and wine symbolically represent the body and blood of Christ; it is a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice. The body and blood are not substantially or literally present (Zwingli).

17. “The Supper Strife” Luther believed in consubstantiation:
Elements in Lord’s Supper are literal body & blood of Christ
Zwingli believed that Lord’s Supper is entirely symbolic, a memorial feast
Two denounced each other as heretics
Martin Bucer sought unity among Christians
Arranged discussion at Marburg, 1529

18. Castle of Philip of Hesse at Marburg
The Marburg Colloquy
Philip of Hesse (also wanting unity) offered his castle at Marburg for the discussion
Castle of Philip of Hesse at Marburg

19. The Discussion Luther refused to consider Zwingli’s arguments
Told Bucer that he had a different spirit
Wrote on table: Hoc est corpus meum
“This is my body”
Bucer continued to work toward a statement with which both parties would agree

20. Room at castle where discussion took place (as it appears today)

21. Painting showing Zwingli (to right), Luther (pointing to table), Bucer and Melancthon seated at the table. (Bucer on right). Other key leaders in Reformation present.

22. Marburg Agreement
Fifteenth, we all believe and hold concerning the Supper of our dear Lord Jesus Christ that both kinds should be used accord­ing to the institution by Christ; [also that the mass is not a work with which one can secure grace for someone else, whether he is dead or alive;] also that the Sacrament of the Altar is a sacrament of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and that the spiritual partaking of the same body and blood is especially necessary for every Christian. Similarly, that the use of the sacrament, like the word, has been given and ordained by God Almighty in order that weak consciences may thereby be excited to faith by the Holy Spirit. And although at this time, we have not reached an agree­ment as to whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine, nevertheless, each side should show Christian love to the other side insofar as conscience will permit, and both sides should diligently pray to Almighty God that through his Spirit he might confirm us in the right understanding.

23. Luther and Zwingli Topic Luther Zwingli
Key Question Where can I find the Where can I find the true church? merciful God?
Experience Experience of Mercy Experience of Election
Education Doctor of Theology Master of Humanities
Language Northern German Southern German (Swiss)
Training Via Moderna (Occamist) Via Antiqua (Thomist)
Beginning 95 Theses on Penance 67 Articles on Church
Politics Regional/State City
Theology Faith as Key Election as Key
Emphasis Word as Means Spirit Without the Word
Law Condemn and Convict Guide Church in Obedience
Church Adiaphora Primitivism
Sacraments Means Signs
Function Assurance and Means Ecclesial
Church/State Separation Integration

24. Reformation: A Divided Movement
Luther
Liturgical worship: permission to use tradition as long as it does not violate the gospel
Substantial presence of Christ in the supper
Valued the role of bishops (supervisors).
Separation of Church and State: Two Kingdom Theory
Influential in northern Germany
Zwingli
Simple worship: only do what is authorized in the New Testament.
Symbolic presence of Christ in the supper.
Valued local pastors and independent congregations
Theocratic understanding of City Council and local jurisdictions.
Influential in Switzerland and southern Germany.

25. Zwingli,
Sought to unite the Swiss Cantons through disputations.
Zwingli also submitted a confession to Emperor Charles V at Augsburg: Fidei Ratio.
Bern and Basel both followed Zwingli, but other Cantons did.
Bern Disputation in May 1528.
By 1531, five Cantons were Protestant and five were Roman Catholic.
Successive military conflicts broke out between Protestants and Catholics beginning in 1528.
On October 11, 1531 Zwingli died in a battle between Catholics and Protestants at Kappel near Zurich.
Switzerland was permanently divided into Protestant and Catholic Cantons.

27. Zwingli’s Theology
The ground of redemption is election—God’s sovereign initiative is primary.
Faith is the sign of God’s electing grace—is the certain assurance by which humanity relies on the merit of Christ alone. They are elect before they believe.
Faith comes only by the Spirit of God—usually in conjunction with the preached the word of God. The preached word brings an “internal word”—a persuasion and insistence of the Spirit by which we believe. The Father draws us into faith because we are part of the elect.
While Zwingli taught the unity of Spirit and Word, he also insisted that no external means are necessary for faith—God acts through the immediacy of his Spirit.

28. Sacramental Theology
There are only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Zwingli rejects any instrumental or causative meaning for the sacraments. Rather, sacraments are symbolic in meaning—they are not means by which God works.
They are communal acts by which humans pledge and testify their allegiance to God and the church. The congregation is the actor rather than God.
Here Luther and Zwingli are opposites—Luther believed in the instrumental character of the sacraments. They are genuine means of grace and necessary for salvation.

29. Sacramental Theology
Zwingli: “We cannot accept that view…which holds that the sacraments are signs of such nature that when they are administered then they simultaneously accomplish inwardly that which they signify outwardly. For this would bind the freedom of the Spirit of God, who divides to men severally as he will, that is, to whom and when and where he will.”
Luther: “Therefore state it most simply thus, that the power, work, profit, fruit, and end of Baptism is this, namely, to save. For no one is baptized in order that he may become a prince, but, as the words declare, that he be saved. But to be saved. we know. is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil, and to enter into the kingdom of Christ, and to live with Him forever.”

30. Luther on Baptism
But as our would-be wise, new spirits assert that faith alone saves, and that works and external things avail nothing, we answer: It is true, indeed, that nothing in us is of any avail but faith, as we shall hear still further. But these blind guides are unwilling to see this, namely, that faith must have something which it believes, that is, of which it takes hold, and upon which it stands and rests. Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life; not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it.

31. Luther on Baptism
But if they say, as they are accustomed: Still Baptism is itself a work, and you say works are of no avail for salvation; what then, becomes of faith? Answer: Yes, our works, indeed, avail nothing for salvation; Baptism, however, is not our work, but God's (for, as was stated, you must put Christ-baptism far away from a bath-keeper's baptism). God's works, however, are saving and necessary for salvation, and do not exclude, but demand, faith; for without faith they could not be apprehended.

32. Luther and Zwingli Topic Luther Zwingli
Key Question Where can I find the Where can I find the true church? merciful God?
Experience Experience of Mercy Experience of Election
Education Doctor of Theology Master of Humanities
Language Northern German Southern German (Swiss)
Training Via Moderna (Occamist) Via Antiqua (Thomist)
Beginning 95 Theses on Penance 67 Articles on Church
Politics Regional/State City
Theology Faith as Key Election as Key
Emphasis Word as Means Spirit Without the Word
Law Condemn and Convict Guide Church in Obedience
Church Adiaphora Primitivism
Sacraments Means Signs
Function Assurance and Means Ecclesial
Church/State Separation Integration

33. Martin Bucer (1491-1551) Born at Schlettstadt in Alsace
Attended excellent humanistic school
Joined Dominican order to further studies
Sent to Heidelberg chapter because better educational opportunities there
Met Luther there

34. Humanist school in Schlettstadt that Bucer attended while Jacob Gebwiler was headmaster

35. From Erasmus to Martin Luther
Bucer deeply committed to Erasmian humanist reform agenda
Luther came to Heidelberg to defend his theology
University refused to allow Luther to speak
Dominicans opened their chapel to him
Bucer & two friends deeply convicted
Justification by faith alone

36. Bucer meets Luther Bucer stayed after lecture to ask Luther questions
Luther invited him to have lunch with him
Shared with him his new commentary on Romans
“I came an Erasmian; I left a Martinian!”

37. Heidelberg to Strasbourg
Bucer married Elizabeth Silberreisen
Convinced forced clerical celibacy produced immorality
Soon in trouble with church
Protected by sympathetic nobles
Church excommunicated him
Fled to his parents in Strasbourg for help

38. What would Strasbourg do?
Parents pled for their son before council
As son of citizens, he should be protected
Strasbourg already had reformed pastors: Matthew Zell of St. Thomas
Zell allowed him to speak on a wooden pulpit on alternate days
Asked by poor gardeners of St. Auriole to be their pastor

39. St. Thomas Matthew Zell getting older Council became supportive
Voted to approve reformation for city
Bucer appointed chief pastor of St. Thomas
Aided in city by Wolfgang Capito and others
Support from John Oecolampadius at Basel

40. Relief medallion of Bucer from his memorial in St
Relief medallion of Bucer from his memorial in St. Thomas Church in Strasbourg

41. Strasbourg Cathedral where Bucer first preached under Zell
St. Thomas Church where Bucer was pastor

42. In hopes of unity…. Bucer defined a platform of unity
Theologians should determine what was essential for all Christians to believe
These doctrines would be taught as non-negotiable matters of faith
Non-essentials (adiaphora) would be areas where different interpretations would be respected & over which they would not divide

43. An Advocate of Unity
Tolerant policy to Anabaptists – disagreed yet tried to learn from their piety
Worked tirelessly to try to communicate and reunite with Catholics
Tried to keep Protestants from dividing

44. The Doctrine of the Presence
Bucer convinced Luther & Zwingli both saying same things in different ways
Produced a midway synthesis:
Elements not literal body & blood
But taken under form of bread & wine
Christ present with us in Lord’s Supper
Accepted by Calvin & Cranmer
Melancthon agreed with Bucer by the 1540s.
Incorporated into Reformed & Anglican theology

45. Bucer as Protestant Diplomat
Sent representatives to court of King Francis I of France to persuade him
Also attempted to reach King Henry VIII
Negotiated with Catholic Cardinals
Tried to work with emperor Charles V
Worked closely with Prince Philip of Hesse

46. Religious Discussions
Continually scheduled debates or colloquies
Regensburg, Wittenberg, Augsburg, Cologne, Marburg, Worms,
Wrote continually to answer critics
But his efforts were largely unsuccessful.

47. The Interim
Charles imposed Interim that restored mass in Strasbourg and restricted Protestants
New city council did not support Bucer
He went into exile
Thomas Cranmer urged them to come to England and help him
Bucer sick, discouraged, tired

48. English Reformation Bucer taught at Cambridge
Helped write Book of Common Prayer
English ordinal
Encouraged Cranmer concerning doctrines like predestination, justification, communion
Wrote De Regno Christi to King Edward VI
Described true Christian community

49. Bucer’s Death Never well after went to England
Died in 1551 after two years there
His second wife, Wibrandis Rosenblatt Bucer with him
Buried at Cambridge
Bones exhumed and disgraced by Mary I
Restored to honor by Elizabeth
Same rector of Cambridge presided over both

50. Jean Calvin ( )
After studying law in Paris and Orleans, he emerged in 1534 as a leading Reformer in France.
Francis I of France issued an edict suppressing Protestants in 1535.
In 1536 Calvin produced a brief, systematic summary of the Protestant faith. Through 26 editions and many translations, it became the classic statement of Protestantism—Institutes of the Christian Religion.

51. The Education of Jean Calvin
Born of humble ancestry
Yet maintained manners of nobility; father was a notary
Born at Noyon, Picardy, 60 miles northeast of Paris
26 years younger than Luther
Belonged to second generation of reformers
Father wanted him to be a priest but Calvin studied law and pursued humanist studies (in Orleans 1528).
After his father’s death, he returns to Paris in 1531
Receives the Doctor of Laws (1532)
His first book was a commentary on Seneca (1533)

52. Calvin Museum constructed at location of his house
Noyon Cathedral

53. Calvin and Protestantism
Testifies to some mysterious experience in 1532.
Very secret about it
Other students came to him to learn what he believed
Convinced of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence
Felt himself the chosen instrument of God
Wrote a sermon for Nicholas Cop that was preached on Nov 1, 1533.
It quoted Luther and was Protestant in tone.
Cop and Calvin had to flee Paris in 1534 because the persecution of Protestants had begun.

54. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion
First published in 1536 in Basel and dedicated to Francis I, King of France.
First edition was only 6 chapters, but the last edition was 80 chapters.
Total of 10 editions (1536 to 1560), published in Latin and French.
The structure was originally based on the Apostle’s Creed—systematic, clear and orderly with strong rooting in Scripture and Augustine (and other church fathers).
The most influential book of the Reformation.

55. Geneva
Geneva was the focus of concern as Swiss Cantons were dividing between Protestant and Catholic, and French Catholic Savoy wanted to retain Geneva within its territory.
Protestant cities, like Bern, rescued Geneva from Savoy’s attack in 1530.
Farel ( ), a reformer in Basel, came to Geneva in 1532 and persuaded magistrates to favor Reform by 1534 through several disputations.
By 1535, the city council gave Catholic clergy the choice to convert or leave the city.
Calvin, traveling through the city in July 1536, was convinced to remain as a leader of the Reformation there.

56. Guillaume Farel, First reformer of Geneva

57. Geneva Reformation
The initial movements ( ) did not go well and after a stay in Strasbourg ( ), Calvin returned to the city triumphantly.
The source of the conflict was the relationship between the Council and the church.
Calvin favored ecclesiastical control of church discipline and regulating church ordinances while the Council wanted to control discipline.
Calvin was inexperienced, and the Council drove the Reformers out of the city in 1538.

58. Calvin’s Beliefs
Wanted to restore purity of Christianity before corrupted by Roman Catholicism
Saw God as creator, preserver, governor of universe
Creation, Fall, Redemption as the story of Scripture.
God worked out one consistent scheme of redemption through a covenant of grace.

59. Calvin and Grace Humanity sinful and incapable of good work
Cannot save itself
Dependent entirely on God’s grace
God’s justice satisfied by death of Christ
Believers justified when they trust in Christ
Christ takes humanity’s sin; believers are clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ
Faith itself is a gift of God’s grace (like Zwingli)

60. Election & Preservation
Calvin believed in God’s eternal election: God has chosen who will be saved by his own grace.
Thus God will preserve his elect to eternal life
Humanity has the responsibility to respond to God’s grace in holiness, good works, and faithful obedience

61. The Church to Calvin
The one Church of Christ was the sum of God’s elect, invisible, members known to God
Believers in one community become visible church
Exists wherever word faithfully preached and heard & sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) faithfully administered
Published Ecclesiastical Ordinances 1541

62. Organization of Church
Ministers (Venerable Company) or pastors—the administrators of the sacraments.
Elders (Consistory)—a council of laymen.
Teaching Pastors—charged with educating the church and preaching.
Deacons—to minister to the needs of the church.

63. Sacraments
Accepted Bucer’s doctrine of the spiritual (not substantial but neither merely symbolic) presence in communion
Wanted communion in all churches at least once weekly
Council denied his request
Held high view of importance and necessity of baptism: baptism is an instrumental means of grace through which God ordinarily works.

64. The Scriptures Held high view of Scripture
One book, Old & New Testament
Revealing one plan of human redemption
His people truly a “People of the Book”
Believed that we should not act without Scriptural authority

65. Strasbourg, 1538-1541 Took refuge with Bucer in Strasbourg
Learned theology and how to organize a Christian Community
Preached at church for French Protestant exiles
Taught at John Sturm’s Academy
Wrote
Married Idelette de Bure
Very happy experience!

66. Calvin’s wife, Idelette de Bure Calvin returning to Geneva in 1541

67. Second Call to Geneva Political shift in Geneva
People wanted preachers back
Catholic Church had sought to return and Calvin opposed through his Letter to Sadoleto
Farel persuaded him to return with him
Left Strasbourg in tears
Stayed in Geneva the rest of his life
Next 28 years

68. Geneva 1541-1564 Very successful reformer there
Preached, supervised church, encouraged commerce & trade, advised council
Founded University of Geneva
Public morality successfully enforced
Geneva became city of refuge for Protestants in exile from all over Europe

69. Geneva: The Reformed City
From , Geneva was the heartbeat of the “Reformed” Protestant faith (e.g., “Calvinism”).
It sent missionaries into France and southern France was significantly influenced (by Protestant churches).
It became a refugee city for persecuted French, Dutch, Scottish and English Protestants.
Through this influence, the Netherlands became the locus of the “Dutch Reformed Church,” the Scottish Kirk became Presbyterian, the Puritans sought reform in England and the Huguenots were a religious and political force in France.

70. The Reformation in 1541
Martin Bucer is working for unity between Reformed, Lutheran and Catholic—as is Melanchton. The last major attempt was at a conference in Regensburg (1541).
Lutherans are growing in Northern Germany and Scandinavia, but Luther is uninterested in the unity efforts.
The Swiss (and the French Reformed Church) are united in a “Reformed” understanding of the faith, though there are sacramental and ecclesiological differences between Zurich and Geneva.
Zurich is symbolic; Geneva is instrumental.
Church discipline is conducted by the magistrates in Zurich but determined by the Council of Pastors in Geneva.