Transcript The Reformation

The Reformation
The Swiss Reformation
Ulrich Zwingli
Photo Credits
•Sacred Destinations
Lucas Cranach
•Gertrude Kanu
Lee Lai
•Stephen Komp
Charlotte Nordahl
•Mike Reed
Alex Bepple
•Debra Dinda
R. Bean
The Unique Political-Religious
Situation of Switzerland
• Technically: Part of Holy Roman Empire
• Humanism made Switzerland key breeding
ground for Reformation fever
• Three expressions of reformation emerged
– Zwinglian: Ulrich Zwingli
German-speaking cantons of north (esp. Zurich)
– Calvinistic: John Calvin
French speaking cantons in south (esp. Geneva)
– Anabaptist: Grebel, Hubmaier, Manz, Stattler, etc.
Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands
Huldrych (Ulrich) Zwingli (1484-1531)
Background
• Born to well-connected parents
– Studied at humanistic Basel and Bern
– Embraced humanistic approach
to ad fontes
• Humanist door to evangelical
conversion
Zwingli -- Religious Career
• Parish priest at Glarus
• Pilgrim shrine at Einsiedeln
– Reputation as outspoken preacher
– Time of evangelical conversion
• Elected as people’s priest,
Great Minster Church Zurich
Einseideln Abbey
© Sacred Destinations
Einseideln Basilica
© Sacred Destinations
Zwingli’s Church
in Zurich
Grossmunster Zurich
© Sacred Destinations
Grossmunster Zurich
© Sacred Destinations
Zwingli’s Church
in Zurich
Grossmunster Zurich
© Sacred Destinations
Grossmunster Zurich
© Sacred Destinations
From Priesthood to Politics of Reform
• Lenten fast broken in Zwingli’s parish
• Hermeneutical Crisis
– T-2 - Word has equal authority with Fathers /
traditions as set by church councils, pope
– T-1 - Word has final authority, as historically
interpreted by Fathers, and church
– T-0 - Word alone without context of historical
interpretation (no exegetical history)
• City council defends Zwingli
– Reformation practices promoted
The Public Disputations
• First Zurich Disputation
– “Sixty-seven Articles”
• Second Zurich Disputation
– Council chose “Gradualism”
• Open breach with Rome
– Council orders implementation of
significant reforms
– Zwingli’s influence finds expression in other
free cities
• Basel / Bern / Strassburg
Schleitheim
Reformation Cities of the Swiss Confederation
Swiss Mosaic led to Civil Wars
(1526-1531)
• Christian Civic Alliance (Protestants)
• Christian Union (counter-Protestant cantons)
• Peace of Kappel
– Zwingli disrupts it, fatally wounded, then executed
• Zurich church reform by Heinrich Bullinger
– Composed First Helvetic Confession
Zwingli’s Doctrinal Contributions
• Upheld absolute authority of Bible
– Nothing in religion unless approved by Scripture (no
adiaphora considered)
• Accepted unconditional predestination
– Of those rejecting gospel message
• Faith is essential ingredient in sacraments
– Symbolic commemoration only
• Original sin is moral disease, but without
bearing guilt
– Infants saved w/o baptism
The Reformation
The Radical Reformation
From Blaurock to Menno Simons
Photo Credits
•Sacred Destinations
Lucas Cranach
•Gertrude Kanu
Lee Lai
•Stephen Komp
Charlotte Nordahl
•Mike Reed
Alex Bepple
•Debra Dinda
R. Bean
Diverse Expressions
of
Radical Reformers
Gish’s Left Wing of the Reformation
Evangelical Rationalists
Anabaptists
Revolutionaries
Spiritualizers / Socialists
Servetus
Socinius
Hubmaier
Sattler
Simmons
Hoffman
Rothmann
Hutt
Hutter
transitioned into…
Unitarianism
Evangelical Mainstream
”Free Churches”
Mennonites
Apocalyptic Sects
Communist Communities
Roots:
Unrealized Agenda of Zwingli in Zurich
• Anabaptists were to Zwingli as Karlstadt was
to Luther
• Felt Zwingli was false prophet
• Second Disputation in Zurich brought crisis to
forefront
• Underlying issue: Church-State as co-terminus
entities
• Separation of church and state was “Radical”
and deadly for adherents
Emergence:
Early Anabaptism (Swiss Brethren)
• Crisis Point: Anabaptist reformers gather with
Zwingli for public debate
– Issue: Will the concept of infant baptism be
rejected or not?
• Separation: Founding of the Swiss Brethren
– Public baptisms begin on Jan 21, 1525
– Strong resistance to this movement from both
Catholics and Protestants
Dispersion:
Under Intense Pressure
• Many forced to flee from S. Germany,
Switzerland, Moravia
• Territorial rulers first tried to suppress it with
mandates against it
• Charles V ordered death penalty on basis of
old Roman Laws against Donatists
– Second Diet of Speyer, 1529 (where Protestio
lodged) approved this imperial decree
Expansion:
German Anabaptist Centers
• Augsburg: Martyrs Synod (1527)
• Strassburg: Swiss refugee community led by
Michael Sattler
• Schleitheim: The Schleitheim Confession
– Martyrdom of Sattler
Confusion:
Revolutionary Anabaptists at Münster
• Hoffman came to Strassburg being hailed as
“Apostle of the end”
• Jan Matthys assumed lead of chilliastic group
• Destructive implications of Tradition Zero
– John Leyden takes over as new “King of Jerusalem”
• Bishop joins Lutheran forces and captures city
• Debacle damaged Anabaptist cause
Corrections:
Gathering centric theological forces
• Recovery from tragedy of Münster associations
• Hutterites in Moravia
– Jacob Hutter
• Mennonites in Netherlands / North Germany
– Menno Simons: Father of Centrist Anabaptism
Menno Simons
Menno Simons
Tom (Oliver Wendel) Shenk. Oil painting, 1975.
Commissioned by Myron S. Augsburger for Eastern
Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA, where
the picture is now hanging
Christoffel van Sichem. Engraving c. 1608.
This is considered to be the oldest portrait of Menno
Simons, who died in 1561. Van Sichem was Roman
Catholic; some people see in the brim of the hat the ears of
a donkey, meant to ridicule Menno and his followers.
Contributions:
Ideas influencing evangelicals
• Final authority of Bible as infallible rule of faith / practice
• Pure church comprised of confessing regenerate only
• Inclination to pacifism and a theology of martyrdom
• Emphasis on caring community / commonality of goods
• Lineal ancestor to significant groups today
– Directly: Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites
– Indirect: Quakers, Puritan Separatists, Baptists
• Believer’s only or “pure” church had ironic secularizing effect
The Later Reformation
The Reformed Tradition
John Calvin
Photo Credits
•Sacred Destinations
Lucas Cranach
•Gertrude Kanu
Lee Lai
•Stephen Komp
Charlotte Nordahl
•Mike Reed
Alex Bepple
•Debra Dinda
R. Bean
Geneva was contested territory
• French speaking territory in contested
neighborhood of Lake Geneva
• Guillaume Farel
carried out
reform plans
Biographical Sketch – John Calvin
(Jean Cauvin) (1509-1564)
• Early Years
– Born near Paris
– M.A. at University of Paris, then Law Degree
• Launching his career: 1532-1536
–
–
–
–
–
Influence of humanist reformers in France
“Sudden Conversion”
Inaugural address of Nicholas Cop
France becoming unsafe for reformers
Composed Institutes of the Christian Religion
• The road to Geneva
– Long conversation with Farel to persuade Calvin
Auditoire de Calvin
© Sacred Destinations
Auditoire de Calvin
© Sacred Destinations
Work of reform in Geneva: 1532-36
• Calvin/Farel proposed a three-fold plan
before Little Council for implementing reform
– Adoption of Calvin’s catechism
– Everyone to follow Creed written by Farel
– Monthly administration of Lord’s Supper
(fencing table)
• Strong opposition to Calvin’s plans
– Standoff with officials on Easter Sunday, 1538
– Calvin expelled from Geneva
Happy Strasburg years: 1538-41
• Calvin pastors French refugees at Strassburg
• Writing career developed
– French liturgy / translations of psalms / hymns
– Second edition of the Institutes
– Commentary on Romans
– Reply to Sadoleto vindicating Protestant principles
– The Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
Return to Geneva: 1541-61
• Political reversal enabled reforming forces to
recall Calvin
– Returns with hesitation practically on his own terms
• Convinced city council to pass Ecclesiastical
Ordinances
• “The Venerable Company” a consistory as
key element in the system
– For church administration, encouragement, and
discipline of community
Life under the new “theocratic
model” of Calvin’s Geneva
• Leaders embark on moral reclamation of city
• Growing opposition of “Libertines”
– Trial of Servetus
• Calvin’s crowning work: Genevan Academy
– Influential epicenter of Reformed theology
– Headed up by Calvin’s successor in Geneva,
Theodore Beza
Legacy of Calvin: Forefather of the
Reformed Faith
1. Voluminous writings
2. Advancement in education
3. Geneva as model and refuge for reformers
4. Growth of democracy: representative
principle in church and state
5. Growth of capitalism
6. Retardation of mission