Ulrich Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli was born in a small Swiss village in January 1484.

 

 

- He studied in Basel and Bern.

- After receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1506, he became priest of the village of Glarus.

- There he continued his humanistic studies proficient in Greek. He became a priest in Zuerich in 1518.

Zwingli's main goal was to restore biblical faith and practice.

 

In Kappel, the Catholic cantons defeated the army of Zuerich, and Zwingli died in battle in October of 1531. Slightly more than month later, the Peace of Kappel was signed. The protestant agreed to cover the expenses of the recent military actions, and in return each canton would have the freedom to make its own choice in matters of religion. From that time, Protestantism was firmly established in several Swiss cantons, while others remained Catholic. The movement of population from on canton to another, seeking freedom for the practice of religion, soon made some staunchly Protestant, and others Catholic.

Since Zwingli's Theology coincided with Luther's on many points, it shall suffice here to show the main points of contrast between the two reformers. They agreed that predestination was scriptural, and that it was necessary to affirm it as the basis for the doctrine of justification by grace alone.

 

 

[Difference]

Luther's ① was that of a tormented soul that finally found solace in the biblical message of justification by faith.

② The doctrine of predestination was the expression and the result of his experience of knowing himself forced to declare that his salvation was not his own work, but God's.

③ Predestination is necessary because human being are incapable a doing anything for their own salvation.

④He held that an inner divine action took place when the outer human action was performed.

⑤ He saw the material, not as an obstacle, but as an aid to spiritual life.

 

Zwingli's ① was that of the humanist who studied Scripture because it was the source of Christian faith, and humanism encouraged such return to the sources.

② He saw predestination as the logical consequence of the nature of God. For the Swiss reformer, the main argument in favor of predestination was that, since God is both omnipotent and omniscient, God knows and determines all things beforehand.

③He insisted on a simple form of worship, one that would not lead the believer to the material through excessive use of the sense.

④He refused to grant such efficacy to the sacraments, for this would limit the freedom of the Spirit.