Magyar Egyház, 1983 (62. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

1983-08-01 / 4. szám

8. oldal

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

THE OTHER REFORMER: ULRICH ZWINGLI

We think of Martin Luther and John Calvin as the leaders of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, and we are right in so doing: Without Luther’s vision and personal courage, there might not have been a Reformation at all. Calvin, who was less flamboyant but no less courageous than Luther, produced the most creative and complete statement of Reformed theology in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, and made the city of Geneva an international center for the work of church reform. It is almost impossible to overvalue the contributions of these two men. But they did not accomplish the Reformation all by themselves. There were other reformers in other cities, who also made their own contributions. The present shape of Lutheranism owes almost as much to Luther’s associate, Philip Melanchthon, as it does to Luther. And on the Reformed side, Martin Bucer, Heinrich Buliinger, and John Oecolampadius each made vital contributions to the movement. If there is anyone, however, who deserves to be placed alongside Calvin in the history of the Reformed tradition, that person is Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli really was the founder of the Reformed movement, and it is appropriate that we recall his achievements at the beginning of the new year, for — fittingly — he was bom on New Year’s Day, in the year of 1484.

Zwingli was born in the little town of Wildhaus, in northeastern Switzerland. His father was a successful farmer, and his Uncle Bartholomew was the town priest. Ulrich was the third of ten children. His intellectual gifts were recognized and encouraged early. He was first instructed by his uncle, and later went to school in Basle and Beme. In 1498 he went to the unitversity at Vienna, but returned to Switzerland four years later and graduated from Basle in 1504. After two years of theological study, he was ordained a priest and placed in Glarus, a little market town of less than 2,000 people. At the time of his ordination, Zwingli was 22.

He spent the next ten years, from 1506 to 1516, as the parish priest of Glarus. Zwingli was a dedicated pastor, and saw to the educational as well as the spiritual needs of his people by organizing an elementary school for the children of the town. At the same time, he spent many hours in study. He taught himself Greek and Hebrew in order to read the Bible in the original languages. He corresponded with the noted scholars of the day, including the celebrated humanist, Erasmus. He read widely in the writings of the early church, especially those of St. Augustine. Zwingli’s independence and acuteness as a theologian and reformer can probably be traced to this period of intense reading and reflection. It was here that he learned to judge the teachings and practices of the church in accordance with the standards of the very Word of God in Scripture.

During this same period, Zwingli served as a chaplain with the Swiss armies, which hired themselves out to the highest bidder as mercenaries. Zwingli was present at one battle in September, 1515, when over 10,000 Swiss soldiers were killed fighting a French army in Italy — an army which also contained hired Swiss soldiers. Because of his experiences, Zwingli became convinced that Switzerland could no longer afford to sell its youth to other countries as cannon fodder, and fought against the mercenary system for the rest of his life.

From Glarus, Zwingli went to the neighboring town of Einsiedeln. Then, in 1519, he was called to Zurich, where he remained for the rest of his life. Although the town of Zurich itself was probably inhabited by less than 6,000 people at that time, there were many more in the small towns and countryside just outside the limits of the city, so that the whole population of the area was close to 60,000. The government was conducted by a town council of about 200. Zurich was a city-state: it was self-governing and did not owe allegience to any other authority. Switzerland at the time was not a nation as such, but an alliance of independent cities. The authority of the town council was absolute, even in matters of religion. Most of Zwingli’s reforming measures were voted on and passed by the town council. In Zurich, these measures had the effect of law.

Zwingli’s first action in Zurich was to commence a series of sermons based directly on the Biblical text, beginning with the Gospel of Matthew and continuing through the New, and then the Old, Testaments. Even this apparently simple plan aroused opposition, especially as Zwingli was not afraid to condemn sins and sinners by name from the pulpit. He would not be stopped: he saw his duty as educating the people of his church as to what the Bible said, and what it meant for their individual lives. The town council, after some initial hesitation, supported him. In 1520, an ordinance was passed requiring all preaching in Zurich to be in accordinance with the pure text of Scripture.

At the same time, the writings of Luther were beginning to circulate. Zwingli admired Luther, but always maintained, and rightly so, that his ideas were his own, the result of his many years of study and thought. The Reformation in Zurich and the Reformation in Wittenberg were similar because they were springs from the same source: the renewed study of Scripture, and not because the one depended on the other. There were deep differences between Zwingli and Luther, and those differences persist to this day in the Lutheran and Reformed churches.

A whole series of reforming measures followed Zwingli’s preaching in Zurich. In 1522, compulsory fasting and celibacy of the priesthood were abolished. (Zwingli himself was secretly married in 1522, although the public ceremony would not be held until 1524.) In 1523, a reform of the liturgy was begun, and a seminary established to train Reformed pastors.