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C. Theological Diversity Within the Reformation Tradition

9. John Calvin: The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Tutor: Brian Yhearm

Contents

Introduction
1. The Institutes and Reformation Pedagogy
2. Reading the Institutes

Part I: The Origins of the Institutes
1. How the Institutes Evolved
2. The Structure of the Edition of 1559
3. The Content of the 1559 Institutes

Part II: The Theological Substance of the Institutes
0. Introduction
1. God
2. Christ
3. Justification
4. Predestination
5. Sacraments

Part III: Preparation for Week 10: Huldrych Zwingli
1. Reading
2. Set Reading
3. Seminar Preparation

Introduction

1. The Institutes and Reformation Pedagogy

Martin Luther conceived of a programme of education for the Reformation Christian. This education was based around the catechism and his Larger Catechism formed part of Luther’s educational strategy for the masses ;the summary, Small Catechism, which is primarily based on the Ten Commandments. (Further reference to the catechism can be found in Luther’s Table Talk, sections 264-70).

Luther’s education programme met with mixed success, as did his Reformation, and it is perhaps here that the difference between Luther and Calvin is most marked. The Institutes of the Christian Religion were Calvin’s attempt at systematically laying out a Christian pedagogy [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1966, pp. 137-68, for the fullest exposition of the idea]. He collected together in one place what he regarded as the core of the faith and what hew saw as essential to Christian living: ‘it was the most sustained presentation of the fabric of reformed protestant Christianity in the sixteenth-century’ [6.1.2, Greengrass, p. 173, and cf., 6.1.2, Parker, pp. 104-7, 129-32, on the relationship of the Institutes to the Commentaries].

The Institutes of the Christian Religion went through four editions (see Part I, section 1, below) but also was translated into French and other vernacular languages at a rapid rate throughout the sixteenth-century (Spanish, Italian, Dutch, English, German etc.) [6.1.2, Greengrass, pp. 173, 175]. The Institutes are ‘an expression of eloquentia, so highly praised by the Renaissance, both in its structure and its prose’ [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 148].

 

2. Reading the Institutes

‘To understand Calvin it is necessary to read Calvin’ [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 145]. Many Calvin texts can be found through the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies website: http://citd. scar.utoronto.ca/crrs/index/html. While the Institutes of the Christian Religion are very large, selective use of contents pages and indices can be of great help. Essential reading should include the following:

The most helpful introduction to reading Calvin is perhaps Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin, pp. 145-74, but the theological discussions in Niesel, Parker and Wendel are helpful.

Part I: The Origins of the Institutes

1. How the Institutes Evolved

The Institutes of the Christian Religion, as they are now universally called in English, were first published in Latin in 1536 under the title Institutio Christianae Religionis [6.1.2, Reardon, pp. 154-57]. Calvin was just twenty-seven and the Reformation of Martin Luther was not yet fully established. The word institutio would remind the humanist readers of the legal code of the Emperor Justinian [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 136]. The Institutes were written in and for the sixteenth-century.

The first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion was the Latin version published in Basle in 1536, it went to a second edition in 1539 (printed in Strasbourg) with quite substantial amounts of new material. Indeed the second edition was three times a voluminous as the first edition and ‘it is no longer a primer; it is well on the way to being a definitive statement on the nature of the Christian faith’ [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 137]. The third edition evolved more slowly through 1543-50 (printed in Geneva) and contained revisions across the substance of the work and new material on monasticism but it was less well organised (some regard the 1543/1550 publications as one edition, others [for example, 6.1.2, Wendel, p. 117] as two editions). The final version of the Institutes was published in 1559 in Geneva and has obviously become the definitive edition of the Institutes [6.1.2, Greengrass, p. 172, has a very useful summary table of the evolution of the editions and also see, 6.1.2, McGrath, p. 141].

The notion that the Institutes was originally meant as a primer with catechetical intent can be seen from the Preface, the apologetic letter to Francis I: ‘My purpose was solely to transmit certain rudiments by which those who are touched with any zeal for religion might be shaped in true godliness’. You must decide for yourself whether this claim is correct and that the apologetic tone of the Preface of the Institutes is carried though into criticism and polemic. The 1536 edition certainly contained polemic in that the fifth chapter, of its six chapters, was "The Five False Sacraments".

The 1536 edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion is about 220 pages in a modern edition and the 1559 edition about 1500 pages. It is likely therefore that some changes in content and purpose must have occurred between these dates. The 1536 edition is made up of six chapters, the 1559 edition 4 Books and 80 chapters. Each Book title and each chapter heading in the 1559 edition are quite explicit and precisely described. As the editions evolved they became more like the topoi of Aristotle (loci in Latin and used, for example, by Cicero), that is, a discussion of ‘important topics’ (topos literally means "place" or "position").

The fourfold structure of topics the Institutes is clear in each edition and may represent a rough framework of the exegesis of the Apostles Creed:

  • I believe in the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth ...
  • I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son Our Lord ...
  • I believe in the Holy Spirit ...
  • I believe in the holy catholic Church ...

As Wendel has claimed [6.1.2, pp. 122-44] the Institutes are made up, or influenced by, a number of sources: (a) the Bible - both in Hebrew and Greek [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1996, p. 236], (b) the Church Fathers, (c) Roman law, (d) nominalist thought and (e) the thought of Martin Luther [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1966, pp. 133-81, for a full exposition of the sources]. The Institutes of the Christian Religion became a programmatic statement of Christian theology as understood by Calvin [6.1.2, Wendel, pp. 111-49]. It was not the first such work of the emergent Protestant sects. In 1521, Philipp Melanchthon published the Loci Communes ("Commonplaces") which was an exposition of Luther’s thinking [6.1.2, McGrath, pp. 139f.], Huldrych Zwingli wrote in 1525 the Commentarius de vera et falsa religione and Guilluame Farel, in 1534, his Sommaire which was a brief exposition of the key aspects of being a Christian [6.1.2, Parker, p. 34]. In 1529, in Avignon, Francis Lambert wrote Somme Chrestienne a short work which Calvin deliberately used as a "source" and basis for his Institutes.

The political circumstances of the origins of the Institutes is a key item in our interpretation of the work. We saw in the last session that Guillaume Cop, rector of the University of Paris, was implicated by the authorities over a sermon, based on the daily lectionary reading, Matthew 5.1-12, and both were forced to flee Paris and they went together to Basel in February 1535. The Institutes were written soon after this traumatic event and the Preface of the Institutes reflects an apologetic intent as well as an attempt by Calvin to persuade Francis I that his faith was not dangerous or seditious. The 1536 Preface, an open letter to Francis I, the famed Epistola Nuncupatoria, remained unchanged throughout all of the editions of the Institutes.

Francis I was implacably opposed to the evangelicals in France and sent instruction to the French parliament:

Dear faithful friends ... we are very troubled and displeased at what has taken place ... where at the principal university of Christendom that accursed heretical Lutherans sect swarms. Its further spread we wish with our might and power to prevent. And to that end we wish and understand that such a grievous punishment should be meted out that it would be a correction to the accursed heretics and an example to all others [in A.-L. Herminjard, Correspondence des Réformateurs (Geneva, 1870), vol. 3, pp. 114f.].

Given this serious situation, it is unsurprising that an apologetic motive is evident in the Institutes of the Christian Religion but it also indicates something of its genesis.

 

2. The Structure of the Edition of 1559

The Institutes of the Christian Religion is divided into four books each division corresponding with a selected discrete theological topic.

Book 1

The knowledge of God the creator.

18 chapters

Book 2

The knowledge of God the redeemer in Christ, first disclosed to the fathers under the law, and then to us in the gospel.

17 chapters

Book 3

The way which we receive grace from Christ: what benefits come to us from it, and what effects follow.

25 chapters

Book 4

The eternal means of aids by which God invites us into the society of Christ and holds us therein.

20 chapters

As the final column in the table helps to indicate, each Book of the Institutes is systematically broken down into a series of chapters, the logic of their order clear from any cursory glance at the contents of the Institutes will swiftly demonstrate.

The Institutes of the Christian Religion is highly structured as the order of the four books demonstrates [6.1.2, Chadwick, pp. 92-96]. The work begins with God as creator, then follows on to God as redeemer through his plan of salvation, then to how salvation is made possible through the work of the crucified Jesus aided by the Holy Spirit and, finally, how that salvation is practically supported and worked out in the church [6.1.2, McGrath, pp. 151-74, for an overview].

The opening of the Institutes sets the tone in its brilliant lucidity and simplicity and therefore forms the foundation for the 1500 pages of exposition that follow:

Our wisdom, is so far that it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves (1.1.1 [that is, Book 1, Chapter 1, Paragraph 1]).

The opening line of the Institutes barely changed in the four editions and the remainder of the Institutes of the Christian Religion could be regarded as a commentary on this programmatic sentence [6.1.2, Parker, p. 37]. There may be precursors to Calvin’s thought for this statement, for example, Clement of Alexandria, Instructor 3.1, ‘If one knows himself, he will know God’ and, nearer Calvin’s time, Huldrych Zwingli’s Commentary on True and False Religion, ‘religion cannot be discussed rightly unless before else you acknowledge God and recognise man’.

We earlier remarked that the 1536 Preface, an open letter to Francis I, the Epistola Nuncupatoria, remained unchanged throughout the editions of the Institutes and this is important when we consider the formal structure of the work. The apologetic and defensiveness of the situation in 1536 saw the Institutes with a apologetic or political frame. The Epistola Nuncupatoria opens the 1536 Institutes and the final chapter is concerned with ‘Christian Freedom, Ecclesiastical Power and Political Administration’ - the latter section, an account of civil government. The 1559 Institutes is little different as it begins with the Preface to Francis I and ends in Book 4, Chapter 20, with ‘Civil Government’.

 

3. The Content of the 1559 Institutes

Calvin was systematic but not in the same manner as Medieval scholasticism. His thoughts as demonstrated in the Institutes might be better described as ordered - there is a logic in the presentation of ideas but not a system applied to those ideas such as we find in scholasticism in their application of Aristotelian physics and theology [6.1.2, Mullett, pp. 19-22].

Before summarising the contents of the Institutes of the Christian Religion some attention should be given to its purpose [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1966, pp. 183-239]. The Institutes may have two interrelated purposes: (a) as an apology for the Christian religion (hence the preface to Francis I, king of France, under whom Protestants were persecuted) and (b) a confession of the Christian faith [6.1.2, Parker, pp. 34f.]. Others, for example, Wendel, have argued that the Institutes were written for the purpose of exposition and catechism alongside being an ‘elementary manual’ of Christian doctrine [6.1.2, Wendel, pp. 145f.]. Beyond the choice of apology (and thus joining an established line of Christian literature, beginning with Luke-Acts and the work of Justin Martyr, for example) and catechesis, the Institutes as Calvin presents them are simply also about a theology of revelation.

Knowledge, for Calvin, generates two related attitudes: (a) pietas, ‘a revering and loving of God, brought about by the knowledge of his blessings’ (2.1.35 [that is, Book 2, chapter 1, paragraph 35]) and (b) religio, ‘faith combined with an earnest fear of God, a fear that both contains a voluntary reverence and also carries with it the true service and worship prescribed in the law’ (2.2.37) [so, T. H. L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1995), p. 15].

Preface

This is not broken into sections as the rest of the Institutes but there are clearly a number of themes:

(1) the circumstances of the writing the work,

(2) the basis in Scripture for Calvin’s faith,

(3) refutation of charges made by the Catholics,

(4) his reliance on a sure tradition,

(5) an appeal to custom,

(6) where the true church is to be found,

(7) the Gospel of the reformers is not seditious,

(8) the evangelicals are obedient to civic government.

Book 1

This begins with the problem of how we know anything about God and this is resolved through the dialectic of ‘the sense of divinity’ (or the ‘seed of religion’) (1.3.1; 1.5.1) and God himself. The world reveals God and Calvin’s thinking is important in session 15 where we look at the Reformation and the rise of science because to believe God is in the world and is revealed by the word supposes intrinsic value in the investigative process.

Having set out the link between God and humanity, Calvin then somewhat destroys the link by emphasising the distance of these dialectic twins. Distance is caused through sin (1.10.1). This separation leads him to an exposition of the nature of humanity (1.15.1) showing the simultaneous continuity and discontinuity between the human and the divine and the mediation played by Christ (1.6.1).

Book 2

This book deals with knowledge of redemption and its motive forces but the Institutes develops not by treating separate doctrines (topoi) only in strict succession but by a continuos and coherent argument. Humanity is unable to redeem itself because of sin and God has prepared a way for their salvation. Calvin then discusses the role of the Jewish religion in the soteriological plan (2.7.1) arguing that its fundamental purpose is to point to Christ (2.10.5). There is a detailed description of the relationship between the Testaments of the Bible and Calvin notes that the "New Testament" is obviously superior because it is clearer about ‘invisible things’ (2.11.1), it has clearer imagery (2.11.4), it separates the Law and the Gospel (2.11.7), it is not concerned with fear but freedom (2.11.9) and, finally, it is not confined only to the Jewish nation (2.11.11). The distinctions made are based on the person and work of Jesus who was obedient to God as a human being as took upon himself the sin of all humanity (11.12.3). The remainder of Book 2 deals with a variety of christological images (2.151ff.).

Book 3

Having described the grounds for redemption in Book 2, the Institutes in Book 3 describe how redemption is appropriated. We move from the grounds of redemption to the effecting of salvation. Faith is the means to appropriate salvation (3.1.1) and is directed toward God’s will for humanity (3.2.6). Faith is a means to redemption through being grafted into Christ (3.2.24). Calvin then goes on to explain the role of justification by faith (3.11.1) and it is clear from its position in the Institutes that it is not for Calvin the central conception of the Christian faith (see below). The believer is united with Christ - the ‘insertion of the believer in Christ (insitio in Christum)’ (3.2.24) which entails that all Christ is the believed becomes. In this regard justification by faith and sanctification are direct consequence of this union or incorporation. Calvin next moves on to the concept of predestination (3.21-24), see below, and grace.

Book 4

This Book is the culmination of the Institutes in that the saved believer is now guided into how to live their life as part of the church and in the world. It continues the process of sanctification begun in Book 3. The church is a visible entity but also an invisible entity where the believer shares fellowship with the saints and the elect (4.1.7) [see, in general, 5.0, McGrath, 1988, pp. 194-200]. The binary conception of the church is a key conception because it opens up the question of how to recognise in the world the authentic church or believer. One criteria is explicit, where the Word is preached purely (4.1.9). This is a fact which shows that the authenticity of the church is not only in its visible members but in the quality of its preaching or exposition of the true word of God [6.1.2, Parker, pp. 76f.]. The pattern of church governance is described (4.3.3-4.4.1) and could be compared to the Ecclesiastical Ordinances which we briefly looked at in session 8. Next follows a detailed description of the sacraments (4.14-19) and the last chapter is an account of the place and the role of civic government.

Part II: The Theological Substance of the Institutes

0. Introduction

The summary above of the contents of the Institutes of the Christian Religion indicates the main threads of Calvin’s theological conceptions and his thinking. There is no effective substitute for reading Calvin. The sections below simply reiterates the key highlights of the theological aspects of Calvin’s thinking which should concern you when you examine Calvin’s writings or compare him with other Reformation thinkers.

 

1. God

The Institutes of the Christian Religion are the framework for Calvin’s thinking: ‘Calvin himself explicitly identified the Institutes as the sole authoritative exposition of his religious ideas’ [6.1.2, McGrath, pp. 145f.] and so it is within the context of the Institutes that the Gospel message is understood and appropriated. While there is structure in the Institutes, it is wrong to look for a central doctrine or idea throughout Calvin’s thinking: ‘there is no central doctrine within Calvin’s thought’ [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 148]. His thought is ordered and God and creation come before God/Christ and redemption and that before the establishment and maintenance of the church [6.1.2, Reardon, pp. 170-75]. As we observed earlier, Institutes 1.1.1 makes it blindingly clear that there is a reciprocal nature to knowledge - that of the knowledge of God and the knowledge of man are distinguished but interrelated.

 

2. Christ

The person and work of Christ was central to John Calvin’s conceptions of salvation [6.1.2, Reardon, pp. 181-84] but in particular the christology of Calvin is based on that of John’s Gospel [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1996, p. 237]. Indeed, if anything may be regarded as the core of his thinking, the notion of Christ in the incarnation is that concept [6.1.2, Parker, pp. 39f.]. For Calvin the formula distinctio sed non separatio, two ideas may be distinguished but not separated, is vital. This formula relates to the union of humanity and divinity [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 149].

 

3. Justification

‘The definitive statement of the Reformed doctrine of justification is by John Calvin’ ["Justification", 1.4, McGrath, 1996, p. 365] may be true, but what is very interesting is that Calvin, in his Institutes (3.3.1), discusses sanctification (which he calls "regeneration") before he looks at justification. This shows how justification was not the central issue to Calvin’s theological conceptions and delimits a severe divergence from Martin Luther [6.1.2, Wendel, pp. 255-63].

Like Zwingli, Calvin placed emphasis upon good works as a consequence of justification [6.1.2, Niesel, pp. 126-39]. Because individuals are justified, through a forensic decision, the works of those justified by faith are acceptable to God. Here we have a major divergence with Luther and from it flows the Calvinist emphasis upon work and industry as pleasing to God. Hence, from that, springs the Weber thesis of the Protestant work ethic and the rise of capitalism (see session 14). The paradox of Calvinism is that Calvin’s notion of justification by faith was far more corporate than was Luther’s , which was a much more individualist doctrine [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 165] but the results of the corporate salvation, if we believe Weber, was a highly individualistic work ethic. Whatever the exact lineaments of the doctrine of justification by faith as written about by Calvin, it is true to say that his view gained the ‘ascendancy’ [5.0, McGrath, 1988, p. 112] in the later Reformation [2.1, Cameron, pp. 111-35].

 

4. Predestination

Often regarded as the defining characteristic of Calvin’s thinking [6.1.2, Reardon, pp. 175-81], the concept of predestination in the Institutes, in reality, is a minor theme [6.1.2, McGrath, p. 166]. The idea of predestination hinges on two aspects of theological thinking (3.21-24): the eternal decrees of God which He knows will mean some are saved while others are damned and the awe which we should be inspired by (3.23.7) [6.1.2, Wendel, pp. 263-84, gives a full account of the doctrine]. This ‘awe’ [6.1.2, Chadwick, p. 95], the decretum horribile, is linked with grace and the divine mystery of revelation (3.21.1f. and cf. 1.2.2). Indeed, the concept of predestination is simply an attempt to come to terms with the fact that the offer of grace has occurred and the response has been indifferent. Predestination helps to explain the failure of some to be saved either through ignorance or willful disobedience [well explained in, 5.0, McGrath, 1988, pp. 123-29].

Calvin developed the notion of predestination in detail in response to Albert Pighius’ treaty on free will, De Libero arbitro (1543). In De aeterna Praedestinatione Dei (1552) Calvin refutes his interlocutor [there is a translation in 6.1.1.1, Reid, with a helpful introduction, pp. 9-44].

The idea of predestination was not original to Calvin but the schola Augsutiniana moderna developed a complex notion of double-predestination (God chooses without reference to a person’s merits or demerits) [see, 5.3.2, McGrath, 1986, vol. 1, pp. 28-45, for detail of this Medieval thinking].

 

5. Sacraments

As we saw in session 4, ‘Late Medieval Religious Life’, there were seven sacraments - signs of sacred things - which helped the sanctification of individuals:

  • Baptism: a rite of initiation into the Christian faith. It was both a sign and a bestowal of grace [5.1, Bossy, 1985, pp. 14-19].
  • Confirmation: usually occurred after the age of ten and confirmed the baptism of an individual and the acceptance of that grace.
  • Marriage: again conferred grace on the participants [5.1, Bossy, 1985, pp. 19-26].
  • Extreme Unction: associated with the phrase ‘the last rites’, it was the last anointing (or unction) and normally conferred upon the dying.
  • Penance: fragmented into contrition (penitence, the sorrow shown for a sin), confession, satisfaction and absolution (granted by the priest at confession showing that the grace of God had been given) [5.1, Bossy, 1985, pp. 35-56].
  • Eucharist: also known as "communion" and the "Lord’s Supper" or the "Mass". Based around the farewell meal of Jesus and his disciples. This was the central rite of worship. The bread and the wine which were transformed into the body and blood of Jesus were vessels of grace. Even looking at the consecrated objects bestowed grace. Often this rite happened three times each year (and always at Easter). Priests only partook of the wine.
  • Holy Orders: the clergy and the monastic life were sacramental and ordination was similarly regarded to baptism.

These seven sacraments formed the superstructure or the backbone to everyday "established" religion but with the coming of the Reformation these sacraments were reduced to two: the Eucharist and baptism. Calvin’s main thinking on the reduced sacraments is given in Book 4.14-19 of the Institutes [6.1.2, Wendel, pp. 312-18].

Calvin defines a sacrament as ‘an external symbol by which the Lord seals on our consciences his promises of good will toward us, in order to sustain the weakness of our faith’ (4.1.41) [6.1.2, Ganoczy, 1996, p. 236]. He dismisses five of the Medieval sacraments (4.19.1) [6.1.2, Reardon, pp. 184-92]. As we will see in the next session, there was a heated debate between Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli over the nature of the sacraments [6.1.2, Parker, pp. 42-48]. Calvin was somewhere in the middle of these views [5.0, McGrath, 1988, pp. 117-30, 181-85]. Luther held that the bread and the wine of the Eucharist were really the blood and body of Jesus so that the sacrament and the sign were identical. Zwingli believed that the bread and the wine of the Eucharist were merely symbols of the body and the blood of Jesus.

For Calvin the sign and the signified were very close and that one may be applied to the other (4.17.21) and the signified is effected by its sign (4.17.3). This parallelism is not one of identity - a Catholic idea - but another example of the formula distinctio sed non separatio, two ideas may be distinguished but not separated (4.17.34).

Where Calvin fell midway between Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli on the Eucharist he likewise fell between their view in regard to baptism [2.1, Cameron, pp. 156-67]. With Luther we can see Calvin emphasise that baptism is a sign of the remission of sins (4.15.5) and with Zwingli we see Calvin hold the view that baptism is a public demonstration of allegiance to God (4.15.1). Like all of the Magisterial reformers, Calvin agreed with infant baptism (4.16.8) [see, 5.0, McGrath, 1988, pp. 159-86].

Part III: Preparation for Week 10: Huldrych Zwingli

1. General Reading

1.1 The reading for next week is indicated in sections 6.1.1.2 and 6.1.3 of the main bibliography. A number of books on the Reformation describe Zwingli’s life and work in appropriate detail to give you a foundation for a thoughtful study:

  • Alister McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, pp. 59-65, 170-81, 211-14;
  • Bernard Reardon, Religious Thought in the Reformation, pp. 85-109.
  • Owen Chadwick, The Reformation, pp. 76-81.
  • Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations, pp. 169-98.
  • Alexandre Ganoczy, OER 4 (1996), pp. 320-23.

1.2 There are unfortunately no obvious Internet websites associated with Zwingli that have texts such as we have seen with Erasmus, Luther and Calvin. The best place for primary texts, therefore, is in [6.1.1.2] Potter, Zwingli, which is a useful collection of key texts, albeit incomplete and brief.

1.3 If there are no obvious websites for primary sources on Huldrych Zwingli there are, nevertheless, two websites of related interest. The website, ‘A Swiss Reformation Bibliography on the World Wide Web’ has a link to a Zwingli page which lists recent publications. The ‘Swiss Reformation Bibliography ...’, however, has a number of other hyperlinks to further Reformation websites: St. Andrews Reformation Studies Institute, Electronic Sixteenth Century Journal, etc. and these sites may be helpful to you.

 

2. Set Reading

2.1 Use the questions in 3.2 below while you read the many secondary sources. Use the questions to focus your thinking on the issues which we have noted that were important for Luther and Calvin but note how much more "political" Zwingli’s theology appears by comparison.

 

3. Seminar Preparation

3.1 Define or describe the following concepts as used in Zwingli’s writings:

  • Scripture;
  • Images;
  • Sacraments, especially the Mass;
  • Church;
  • God;
  • Magistrate and the Ministry.

3.2 Here are some questions which should help you form in detail your thinking about Zwingli and his role in the second phase of the Reformation:

  • What was the debts that Zwingli owed to humanism?
  • What role did Scripture play in Zwingli’s thinking?
  • What role did justification by faith play in his theology?
  • What role did iconoclasm play in his theology?
  • Compare and contrast Luther, Calvin and Zwingli on the sacraments.
  • What did Zwingli understand by predestination?
  • How did the church in Zurich see itself and what was Zwingli’s role there?
  • How did Zwingli regard political activity?

 

Last modified: 5- March 1999