Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531)

Pioneer of the Swiss Reformation in Zürich from 1519, Zwingli came to Reformed convictions through a parallel path to Luther which probably interacted more with Luther than he admitted. They fiercely disagreed over the theology of the Eucharist, Zwingli believing that communion was a witness and a sign, but not something in which the real presence of Christ could be asserted. The emphasis was on our remembering in simplicity and reverence.

Zwingli is important as the first leader of what became the Reformed rather than another Lutheran wing of the Reformation, and particularly for his memorialist teaching on the sacraments, and his nervousness about instrumental music in worship and about doing anything not explicitly commanded by God. Yet Zwingli believed in the possibility of salvation outside of the church, partly because of his strong doctrine of election and belief in the sovereignty of God, but also because of his humanist values which were often in tension with some of his practices.

It needs to be remembered that he was a pioneer and he did not live long enough to work through all his ideas.

G R Potter, Zwingli, CUP, 1976.

Alfred Schindler, Zwingli, in Adrian Hastings, ed., Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, 2000, p.765f.

D Shaw, "Zwinglian influences on the Scottish Reformation", Records of the Scottish Church History Society 22, 1985, 119-139.

W P Stephens, "Zwinglianism" in Nigel M de S Cameron, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, 905f.

Theology Website, Ulrich Zwingli