Zwingli and the seeds of Reformation in Zurich
Other than Martin Luther , Heinrich Bullinger , and John Calvin , the most important early Reformer was Ulrich Zwingli . A first-generation Reformer, he is regarded as the founder of Swiss Protestantism. Furthermore, history remembers him as the first Reformed theologian . Though Calvin would later surpass Zwingli as a theologian, he would stand squarely on Zwingli's broad shoulders. Less than two months after Luther came into the world, Zwingli was born on January 1, 1484, in Wildhaus, a small village in the eastern part of modern-day Switzerland, forty miles from Zurich . His father, Ulrich Sr., had risen from peasant stock to become an upper-middle-class man of means, a successful farmer and shepherd, as well as the chief magistrate for the district. This prosperity allowed him to provide his son with an excellent education. He presided over a home where typical Swiss values were inculcated in young Ulrich: sturdy independence, strong patriotism, zeal for religion, and re