Dr Paul Allen

Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) is regarded as the most influential second-generation Reformer. As the heir to Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland , he consolidated and continued the Swiss Reformation that his predecessor had started. Philip Schaff writes that Bullinger was "a man of firm faith, courage, moderation, patience, and endurance . . . [who was] providentially equipped" to preserve and advance the truth in a difficult time in history (Philip Schaff,  History of the Christian Church, Vol. VIII: Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation  [1910; repr., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984], 205). During his forty-four years as the chief minister in Zurich, Bullinger's literary output exceeded that of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Zwingli combined. He was of monumental importance in the spread of Reformed teaching throughout the Reformation. So far-reaching was Bullinger's influence throughout conti...

Church Zurich-Enge, window with Zwingli, Luther (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Zwingli , Ulrich (1484–1531). After Luther and Calvin, the most important early Protestant reformer. Zwingli was born in Wildhaus, St. Gall, Switzerland , and showed early promise. He studied at Berne and Vienna before matriculating at the University of Basel , where he was captivated by humanistic studies.  At Basel he also came under the influence of reformer Thomas Wyttenbach, who encouraged him in the directions that would eventually lead to his belief in the sole authority of Scripture and in justification by grace through faith alone. Zwingli was ordained a Catholic priest and served parishes in Glarus (1506–16) and Einsiedeln (1516–18) until called to be the people’s (or preaching) priest at the Great Minster in Zurich . Sometime around 1516, after diligent study in Erasmus’s Greek NT and after long wrestling with the moral problem of sensuality, he experienced an evangelical breakthrough, mu...

Having been struck in the head, Zwingli collapsed to the ground. Stunned, he began to pray and to recite Scripture—‘do not fear those who can kill the body but fear him who can kill the soul in hell …’. As the last word passed beyond his lips and into the hearing of the Catholic soldier standing over him, the soldier struck again and this time the blow was fatal. Zwingli’s comrade in arms, hearing his last utterance and seeing the death blow, fled. The troops from Zurich were scattered like sheep without a shepherd and Zwingli died alone on the beautiful meadow near the Monastery of Kappel-am-Albis . After the rout, the Catholic troops were looting the bodies and piling them for burning when one of them looked at Zwingli and recognized him. Announcing his find to his victorious comrades, incredible rejoicing broke out and many gathered at the place where Zwingli lie. They stripped him of his helmet and his clothing, chopped him into four pieces, threw his body in the fire, an...

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...