Part III October 6, 2009

 Although the German Reformation was the first, they were not the only areas where the church was being challenged  Switzerland and France also had their own independent movements.

 Switzerland of the early 1500’s was a loose confederation of 13 states, or CANTONS.  Some became Catholic while some became Protestant  And a few had both.  Switzerland also had a thriving mercenary business

 Ulrich Zwingli was a humanist educated man  He credited Erasmus more than Luther for setting him on the path to reform.  He was a critic of the use of the Swiss mercenary service all over Europe  He also opposed the sale of indulgences

 He ran for the post of people’s priest in Zurich.  After winning, he petitioned for the ending of clerical celibacy and for the right of clergy to legally marry, which was practiced in all Protestant lands

 The Reformation passed from the hands of theologians into the hands of rulers  They began to change reform from merely slogans to laws which must be obeyed.  This began the politicization of religious reform.

 Zwingli engineered the Swiss Reformation in March of 1522 when he was a party to breaking of the Lenten fast.  His reform guideline was simple:  Whatever lacked literal support in Scripture was to be neither believed or practiced.  This raised questions about traditions such as fasting, transubstantiation, the worship of saints, pilgrimages, purgatory, clerical celibacy and certain sacraments

 Zwingli and Luther had bitter theological differences.  In the Eucharist, Zwingli believed in a symbolic interpretation of the Eucharist (this is my body…) while Luther believed in a literal interpretation of it.  Luther thought Zwingli to be a dangerous fanatic  Zwingli thought Luther was still mired in medieval superstition

 Civil war broke out between the Protestant and Catholic cantons between 1529 and  Zwingli was wounded, executed and hacked into pieces and the pieces scattered so his followers would have no relics to inspire them  The civil war ended with the guarantee that the cantons could choose their own religion.

 Anabaptists  Spiritualists  Antitrinitarians

 In the second half of the 16 th century, Calvinism replaced Lutheranism as the dominant Protestant movement

 The emperor attempted for many years to force Catholicism back into the German States….he failed.  At the Peace of Augsburg, he finally recognized the authority of the ruler of a land to determine its religion.  This cemented the division in Christendom forever