The Protestant Reformation: Ulrich Zwingli

Huldrych Zwingli was widely known as a humanist and admirer of Erasmus when he came to Zurich from Glarus and Einsiedeln in 1519.

At stake in this introduction to Huldrych Zwingli's life and work is not a comprehensive treatment but a sketch of the basic theme,a survey of the research,and an aid to further research.In view of the diversity of material,certain questions and problems could only be dealt with summarily and paradigmatically.Thus it was not always possible to give detailed reasons for my own view.Nevertheless,neither the selection necessary nor the brevity required should impair intelligibility and balance.-Preface.

This volume contains several of Zwingli's important pre-Reformation writings as well as his earliest Reformation treatises.Zwingli defended Christian freedom by attacking the regulations governing Lenten fasts.He argued for clerical marriage and rejected enforced clerical celibacy as a source of priestly immorality and scandal.He warned the Swiss against the danger of serving as mercenaries in the pay of foreign princes.In a truculent essay which Erasmus deplored,Zwingli replied to the admonition of the bishop of Constance which condemned the new ideas advocated by Zwingli.The editor included in this volume the life of Zwingli written by Oswald Myconius in 1532,the year after Zwingli's death.-Back cover

This is the first comprehensive study of Zwingli's theology in English and the first extended presentation of the theology of this Swiss Reformer (1484-1531) since Pollet's work in 1950. Making use of the main secondary studies in German, French, and English, and drawing from the whole range of Zwingli's writings, the book covers the central themes of his theology--unfolding them historically as well as systematically--and sets it in the context of his life and ministry.

This volume contains a number of the later writings of Zwingli beginning with his treatise on original sin (1526) and concluding with his "Short and Clear Exposition of the Christian Faith"(1531).The longest and most important of the treatises collected here is his essay on providence which began as a sermon delivered by Zwingli at Marburg during the Marburg Colloquy, October 1-4,1529.As rewritten by Zwingli in 1530 the sermon has become a philosophical treatise.In his philosophy he follows principally Aristotle and the Stoics.The doctrine of God,starting from the conception of the highest Being,is developed into a cosmological argument for the Being of God.Upon this basis the discussion of divine providence proceeds,culminating in the question of divine predestination.It is the most abstruse as well as the most penetrating Latin work by Zwingli.The volume also contains Zwingli's "Account of the Faith",submitted to the emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg,together with the "Refutation" of that account by the Roman Catholic polemicist,John Eck,and Zwingli's reply to the refutation.-Back cover.

"This book, by a leading Reformation scholar, is the only comprehensive introduction to Zwingli's thought for the student and general reader. In it, Professor Stephens discusses the main areas of debate in Zwingli studies, and engages with a variety of interpretations of Zwingli. In the opening chapters he places Zwingli in the context of Zurich and Switzerland in the 16th century, describes the various influences in Zwingli's development, and outlines his life and work as a reformer. There follow two chapters which introduce the main themes in Zwingli's thought: his understanding and use of the Bible; God, Christ, and the Spirit; salvation, word and sacrament; baptism; the eucharist; the church and the state. These subjects are related both to the life and work of Zwingli himself and the views of other reformers. A final chapter considers Zwingli as a reformer and theologian. Here, and elsewhere in the book, Professor Stephens points to Zwingli's relevance today. There is a short glossary of theological and other terms which will be particularly useful to the general reader. A select bibliography gives the main books and articles in English relevant to each of the chapters."--Jacket.

In opening this series to a theologian who intended to treat some of the main features of the theology of Huldrych Zwingli,the Faculty of Princeton Seminary,which has responsibility for administering the Warfield Lectures,inferred that this subject was entirely within the intentions of the founder,and that such lectures could contribute to better understanding of a Reformer who is not yet known as he deserves to be.-Preface.