How Did Zwingli Influence Reform

Bryan Damas
Ms. Abston
January 19, 2014

Ulrich Zwingli

Zwingli was the third of eight boys and two girls born to the successful district official, Ulrich Zwingli, of the town of Wildhaus. Zwingli’s uncle, Bartholomew, was pastor of Wildhaus and became pastor and dean of Wesen on the Walensee. It was there that the younger Ulrich received his early education under his uncle’s guidance. He was sent, at the age of ten to the school of St. Theodore

Years later, Zwingli was educated at the University of Vienna, Berne and the University of Basel. He studied under some of the greatest Humanists of Switzerland. He majored in the classical studies of poetry, philosophy, music, astronomy, physics and the ancient classics. It was likely that Zwingli met men who would plant seeds of reformation in his mind.

In 1506 he was ordained into the priesthood in Glarus, where he began studying Erasmus. Erasmus’ writings were part of what most likely brought Zwingli’s attention on reform. In 1515, he moved to Einsiedeln, where he saw the evil in some practices from Rome such as the
buying of indulgences. Zwingli’s reformed teachings became quite popular and on January 1, 1519, he was appointed priest at Grossmünster in Zürich where he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. In his first public argument, he attacked the custom of fasting during Lent and the use of images in places of worship. Zwingli also clashed with the Anabaptists, which resulted in their persecution.

Although the seeds of reformation had already been planted and Zwingli was already preaching the beginnings of a reformed church, he had not yet given himself completely to the Lord. For up to this time, he had some habits in his life that he had not fully turned away from. But when the 1520 plague struck Zurich and destroyed nearly a third of the people, including Zwingli himself who had been faithfully ministering to the needs of his people, it appears as though he emerged from his near death experience a changed man.

After he fully recovered from the plague, Zwingli began fighting for strict obedience to the literal teachings of scripture. In Switzerland, reform was brought about by an appeal to the magistrate of the city who called for a debate between Roman Catholic theologians and reformers. He who defended his position most effectively and almost always it was the reformers—who based their arguments just on scripture, was awarded the right to make, or not make, the argued reform. Zwingli won his first of many successful debates in 1523. Some of the changes brought about by his debates were: Lent was abandoned, clerical celibacy was declared unbiblical, churches were severed from the papacy, the mass was replaced…just a few among many changes that Zwingli and others in Switzerland brought about.

Another controversy surrounding Zwingli’s life is his marriage to Anna Reinhard.
As told, Zwingli married Reinhard, a widow of a high position in the community, in a secret marriage in 1522. Zwingli kept his marriage a secret from all but his closest friends until he married her publicly on April 2, 1524. Some have said that this was because priests were forbidden from marrying in his day and he was afraid of the consequences from doing so. Others were not so kind and even accused him of living with her in an unmarried state from 1522-1524 in what was called a “clerical marriage.” Nevertheless, theirs was seen as a good marriage which resulted in the birth of four children, adding to the three she brought into the marriage. Their names were Regula Zwingli, born July 13,1524; Wilhelm Zwingli, born January 29, 1526; Huldreich Zwingli, born Jan. 6, 1528 and Anna Zwingli, born May 4,
1530.

The Reformation spread to other parts of the country, but several churches resisted, preferring to remain Catholic. Zwingli formed an alliance of Reformed "counties" which divided the Confederation along religious lines. In 1529, a war between the two sides was planned at the last moment. Meanwhile, Zwingli 's ideas came to the attention of Martin Luther and other reformers.
In 1531, the Roman Catholic Church declared war against the Protestant Swiss in a sudden surprise attack. Zwingli joined the Swiss troops as chaplain. Zwingli 's alliance applied an unsuccessful food blockade on the Catholic cantons. The Swiss lost decisively and Zwingli was killed at the battle of Kappel, his body defiled, on October 11, 1531. Zwingli was killed in battle at the age of 47. His legacy lives on in the confessions, publications, and church orders of the Reformed churches of today.

Works Cited:

"Ulrich Zwingli and the Reformation in Switzerland." Ulrich Zwingli and the Reformation in Switzerland. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

"Huldrych Zwingli." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.