THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND; ZWINGLI AND CALVIN
HULDREICH ZWINGLI, 1484-1531 A.D.
The Reformation in Switzerland began with the work of
Zwingli. He was the contemporary but not the disciple of Luther. From his
pulpit in the cathedral of Zurich, Zwingli proclaimed the Scriptures as the
sole guide of faith and denied the supremacy of the pope. Many of the Swiss
cantons accepted his teaching and broke away from obedience to Rome. Civil war
soon followed between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and Zwingli fell in the
struggle. After his death the two parties made a peace which allowed each
canton to determine its own religion. Switzerland has continued to this day to
be part Roman Catholic and part Protestant.
JOHN CALVIN 1509-1564 A.D.
The Protestants in Switzerland did not remain long without
a leader. To Geneva came in 1536 A.D. a young Frenchman named Calvin. He had
just published his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a work which
set forth in an orderly, logical manner the main principles of Protestant
theology. Calvin also translated the Bible into French and wrote valuable
commentaries on nearly all the Scriptural books.
