Anabaptists and Calvinists
The Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in Northern Germany spread across Northern Europe for a number of reasons. Many political leaders had long looked for a way to escape the power of the Catholic Church and its officials. Throughout Europe, many had grown tired of Church abuses and corruption, and accepted the Protestant reforms made in Germany as a logical alternative. Luther's Protestant ideas also inspired central Europe's peasants to armed class struggles against the Church and nobles, whom the peasants perceived to be the sources of their oppression. Another reason for the quick spread of Protestant ideas was rising literacy in an increasingly urban Europe. After the development of the printing press, revolutionary views of reform could be more easily produced and disseminated. Charismatic individuals rose to lead communities of Protestants in many different areas of Europe.
Huldreich Zwingli was a Swiss Protestant reformer who mixed religious and political goals in his struggle to create a perfect Christian Church. When Zwingli was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1506, Switzerland was a confederation of 13 cantons loosely under the control of the Holy Roman Empire but with great autonomy in political and religious matters. One of their rights was the ability to elect their own bishops and priests. In 1518, Zwingli was chosen to preach at the cathedral in Zurich, one of Switzerland's most important commercial cities. Zwingli began corresponding with Martin Luther, and soon chose to become a Protestant. Zwingli developed a church service for Zurich that consisted of scripture reading, followed by prayer, followed by a sermon. No music or singing was allowed, and the church could not be adorned with any images or icons because Zwingli felt these trappings of ritual and ceremony turned Christians away from the austere, simple message of the Bible. Zwingli's reforms were also inspired by his desire for a Switzerland more independent from the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. His reforms brought him into conflict with five Catholic Swiss cantons. Eventually, Zwingli's anti-Catholic stance led to war, and the Catholic cantons crushed the forces of Zurich at the battle of Cappel in 1531. Zwingli was killed in the battle, and with him died his brand of reform, but Protestant ideas would still flourish in Switzerland.
Eventually, those who supported adult baptism broke away from Zwingli, and became known as Anabaptists. Both Luther and Zwingli branded them heretics because they posed a threat to the stability of their respective fledgling Protestant groups. Catholics saw them as another Protestant group. Anabaptists spread to Germany and France, where they were brutally massacred. Some Anabaptists fought back, ransacking Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist churches and property. Other groups of Anabaptists remained pacifist, and many lived in secluded communities. Eventually, the Anabaptists found tolerance for a time in Holland and England, but their persecution pointed to the disunity and strife surrounding the Protestant Reformation.
John Calvin was a French Protestant reformer whose stern views became the most internationally influential movement of the Reformation. In the 1520s, Calvin attended the University of Paris, which was a hotbed of Protestant thinkers in a predominantly Catholic nation. Calvin became an active member of a group of humanists who believed in the ideas of Protestant reformers. In 1534, because of official persecution, Calvin fled to the Swiss cantons that were tolerant of Protestants. In 1536, he published Institutes of the Christian Religion, which outlined his beliefs on the Protestant faith and on how a Protestant community should be governed. Calvin's main religious belief was that God predetermined the few lucky souls who were granted salvation long before they were born. This belief is known as predestination. As a result, Calvin's followers believed in living austere, serious lives in hopes this would prove they had been chosen by God, though no sure way existed of proving whether or not one had been predestined to be granted God's grace.
Calvin received an opportunity to practice his ideas when he was chosen to lead the religious community of Geneva in 1541. He organized the city into districts, each governed by elders and ministers who were responsible for the behavior of the citizens. No one was allowed to swear or stay out past nine in the evening, and attendance at worship services was mandatory. Card playing, dancing, drinking alcohol, and singing worldly songs were strictly prohibited. Like Zwingli, Calvin rejected the opulent Church buildings and rituals of the Catholic Church. Geneva's churches were stripped of their art and statuary, and remodeled to be simple houses of worship. Church services were plain, dominated by the preacher's sermon. These reforms, Calvin believed, would be achieved when civic rule was dominated by religious leaders. Because of this community discipline, Geneva soon became the leading Protestant city in Europe, and known as the "City of God." Protestants flocked to Geneva's university to study, and Calvin's ideas spread to other parts of Switzerland, France, Hungary, Germany, England, and Scotland.
One limitation of the Protestant Reformation was that from the start dissenting groups did not have a common point of departure. Luther and Zwingli differed greatly over the nature of the Eucharist, and Calvin ventured far from Luther's thought when he combined church and state. This combination of a government run by church leaders is known as a theocracy. More tragically, some Protestant splinter groups were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike. The most famous case is that of the Anabaptists. In 1525 in Zurich, a group of Zwingli's followers differed on the question of baptism, saying that a Christian should not be baptized until he or she was an adult. Zwingli held with the tradition that infant baptism was justifiable through Scriptural proof.
Huldreich Zwingli was a Swiss Protestant reformer who mixed religious and political goals in his struggle to create a perfect Christian Church. When Zwingli was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1506, Switzerland was a confederation of 13 cantons loosely under the control of the Holy Roman Empire but with great autonomy in political and religious matters. One of their rights was the ability to elect their own bishops and priests. In 1518, Zwingli was chosen to preach at the cathedral in Zurich, one of Switzerland's most important commercial cities. Zwingli began corresponding with Martin Luther, and soon chose to become a Protestant. Zwingli developed a church service for Zurich that consisted of scripture reading, followed by prayer, followed by a sermon. No music or singing was allowed, and the church could not be adorned with any images or icons because Zwingli felt these trappings of ritual and ceremony turned Christians away from the austere, simple message of the Bible. Zwingli's reforms were also inspired by his desire for a Switzerland more independent from the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. His reforms brought him into conflict with five Catholic Swiss cantons. Eventually, Zwingli's anti-Catholic stance led to war, and the Catholic cantons crushed the forces of Zurich at the battle of Cappel in 1531. Zwingli was killed in the battle, and with him died his brand of reform, but Protestant ideas would still flourish in Switzerland.
Eventually, those who supported adult baptism broke away from Zwingli, and became known as Anabaptists. Both Luther and Zwingli branded them heretics because they posed a threat to the stability of their respective fledgling Protestant groups. Catholics saw them as another Protestant group. Anabaptists spread to Germany and France, where they were brutally massacred. Some Anabaptists fought back, ransacking Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist churches and property. Other groups of Anabaptists remained pacifist, and many lived in secluded communities. Eventually, the Anabaptists found tolerance for a time in Holland and England, but their persecution pointed to the disunity and strife surrounding the Protestant Reformation.
John Calvin was a French Protestant reformer whose stern views became the most internationally influential movement of the Reformation. In the 1520s, Calvin attended the University of Paris, which was a hotbed of Protestant thinkers in a predominantly Catholic nation. Calvin became an active member of a group of humanists who believed in the ideas of Protestant reformers. In 1534, because of official persecution, Calvin fled to the Swiss cantons that were tolerant of Protestants. In 1536, he published Institutes of the Christian Religion, which outlined his beliefs on the Protestant faith and on how a Protestant community should be governed. Calvin's main religious belief was that God predetermined the few lucky souls who were granted salvation long before they were born. This belief is known as predestination. As a result, Calvin's followers believed in living austere, serious lives in hopes this would prove they had been chosen by God, though no sure way existed of proving whether or not one had been predestined to be granted God's grace.
Calvin received an opportunity to practice his ideas when he was chosen to lead the religious community of Geneva in 1541. He organized the city into districts, each governed by elders and ministers who were responsible for the behavior of the citizens. No one was allowed to swear or stay out past nine in the evening, and attendance at worship services was mandatory. Card playing, dancing, drinking alcohol, and singing worldly songs were strictly prohibited. Like Zwingli, Calvin rejected the opulent Church buildings and rituals of the Catholic Church. Geneva's churches were stripped of their art and statuary, and remodeled to be simple houses of worship. Church services were plain, dominated by the preacher's sermon. These reforms, Calvin believed, would be achieved when civic rule was dominated by religious leaders. Because of this community discipline, Geneva soon became the leading Protestant city in Europe, and known as the "City of God." Protestants flocked to Geneva's university to study, and Calvin's ideas spread to other parts of Switzerland, France, Hungary, Germany, England, and Scotland.
One limitation of the Protestant Reformation was that from the start dissenting groups did not have a common point of departure. Luther and Zwingli differed greatly over the nature of the Eucharist, and Calvin ventured far from Luther's thought when he combined church and state. This combination of a government run by church leaders is known as a theocracy. More tragically, some Protestant splinter groups were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike. The most famous case is that of the Anabaptists. In 1525 in Zurich, a group of Zwingli's followers differed on the question of baptism, saying that a Christian should not be baptized until he or she was an adult. Zwingli held with the tradition that infant baptism was justifiable through Scriptural proof.