Zwingli The Pastor

The Reformer at war In Zwingli the Pastor, Stephen Brett Eccher tells the story of Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), embattled pastor and reformer. Zwingli's ministry in Zurich was characterized by conflict—conflict that fueled him. It influenced his theological development, inspired his commitment to bring reform, and compelled his devotion to the congregation he led through the tumult of the Reformation. Eccher reveals a complex Zwingli, whose life and legacy continue to influence Protestantism today.

A collection of of Zwingli's later writings (1525-1531), including such works as his treatise on original sin, essay on providence and his Short and Clear Exposition of the Christian Faith.

A major new biography of Huldrych Zwingli—the warrior preacher who shaped the early Reformation Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) was the most significant early reformer after Martin Luther. As the architect of the Reformation in Switzerland, he created the Reformed tradition later inherited by John Calvin. His movement ultimately became a global religion. A visionary of a new society, Zwingli was also a divisive and fiercely radical figure. Bruce Gordon presents a fresh interpretation of the early Reformation and the key role played by Zwingli. A charismatic preacher and politician, Zwingli transformed church and society in Zurich and inspired supporters throughout Europe. Yet, Gordon shows, he was seen as an agitator and heretic by many and his bellicose, unyielding efforts to realize his vision would prove his undoing. Unable to control the movement he had launched, Zwingli died on the battlefield fighting his Catholic opponents.

Ulrich, or Huldrych, Zwingli of Zürich is the ‘great unknown’ of the Reformation in Europe, and yet his influence and ideas have penetrated into every part of the world where the Reformed tradition has been planted. He was neither a passionate man of religion like Luther, nor a superb dialectician like Calvin. But in his lucid radicalism and belief in thorough reform in Church doctrine as well as in government, Zwingli stands with his two more famous brethren as a ‘Father of the Reformation’. First published in English in 1964, Jean Rilliet’s biography places Zwingli in the context of Swiss church history, as well as that of the sixteenth-century upheaval of which he was a part. Covering every aspect of Zwingli’s career, with detailed discussion of his more influential writings, the picture that emerges is one of a ‘fighting prophet’, unremittent in his search for God in this most turbulent of times.

This volume contains several of Zwingli's pre-Reformation writings and his earliest Reformation treatises, which defended the freedom of Christians by attacking such issues as regulations governing Lenten fasts, clerical marriage and clerical celibacy.