Zwingli, Ulrich

(1484–1531)

   Theologian and Reformer.

   Zwingli was born in Wildhaus, Switzerland, and he was educated at Berne, Vienna and Basle. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1506 and he served as a parish priest and as an army chaplain. In 1518 he moved to Zürich which became his headquarters. Strongly influenced by erasmus, he came to the opinion that Scripture was the sole source of truth and he rejected the authority of the Papacy. The citizens of Zürich fully supported his stand. The Church was declared independent of episcopal authority; the Mass was abolished and images were removed from churches. By 1524, Zwingli was teaching that the Eucharist was a purely symbolic act and that no change in the elements took place. Over this issue, he clashed with luther and the matter was not resolved at the Colloquy of Marburg in 1529. However, he was also antipathetic towards the Anabaptists. His teachings spread throughout Switzerland and caused great dissension. War broke out between the Zwinglian and the Roman Catholic cantons in 1531 and Zwingli himself was killed in a skirmish at Cappel. Zwingli’s teaching on the Eucharist is generally regarded as the extreme Protestant position.

   R.C. Walton, Zwingli’s Theocracy (1967);

   W.P. Stephens, Zwingli: An Introduction to his Thought (1992).