Contributions Of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli And John Calvin

In the 15th and 16th century, there had been three shining starts in the history of Christian Protestant Reformation. They are Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin. All of them made outstanding contributions to the Reformation.

Martin Luther was a German theologian and religious reformer who was the catalyst of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. He was born in Germany. He went Latin school and then to the University of Erfurt to study law when he was only 13 years old. Martin earned both his baccalaureate and master 's degrees there. Then in 1505, his life took a dramatic turn. As he fought his way through a severe thunderstorm on the road, a lightning struck the ground near him. He was scared and screamed "Help me, St. Anne,

Like Martin Luther, he accepted the supreme authority of the Scriptures, but he applied it more rigorously and comprehensively to all doctrines and practices. Zwingli went to university at Vienna. After graduating in 1506, he became a parish priest in Glarus. And in 1516, he moved to Einsiedeln, where he enjoyed wide opportunities for preaching to the many pilgrims and fine facilities for study at the convent. 1519, he began preaching from the New Testament. Zwingli also started challenging the customs of medieval Christendom he thought unbibical. He had struggled with clerical celibacy for some time. The year 1523 was crucial in the Zurich Reformation. Zwingli published his challenging 67 Artikel. His main contentions were adopted by most priests in the district. And the main theses he put fourth were, first the church is born of the world of God and has Christ alone as it head. Second, its laws are binding only insofar as they agree with the Scripture. Third, Christ alone is man 's righteousness.2 From 1525, Zwingli 's work was hampered by disagreement both within Switzerland and outside. He convinced the city to abolish the Mass and replace it with a simple service that included the Lord 's Supper but only as a symbolic memorial. As it turned out, it was the Lord 's Supper that prevented the uniting of the German and Swiss reform movements. Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli met in 1529. Although they agreed on 14 points of doctrine, they stumbled on the fifth: the Lord 's Supper. Luther insisted on Christ 's literal presence which against Zwingli 's view. Luther said Zwingli was of the devil and that he was nothing but a wormy nut. Zwingli resented Luther 's treating him "like an ass." It was evidence that no reconciliation was possible. Zwingli died two years later in battle, which defended Zurich against Catholic forces. He was the most important reformer in the Swiss