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Transcendence and Community in Zwinglian Worship: the Liturgy of 1525 in Zurich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Bruce Gordon
Bruce Gordon*
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews
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Extract

Iconoclasm, rather than liturgical formulation, usually springs to mind when one reflects upon the events in Zurich in the mid-1520s. Indeed, historians of the Swiss Reformation have hardly interested themselves in liturgy, and one searches in vain the most recent and comprehensive treatment of Zwingli’s theology for a discussion of the subject. Ignored by both historians and theologians, the study of liturgy in the Swiss Reformation cuts the figure of the unknown guest at a party who everyone assumes is being entertained by someone else. The consequence has been that liturgy has not been allowed to inform our understanding of Swiss religious change; historians have preferred to leave it in the safe keeping of liturgists who, for the most part, have attended to the history of worship as a separate and distinct act of the community controlled by the clergy. This, surely, can only form part of the picture, for liturgy was perhaps the most inclusive act of the Church: worship was experienced by all levels of society, even if the people brought and took away a panoply of varied levels of comprehension and acceptance. As the central, public act of the Church, the early liturgies of the Reformation articulated the tangled web of convictions, needs, and requirements of communities in transition. Liturgies cannot be separated from either the beliefs which created them or the physical space in which they were performed. The ordered rhythm of words and actions in a particular locality was intended to engage the intellect and senses, drawing out responses at once emotional and cognitive. If we can glimpse something of the experience of worship, whether positive or negative, we shall have an insight into the mental world of the early Reformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 35: Continuity and Change in Christian Worship , 1999 , pp. 128 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1999

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References

1 On iconoclasm, the most important work relating to the Swiss is Lcc Wandel, Palmer, Voracious Idols and Violent Hands. Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg and Basel (Cambridge, 1995).Google Scholar

2 Stephens, W. P., The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli (Oxford, 1986)Google Scholar provides a detailed account of Zwingli’s eucharistic thought, but has little to say on liturgy.

3 On the theme of continuity in Protestant thought, see Bruce Gordon, The changing face of Protestant history writing’, in Gordon, Bruce, ed., Protestant History and Identity in Sixteenth-Century Europe, 2 vols (Aldershot, 1996), 1, pp. 1–22.Google Scholar

4 The literature on Erasmus and the Church is enormous. A helpful recent essay which explores this theme is Hilmar Pabel, ‘The peaceful people of Christ: the ircnic ccdcsiology of Erasmus of Rotterdam’, in Pabel, Hilmar, ed., Erasmus’ Vision of the Church (Kirksville, MS, 1995), pp. 57–93.Google Scholar

5 The best biography of Zwingli remains Potter, G. R., Zwingli (Cambridge, 1976)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On Oecolampadius, see Rupp, Gordon, Patterns of Reformation (Chatham, 1969), pp. 3–46.Google Scholar

6 On nineteenth-century Swiss religious monuments, see Stockmeyer, Karl, Bilder aus der schweizerischen Reformations-Ceschichte zum 400-jährigen Reformations-Jubilaeum 1917 (Basle, 1916).Google Scholar

7 The major works on Zwingli’s liturgy arc Schmidt-Clausing, Fritz, Zwingli als Liturgiker (Gottingen, 1952)Google Scholar; J. Schweizer, Reformierte Abenamahlsgestaltung in der Schau Zwinglis (Basle, 1954); and Markus Jenny, Die Einheit des Abendmahlsgottesdienstes bei den elsaessischwen und schweizerischen Reformatoren (Zürich, 1968).

8 See Snyder, Arnold, ‘Word and power in Renaissance Zurich’, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 81 (1990), pp. 263–85.Google Scholar

9 For a general outline of events, the most comprehensive work in English remains Potter, Zwingli. Palmer Wandel, Voracious Idols, pp. 53-101 is not a chronology but contains much useful information.

10 On the late medieval preachcrships, see Ozment, Steven, The Reformation in the Cities (New Haven, CT, 1975), pp. 38–42.Google Scholar

11 On the Zurich council see, Oberman, Heiko A., The Reformation. Roots and Ramifications (Edinburgh, 1994)Google Scholar, ch. 6: ‘Zwingli’s Reformation between success and failure’, pp. 183-200; W. Jacob, Politische Führungsschicht und Reformation. Untersuchungen zur Reformation in Zurich (Zurich, 1970); Hans Christoph Rublack, ‘Zwingli und Zurich’, Zwingliana, 16 (1985), pp. 395-426.

12 Zwingli’s intellectual background awaits thorough examination. See Lochcr, Gottfried, ‘Zwingli und Erasmus’, Zwingliana, 13 (1969-73), pp. 37–61 Google Scholar; Joachim Rogge, Zwingli und Erasmus (Stuttgart, 1962); J. F. Gerhard Goeters, ‘Zwinglis Werdegang als Erasmianer’, in Reformation und Humanismos. Festschrift für Robert Stupperich (Witten, 1969), pp. 255-71; and on Zwingli’s university training, Ulrich Gäbler, ‘Huldrych Zwinglis “reformatorische Wende”’, Zeitschrift fir Kirchengeschichte, 89 (1978), pp. 120-35. Heiko Oberman has argued that Zwingli’s proofs of God’s existence place him in the tradition of the via antiqua: Oberman, Reformation, pp. 195-9.

13 Huldrych Zwingli, Huldreich Zwinglis Sämtliche Wcrke, ed. Emil Egli et al., 14 vols (Berlin, Leipzig, and Zurich, 1905-89) [hereafter Z], 2, pp. 552-608. Zwingli wrote in reply to the arguments of the radicals, ‘Ego a vobis discere cupio, ubi deus pracceperit preter orationcm dominicam nihil orandem esse. Nonne Mosi, Isaiea, Masass, David aliisquc prolixas orationcs licuit effundere?’ (Z, 2, p. 623, H.4-7).

14 On Zwingli’s attitude towards the reformers on this point, see Snyder, ‘Word and power’, pp. 274-5.

15 Jenny, Einheit, p. 34.

16 Z 2, pp. 620-5.

17 On Zwingli’s view of reform, see Bruce Gordon, ‘Die Entwicklung dcr Kirchenzucht in Zurich am Beginn der Reformation’, in Heinz Schilling, ed., Kirchenzucht und Sozialdisziplinierung in frühneuzeitlichen Europa (Berlin, 1994), pp. 65-90.

18 On confession, see W. David Myers, ‘Poor, Sinning Folk’: Confession and Conscience in Counter-Reformation Germany (Ithaca, NY, and London, 1996). See also Karl Schlcmmcr, ‘Gottcsdienst und Frommigkcit in Nürnberg vor dcr Reformation’, Zeitschrift für hayrische Kirchengeschichte, 44 (1975), pp. 1-27.

19 Potter, Zwingli, pp. 60-2.

20 See Ozment, Reformation in the Cities.

21 Jenny, Einheit, p. 35.

22 Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Schweiz, 8 vols (Neuchatcl, 1931), 6, p. 611. R. Wackcrnagcl, Geschichte der Stadt Basel, 3 vols (Basle, 1907-24), 2, p. 857.

23 Johannes Ulricus Surgant, Manuale curatorum predicandi prebens modum: tarn latino que vulgari sermone practice illuminatum cum certis alijs ad curam animarum pertinentibus: omnibus curatis tarnconducibilisquosalubris(Basle, 1503) (BL classmark 845.k.n; the BL alsohasa 1520 edition printed in Strasbourg, classmark 845.11.21).

24 On late medieval preaching, see the excellent Larissa Taylor, Soldiers of Christ. Preaching in Late Medieval and Reformation France (New York, 1992).

25 On opposition to Zwingli in Zurich, see Oskar Vasalla, Reform und Reformation in der Schweiz. Zur Würdigung der Glaubenskrise (Münster, 1958), pp. 49-71.

26 Snyder, ‘Word and power’, pp. 278-9. See also Fritz Blanke, Brothers in Christ. The History of the Oldest Anabaptist Congregation, Zollikon, near Zurich, Switzerland (Scottdale, PA, 1961).

27 Egli, Emil, Actensammlung zur Geschichte der Zürcher Reformation in denjahren 1519-1533 (Zurich, 1879), no. 684 Google Scholar. Zwingli’s own description of events is found in Z, 4, pp. 476-82.

28 Z, 4, pp. 17, 12-20.

29 Ibid., p. 55.

30 Ibid., p. 62.

31 Gordon, Bruce, ‘Preaching and the reform of the clergy in the Swiss Reformation’, in Pcttcgrce, Andrew, ed., The Reformation of the Parishes: The Ministry and Reformation in Town and Country (Manchester, 1993), csp. pp. 63–8.Google Scholar

32 Büsser, Fritz, Die Prophezei: Humanismus und Reformation in Zurich (Berne, 1994)Google Scholar, and Pamela Biel, Doorkeepers at the House of Righteousness. Heinrich Bullinger and the Zurich Clergy 1535-1575 (Berne, 1991).

33 On Zwingli’s association of the people with the Israelites and the development of this idea, see Hans Ulrich Bachtold, ‘History, ideology and propaganda in die Reformation: the early writing “Anklag und crnstlichcs crmancn Gottes” (1525) of Heinrich Bullinger’, in Gordon, Protestant History and Identity, 1, pp. 49-59.

34 Z, 4, pp. 20, 28. See also Jenny, Einheit, p. 36.

35 Stephens, Theology of Huldrych Zwingli, p. 35 n.104.

36 Stephens, Theology of Huldrych Zwingli, p. 49.

37 Ibid.

38 Z, 4, pp. 21, 22-31.

39 Jenny, Einheit, p. 59.

40 Z, 4, pp. 22, 9-21.

41 Gordon, ‘Preaching and the reform of the clergy’, p. 67. Also Gerrish, B. A., Old Protestantism and the New (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 129.Google Scholar

42 On the debate in the literature on this point, see Jenny, Einheit, pp. 60-1.

43 See discussion of Leo Jud below, pp. 145-51.

44 Jenny, Einheit, p. 61.

45 On the medieval background, see Myers, “Poor, Sinning Folk’, pp. 33-47.

46 Wandel, Lee Palmer, ‘Envisioning God: image and liturgy in Reformation Zurich’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 24 (1993), p. 36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Ibid., p. 37.

48 For an insightful treatment of pamphlet readership, see Chrisman, Miriam Usher, Conflicting Visions of Reform. German Lay Propaganda Pamphlets, 1519-1530 (Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1996), esp. pp. 1—15.Google Scholar

49 This is explored in Wandel, Lee Palmer, Always Among Us. Images of the Poor in Zwingli’s Zurich (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 59–76.Google Scholar

50 Markus Jenny, ‘Bullinger als Liturg’, in Ulrich Gabier and Erland Herkenrath, eds, Heinrich Bullinger 1504-1575). Gesammelte Aufsätze zum 400. Todestag (Zurich, 197s), pp. 209-30.

51 Bici, Doorkeepers, pp. 93-8. Also Wayne Baker, ‘Church, state and dissent: the crisis of the Swiss Reformation, 1531-1536’, ChH, 57 (1988), pp. 135-52.

52 The fullest treatment of the Prophezei is found in Traudel Himmighöfer, Die Züricher Bibel bis zum Tode Zuringlis (1531) (Mainz, 1995).

53 Leo Jud, Vom Leiden, Sterben und Auferstehen des Herrn, ed. and trans. Oskar Farner (Zurich, 1955), p. 8.

54 The literature on Jud is limited. The most recent monograph study is Karl-Hcinz Wyss, Leo Jud, Seine Entwicklung zum Reformator 1519-1523 (Berne, 1976). Gottfried W. Lochcr, Die Zwinglische Reformation (Gottingen, 1979), pp. 568-75, provides a useful overview of Jud’s activities. See also Leo Weisz, Leo Jud. Ulrich Zwingli’s Kampfgenosse 1482-1542 (Zurich, 1942); idem, ‘Leo Jud in Einsiedeln’, Zwingliana, 7 (1942), pp. 409-31, 473-94. Charles Garside, Zwingli and the Arts (New Haven, CT, 1966), provides a good deal of information on Jud’s role in the iconoclasm debates in Zurich. Jud’s work with Zwingli is described in Potter, Zwingli, pp. 80, 83, 130-3.

55 On the intellectual climate in Basle, see Edgar Bonjour, Die Universitat Basel von den Anfängen bis zur Cegenwart, 1460-1960 (Basle, 1971); H. R. Guggisberg, Basel in the Sixteenth Century. Aspects of the City Republic before, during and after the Reformation (St Louis, MO, 1982).

56 Weisz, ‘Jud in Einsiedeln’, pp. 419-20.

57 On pilgrimages from Zurich, see Magdalen Bless-Grabber, ‘Veranderungen im kirchlichen Bercich 1350-1520’, in Geschichte des Kantons Zurich, 4 vols (Zurich, 1995), 1, pp. 445-7.

58 Lavater, Hans Rudolf, ‘Die Zürcher Bibel von 1524 bis Heute’, in Die Bibel in der Schweiz (Basle, 1997), pp. 200–2.Google Scholar

59 Quoted from Weisz, ‘Jud in Einsiedeln’, p. 482. Translation is my own.

60 Ibid., p. 482.

61 A modern German translation of the Larger Catechism, with Bullinger’s preface, is to be found in Leo Jud, Katechismen, ed. and trans. Oskar Famcr (Zurich, 1955), pp. 25-239. See also Farner’s introduction to the text, p. 17.

62 Lochcr, Zwinglische Reformation, p. 571.

63 Ibid.

64 Jud, Katechismen, p. 229.

65 Ibid.

66 Ibid., p. 230.

67 On some connections between the devotio moderna and Zurich, see B.J. Spruyt, ‘Wesscl Gansfort and Cornelis Hoen’s Epistola Christiana: ‘The ring as a pledge of my love”’, in F. Akkerman, G. C. Huisman, and A. J. Vanderjagt, eds, Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489) and Northern Humanism (Leiden, 1993), pp. 122-41.

68 A modern German edition of the text is found in Jud, Vom Leiden, pp. 33-284.

69 Ibid., pp. 6-7.

70 Jud, Vom Leiden, p. 37.

71 Nachvolgung christi vnnd verschmaehung aller ytelkeit dieser welt, soli von einetn wolgelerten liebhabter Gottes vor vil jaren beschriben … widerum von nüwem ufigangen (Zurich, 1539) (the sole extant copy at Zurich, Zcntralbibliothek, call no. Z Ax 5216). The nature of sixteenth- century translations of The Imitation of Christ is the subject of a St Andrews doctoral dissertation being written by Max von Habsburg.

72 Jud, Vom Leiden, p. 39.

73 Pabel, The peaceful people’, p. 90.

74 Jud, Vom Leiden, p. 57.