History of Reformed Christianity

Zwingli and John Oecolampadius became embroiled in conflict over the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist with Martin Luther, leading to a division between Lutheran and Reformed Protestants.

Germany remained predominantly Lutheran during the 16th century, but Reformed worship was promoted intermittently by rulers in Electoral Palatinate, Margraviate of Brandenburg, and other German states.

[2] He was influenced by Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus, which led him to study the New Testament and the early Church Fathers as well as to preach from the Bible.

[3] Zwingli was also aware of and influenced by the Wittenberg reformer Martin Luther, but he developed his theology independently and differed with him in several ways.

Zwingli's emphasis on strict adherence to God's command as found in his word also led to greater moral activism in Zwinglian Reformation movements than in Lutheran ones.

[4] Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, John Oecolampadius, and Guillaume Farel were also influential figures in the development of Reformed theology.

Luther strongly believed it necessary to maintain that Christ is physically present in the Eucharist, while Zwingli along with his followers including John Oecolampadius in Basel favored a symbolic meaning to the rite which would be called sacramentarianism.

[6] In 1529, German prince Philip of Hesse arranged the Marburg Colloquy as an attempt to reconcile the warring Protestant factions and forge an alliance.

The two sides agreed on many points of doctrine but could find no common ground on the Eucharist, and Philip's hope for an alliance failed.

[15] Peter Martyr Vermigli, a highly trained Reformed theologian of this era,[16] taught a strong doctrine of double predestination, which teaches that God has chosen to save people for salvation and others for damnation, and held that Christ was really, though spiritually, present in the Eucharist, a position that Calvin would also take.

[18] While Reformed ideas and churches found ever-widening distribution during this period, reaching as far as England and Poland, Lutheranism also increased its dominance in the Holy Roman Empire.

[23] The Genevan Consistory, a church council made up of lay and clergy members who was given power to enforce morals legislation and excommunicate citizens, became a dominant force in everyday life.

[26] The network of synods proved helpful in mobilizing Reformed Christians to military resistance during the French Wars of Religion between Protestants and Catholics from 1562 to 1598.

In 1557 a group of noblemen known as the Lords of the Congregation swore an oath, following a Scottish custom, to promote Protestant reforms in churches.

[30] Knox and Willock encouraged radical militant action even on the part of independent laypeople in areas where Catholic practices were re-instituted.

[36] Military action initiated by Governor of the Netherlands Margaret of Parma later that year intended as punishment for the iconoclastic outbreaks brought an end to Reformed worship.

[37] Starting in 1572, many Dutch cities invited or allowed the invasion of exiled Netherlandish privateers known as Sea Beggars because they were dissatisfied with the overbearing rule of the Spanish "iron duke" of Alva, and Reformed worship was reinstated either immediately or gradually.

[41] Despite opposition from the Holy Roman Emperor and other German princes, Frederick continued to institute Reformed worship in the Palatinate.

[45] In Bohemia, Reformed ideas began to influence the Unity of the Brethren from the 1540s through Czech students at German and Swiss universities.

[51] In 1603, the controversial Jacobus Arminius, who had questioned the established Calvinism of the Dutch Reformed Church was appointed as a professor of the University of Leiden.

The move served to exacerbate tensions within the Reformed Church, including a heated period of debate between Arminius and fellow Leiden faculty member Franciscus Gomarus beginning 1604.

Five years later, in 1627, Maximilian I of Bavaria demanded the citizens of Heidelberg to convert to Roman Catholicism, yet they refused to do so, saying that they would rather forfeit their property than give up their Reformed faith.

Three years later, a dispute over the who was the legitimate ruler of the Palatinate prompted King Louis XIV of France to invade, leading to a wave of persecution of Protestants and the destruction of the city of Heidelberg.

In 1684, Christian V allowed for freedom of worship to non-Lutherans, and four years later, in 1688, the queen herself laid the cornerstone for the first Reformed church building.

In 1615, the Church of Ireland adopted the explicitly Calvinistic Irish Articles, which had largely been written by James Ussher, later Archbishop of Armagh.

What resulted from the assembly, which met between 1643 and 1649 were the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger & Shorter Catechisms, the Directory for the Public Worship of God and The Form of Presbyterian Church Government.

While they were intended to be binding on the entire nation, following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, King Charles II openly supported the Church of England at the exclusion of the Presbyterians.

In fact, it wasn't until the 1689 Act of Toleration, in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, that freedom of worship was established in England for non-Anglican Protestants.

Around the beginning of the 21st century, "new Calvinism" became influential in some evangelical circles, often blending Calvinist soteriology and more Charismatic views of the spiritual gifts.

Influential leaders of the movement include John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Al Mohler and Matt Chandler.