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Zurich and the Scottish Reformation: Rudolf Gwalther’s Homilies on Galatians of 1576
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2016
Extract
The conjunction of humanism with reform is a familiar aspect of the Zurich Reformation. Zwingli’s own eschatological sense of impending divine judgement upon the nations of the world led him towards a more radical understanding of Erasmian humanism, a humanism in which the corporate life of the State expressed the inner relationship between God and man. For Zwingli, the Scriptures, when approached through the proper humanist exegetical methods, revealed the principles necessary to the founding of the true Corpus Christianum. The effective transformation of human communities into reflections of Christ’s universal Church through the co-operation of the evangelical faith with political authority was the urgent agenda of the Zurich reforms in the 1520s. Zwingli conceived of a confessional confederation of Swiss and German territories for which his theology and the reforming process in the Limmat city would serve as the basis and model. The appeal of his humanist conceptions of doctrine and Church was extensive, and Zwingli used his wide range of personal connections with leading theologians and humanists in his evangelism to the European courts.
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- Part I. The Church in Europe
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1991
References
1 I am extremely grateful to Herr Kurt Jakob Riietschi of the Bullinger Briefwechsel in Zurich for drawing my attention to Gwalther’s Homilies on Galatians, and for his willingness to share his own extensive research on Gwalther’s life and work. I would also like to thank Dr Andrew Pettegree, in the Department of Modern History, and Mr Peter Woodward, in the Depart ment of Humanity, both of the University of St Andrews, for their generous assistance.
2 For the political situation after the war, see Meyer, Helmut, Der Zweite Kappeler Krieg (Zurich, 1976), pp. 173–8Google Scholar; Ulrich Bächtold, Hans, ‘Bullinger und die Krise der Zuercher Reformation im Jahre 1532’ in Ulrich Gäbler and Erland Herkenrath, eds, einrich Bullinger 1504–1575 Gesammelte Aufsätze zum 400. Todestag (Zurich, 1975), 1, pp. 269–89Google Scholar. Bächtold demonstrates the extent to which political pragmatism dominated events in Zurich after the war. Also Baker, J. Wayne, ‘Church, State and Dissent: The Crisis of the Swiss Reformation, 1531–1536’, Church History, 57 (1988), pp. 135–52Google Scholar.
3 Hollweg, Walther, Heinrich Bullingm Hausbuch (Neukirchen, 1956)Google Scholar; Fast, H., Heinrich Bullinger und die Taüfer (Weierhof, 1959)Google Scholar. Hollweg and Fast have traced the theological and historical background to Bullinger’s Decades and anti-Anabaptist writings, and, further, have provided through their research a clear picture of the widespread readership of these works and the extensive use made of them in the sixteenth century. On Bullinger’s correspondence see Büsser, F., ‘Bullinger et Calvin’, Études Théologiaues et Religieuses, 63 (1988), pp. 31–52Google Scholar. Professor Büsser offers a comparative study of the surviving correspondence of Bullinger and Calvin with Reformers in Switzerland and other European countries.
4 Kressner, Helmut, Schweizer Ursprünge des anglikanischen Slaatskirchentums (Gütersloh, 1953), esp. pp. 73–98Google Scholar, concerning Gwalther’s influence in England.
5 Gwalther to Bishop Parkhurst, II Sept. 1566 in Robinson, H., ed., Zurich Letters 1508–1602, PS (1842-5), 2, pp. 140–6Google Scholar.
6 Kressner interprets Gwalther’s Homilies on Corinthians as a specific attack on Genevan presbyterianism. He writes: ‘Gualthers Homilien enthalten die klassische Antwort auf Tendenzen solcher Art, eine Antwort, die zugleich der von Zwingli geformten politischen Theorie die prägnanteste und schroffste Formulierung gab’: Schweizer Ursprüung, p. 81.
7 Two scholars recently have taken up the question of Zurich—Scottish relations and have shown both the problems bedevilling attempts to establish the extent of Zwinglian influence in Scodand and the challenging questions open to further research. Professor Locher, G. M., ‘Zwingli’s Influence in England and Scotland’ in Zwingli’s Theology: New Perspectives (Leiden, 1981), pp. 367–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Shaw, D., ‘Zwinglischen Einflüsse in der Schottischen Reformation’, Zwingliana, 17 (1988), pp. 375–400Google Scholar.
8 On Buchanan’s role as tutor to the King and his cultivation of James’s interest in home litterae, see McFarlane, I. D., Buchanan (London, 1981), pp. 446–9Google Scholar.
9 Professor McFarlane argues that Buchanan was considered one of the most formidable humanist opponents of Catholicism and that the exchange between Gwalther and Buchanan must be seen from this perspective. While this is certainly true, Professor McFarlane’s, summation of the exchange as ‘little more than an episode among colleagues committed to a similar cause’ requires some revision. Buchanan, p. 456Google Scholar.
10 In D. Pauli Apostoli/Epistolam ad Galatas/Homiliae LXI/ Authore/Rodolpho Gualthe-/ro Tigurino// Accessit operi Praefatio ad Sereniss. Scotorum Regent/Iacobum VI. de Regum et Principium in Ecclesia recte con/stituenda elgubemande officio. INDICES item duo rerum et/locorum Scripturae, quae toto hoc libro explicantur// Tiguri/ Excudebat Christophoms Froschoverus/Anno M.D. LXXVI//, fol. col. a6 b8 A—Z, Aa—B. Known copies of the first edition: Zurich, Zentralbibliothek (4X); Basle, Universitätsbibliothek; Lausanne, Bibliothéque Cantonale et Universitaire; Winterthur, Stadtbibl.; Augsburg, Staats- and Stadtbibl; Bretten, Melanchthonhaus; Erlangen, Universitätsbibl.; Esslingen, Evangelische Pfarrbibl.; Marburg, Universitatsbibl.; Nuremberg, Stadtbibl.; and Landeskirchliches Archiv; Halle, Hauptbibl. der Franckenschen Stiftungen; Aberdeen, UL; Cambridge, UL; Cambridge, Peterhouse College; Carlisle, Cathedral Library; Edinburgh, UL; Ncwcastle-on-Tyne, UL; Norwich, Colman and Rye Libraries; St Andrews, UL; Oxford, Christ Church College, Merton College, Magdalen College, Wadham College; Shrewsbury, Shropshire Public Library; Windsor, St George’s Chapter Library; Bordeaux, Bibl. Municipale; Colmar, Bibl. du Consistoire (en Bibl. de la Ville); Vatican City, Bibliotheca Palatino-Vaticana; Graz, Univ. Bibl.; Budapest, Univ. Bibl.; Sibiu-Hermannstadt (Rumania) Brukenthal-Museum; Breslau-Wroclav (Poland), Osslinskich Biblioteka, Danzig-Gdansk (Poland), Biblioteka Polskiej Akademia Nauk; Yale, UL. A manuscript of Peter Young’s cata logue of James’s library from 1573 to 1583 contains the entry ‘Rudolphi qualtheri Homiliae in galatas, fol. Ex dono ipsius auctoris’: Warner, G. F., ‘The Library of James VI, 1573–1583’, Scottish History Society Miscellany (Edinburgh, 1893), p. xliGoogle Scholar. (1 am grateful to Dr Roger Mason, Uni versity of St Andrews, for this reference.) See also Ruetschi, Kurt Jakob, Rudolf Gwalther (1319-1386)Google Scholar, Leben und Werk (in preparation): Index W71.1.
11 Gwalther’s hope that the Elizabethan Settlement might have been applied to the Scots is evident from his letter to Grindal of 24 Aug. 1576, concerning events in Germany, in which he wrote: ‘She [Elizabeth] will therefore perform the part of the pious nursing mother of the church, if she will consider this business; nor will there be wanting reasons for drawing the king of Scotland into co-operation with her, the accession of whom may be of great advantage to the cause at hand. But I understand that the Scottish churches are on the friend liest terms with us, and I think they would be wanting in no service which ought to be required from Christian men’: Zurich Letters, p. 275.
12 Fol.a2.
13 Busser, F., ‘De Prophetae Officio eine Gedenkenrede Bullingers auf Zwingli’, Wurzeln der Reformation in Zürich (Leiden, 1985), pp. 60—71CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bächtold, Ham Ulrich, Heinrich Bullinger vor dem Rat (Bern, 1982), especially the chapter ‘Der Prediger: Prophet oder Diener am Staat?’, pp. 37–46Google Scholar.
14 ‘Quae et si Iudaeorum Regibus olim dicta sint, ad eos tamen qui Christia/no nomine censentur, et hominibus chrisrianis imperant, ilia non minus pertine/re, David Rex potentia et victoriis clarissimus testatur’: fol. a2. See the discussion of Bullinger’s understanding of the connection between the Christian and the Old Testament in the continuance of God’s covenant in Baker, J. W., Heinrich Bullinger and the Covenant (Athens, Ohio, 1980), pp. 55Google Scholarff.
15 Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. a2.
16 Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. a2v: ‘Ex eo enim apparet, Reges atque Magistratus omnes non solum ut pacis def/ensores, et iuris publici executores, in precio habendos esse, sed in iisdem dignica/tem humana maiorem agnosci debere, neque illos in scripturis temere Deos did/ quando aeeernus ille et solus versus Deus illorum opera et ministerio in iis uti/rur, sine quibus neque ipsius gloria neque sponsa sua incolumitas consistere potest.’
17 Ibid., fol. a2v-a3.
18 Ibid., fol. a3.
19 Ibid., ‘Ecclesiam in Symbolo Apostolico definimus esse communionem sive societatem/ sanctorum, id est, eorum qui per Iesu Christi sanguinem et spiritum san/ctificati et filii Dei facti sunt.’
20 Ibid., fol. a3v. Gwalther follows the order set out by Bullinger in the Fifth Decade, where he writes: “The Chief and principal points of godliness of the church of God are, the sincere teaching of the law and the prophets, of Christ and the apostles: faithful prayer offered unto her only God through Christ alone; a religious and lawful administration and receiving of the Christ’s sacraments’: Decades, ed. Harding, T., PS (1849-52), V, 10, p. 479Google Scholar; Calvin, cf., Institutes, ed. McNeill, J. T. and Battles, F. L. (London, 1961Google Scholar), IV, i, 7, and Bucer, , De regno Christi, ed. Wendel, F. (Paris, 1954), pp. 50, 54–6Google Scholar. Interestingly, the Second Book of Discipline contains no treatment of these noli of the true Church.
21 Gwalther, , Homiliae, fol. a4: ita nimirum innuens, ve/rbi Evangelici ministerium in hunc finem esse institurum, ut per illud in Ec/clesia communionem vocati, in eadem adolescamus in perfectos Dei filios/ et Christo conformes facti in eodem ad caelestium bonorum hareditatem ac/cedamus.’Google Scholar
22 Ibid., fol. a4v: ‘At hie sui officii Reges admonentur, ut Ecclesiis, quarum nutritii ä Deo/ con-stituri sunt, in primis hoc parte prospiciant, ut verbi praecones habeant/ fidos et idoneos, qui salutis doctrinam ex puns scriptura sacra fontibus fi/deliter depromant, et Dei verbum recte secando novos quoridie discipulos/ christo faciant, ut iam factos adificent, inque officio con-tineant, ne vel ad/ superstiriones, vel ad prophanam morum licentiam relabantur.’
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., fol. a5.
26 Galther, Homiliae, fol. a5V.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., fol. a6.
29 Ibid.: ‘Ut enim regnum Christi non est ex hoc mundo, ita Evangelii doctrina/ magistracibus politicis, sive illi Reges sive Opnmates sine suum ius integrum/ et illibarum relinquit. Et tunc demum disciplinae execurio efficax et fructuo/sa erit, si hie operas suas coniungant qui in Repub. praesident, et qui in Ecclesia/ docent. Ideo Deus in suo populo olim duos fratres germanos, Mosem et Aaro/nem, delegit, ex quibus hunc quidem sacris, ilium verò religioni praefecit, ut doc/eret, perpetuum inter politicum et Ecclesiaticum ordinem consensum esse de/bere, et tunc demum Rempub. cum Ecclesia florituram, si isti coniunctis stu/diis atque consiliisea agant, quae ad publicam pacem et honestatem propagan/dam atque conservandam faciunt.’
30 Ibid., fols a6-a6v.
31 Ibid., fol. a6v: ‘Itaque disciplinae publicae praefici oportet viros graves quidem et seve/ros, sed non minus moderates et prudentes, qui quid unoquoque loco et tern/pore facto opus sit, videant, et non tarn quid quisque meruerit spectent, quam/ quid ipsos deceat, quidue sit e re totius Ecclesiae.’
32 Bullinger, following Zwingli, would not allow that discipline could be the basis for distin guishing between the righteous and the unrighteous in society; discipline pertained solely to outward actions. Its primary function within the Church was to restore harmony. For Bullinger’s fight with the Anabaptists over Kirchenzucht, see Fast, Bullinger und die Täufer, pp. 140–5. Bullinger’s dispute with Geneva over the tying of discipline to the Lord’s Supper is well explained in Baker, J. W., ‘In Defence of Magisterial Discipline: Bullinger’s Tractatus ie Excommunicalione of 1566’, Heinrich Bullinger 1504–1575 Gesammelte Aufsätze zum 400. Todestag, 1, pp. 141–59Google Scholar. Baker outlines the struggle between the Zurich and Genevan traditions of discipline at the court of Frederick III in Heidelberg during the 1560s.
33 Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. a6v.
34 Ibid.
35 Gwalther, Homitiae, fol. b2.
36 Bullinger, Decades, V, 10, pp. 505–7.
37 Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. b2v.
38 Ibid.: ‘Synodus autem turn Provinciales turn/ Generales in suis regnis cogi curent locis idoneis pro temporum et negotiorum, quae incidunt, ratione: in quibus de doctrinaa puritate servanda, de morum/ disciplina exercenda et Ecclesiarum incolumitate, sententis libera et ex Dei/ verbo depromptis statuatur. Quod cum hactenus apud Scotos tuos Rex Se/reniss. non absque luculenta fructus et magna cum laude factum sit, ut idem/ porrò fiat, Maiestas tua, pro suo erga puriorem Dei cultum studio, etiam/ acque etiam curabit.’
39 See Büsser, F., ‘Synode — gestern und heute. Vortrag’, Wurzeln der Reformation in Zürich (Leiden, 1985), pp. 231–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Maeder, K. ‘Bullinger und die Synode’, BullingerGoogle Scholar — Tagung 1975, ed. Gäbler, Ulrich and Zsindely, Endre (Zurich, 1975), pp. 69—76Google Scholar.
40 Kressner, Schuvizer Ursprünge.
41 On the background of the Reformed church courts in Scotland, see Dr Kirk’s, J. introduction to his Records of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale (Edinburgh, 1977Google Scholar).
42 Kirk, J., ed., The Second Book of Discipline (Edinburgh, 1980), p. 9.Google Scholar
43 Dr Kirk, ibid., p. 41, writes: ‘The accuracy of the description by one critic of Morton’s “purpose to restrean the fridome of application in preaching, and authoritie of the Generall Assemblies, and bring in a conform!tie with Eingland in governing of the Kirk be Bischopes and injunctiones” is wholly supported by English diplomatic reports in 1575.’