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 French
Reformer best known for his work in Geneva and his definitive work,
The Institutes. In Geneva Calvin created a community with four orders
ministry (pastor, doctor, elder, deacon) on which almost all
subsequent Reformed churches were based to some degree. Calvin’s
teachings, which shaped the beliefs of most non-Lutheran Reformed
churches, stress the primacy of Scripture in matters of faith,
justification through grace by faith and a strong view of God’s
omnipotence and therefore the ‘predestination’ of God’s elect,
combined with a greater emphasis on church discipline than in Luther’s
teaching.
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 Czech religious teacher much influenced by the writings of
John Wycliffe. Many of his teachings anticipated those of the Reformation. He was burned
at the stake in 1415 but became a national hero. The Bohemian Brethren, following his
teachings, emphasised Christian discipline, rejected military service and private property
and generally stood for a pure and simple Christian life. Their modern successors are the
Moravian Church. |
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 Scottish teacher who embraced the principles of the
continental Reformation. As chaplain to Edward VI he was involved in the revision of the
Anglican Book of Common Prayer. After a period in exile following the accession of Mary he
returned to Scotland, where he pioneered changes along Reformation principles. He was
primarily responsible for the First Book of Discipline and the Book of Common Order, which
were adopted by the newly formed Church of Scotland. |
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Martin Luther (1483-1546) |
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 Founder of the German Reformation. Luther’s study of
the writings of St Paul and Augustine of Hippo led him to the belief that men and women
could only be justified, by the grace of God, through faith rather than through good works
or religious observances. Though he originally intended to bring about the reform of the
Roman Catholic Church, his work led to the fracture of that Church and the foundation of
national church bodies. Modern Lutheranism owes its origins to Luther’s teachings,
though often in a modified form. |
| Lived in Lyons
in the 12th century and inspired a movement characterised by lay
preaching, voluntary poverty and a life of good works. Followers of his
ideals in various European countries suffered intense persecution down
the centuries and most were absorbed into the new ‘Protestant’ churches
at the time of the Reformation. They maintained their separate identity
in the Alpine region of what is now Northern Italy and we know them as
the ‘Waldensians’. |
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Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) |
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 Like Luther, a Roman Catholic priest, Zwingli became the
first leader of the Swiss Reformation which began in Zurich. He differed from Luther in
believing that it was only the faith of communicants which made the body of Christ present
in the elements of communion, rejected Luther’s distinction between Law and Gospel,
defended infant baptism as a natural successor to circumcision in the Old Testament and
held that civil magistrates had the right to legislate in religious matters. |
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