The Authority of Scripture in the Early Zurich Reformation (1522-1540)

Publisher： Brill

ISSN： 1569-7312

Source： Journal of Reformed Theology, Vol.5, Iss.3, 2011-01, pp. : 296-309

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Abstract

Abstract The decisive impulse of the Zurich Reformation was not a particular theological tenet or the religious experience of one single reformer. It was the discovery of the authority of God’s Word. This discovery was essentially a liberating experience. Scripture was experienced as the place for encountering the living God, who is intrinsically a gracious God, and who correspondingly makes his will known to people. Given the circumstances of early modernity, it was, however, consequent and inevitable that in the process of restructuring a Christian society and church according to God’s Word the Bible became the authoritative scripture.