Heinrich Bullinger: An Introduction to His Life and Theology

By Donald K. McKim, Jim West and Emidio Campi

Heinrich Bullinger (1504-75) was an important and influential sixteenth-century Protestant Reformer. Sadly, today, many are unaware of his significance. This book serves as a gateway into understanding Bullinger's life and theology, introducing them in a fresh and accessible way for non-specialists. After outlining Bullinger's life-story, the main theological themes in Bullinger's thought are explored through chapters on Holy Scripture, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, predestination and covenant, sin and salvation, church and ministry, Word and Sacraments, the state, and last things. A concluding chapter considers the abiding significance of Bullinger's theology and what his views can mean for faithful Christian living today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Release date: Feb 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666726442

Donald K. McKim

Donald K. McKim served as executive editor for Westminster John Knox Press, as academic dean and professor of theology at Memphis Theological Seminary, and as professor of theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books.

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Introduction

Welcome to Heinrich Bullinger!

We are delighted to present this book as a gateway to Bullinger. Our hope is to introduce the theological thought of one of the greatest, yet lesser known, sixteenth-century Protestant reformers. Bullinger was a theologian and pastor who plumbed the depths of Scripture and provided insights that helped guide Protestant churches and Christian believers during his lifetime and beyond. And though more people today have heard of John Calvin, in Bullinger’s day he was far more ‘famous’ and influential.

Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75) was the successor of Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) as chief pastor of the church in Zurich and led that church for nearly fifty years. Bullinger wrote a massive amount on a wide variety of topics. Regrettably, not many of his works have been translated into English. Indeed, the main English-languages sources of Bullinger’s work are the nineteenth-century translations of his Decades—fifty (long!) sermons on theological themes; and his The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), which became one of the most important confessions of faith among Protestants.

As noted above, while Bullinger was known and respected across Europe in his day, he is barely known today by pastors and in churches. Zwingli is sometimes called the forgotten reformer of the sixteenth century. The names of Martin Luther and John Calvin are most well-known. But, the name Heinrich Bullinger is even less well-known than Zwingli’s. Here, we hope to show that Bullinger’s theology was important for the Protestant movement; and also, that his work has meaning and significance for Christians today. In one sense, we are asking the question asked in the book of Ezekiel: Can these bones live? (Ezek 37:3). Can the theology of a pastor in Zurich, Switzerland in the sixteenth century, the son of a priest, take on importance for Christians here and now, in the twenty-first century? We believe the answer is Yes!—the theology of Heinrich Bullinger can provide biblical and theological insights that can focus and shape our beliefs and also provide directions for our lives and our faith today.

We hope this book will be a gateway to Bullinger. We have written it to introduce the life and theology of this Reformation pastor to those without a specialized background in historical theology. We anticipate pastors and lay persons in churches will be readers who will learn of Bullinger for the first time or will gain clarity into whatever they may previously have known about the Zurich reformer. We want to present Bullinger’s theology in a fresh and accessible way. This is not a technical theological book, though it will deal with topics that have been the subject of deep theological discussions in the past. Footnotes have been kept to an absolute minimum (though some readers may still think there are too many). We want to let Bullinger speak in his own voice as much as possible while we present the key features of his theology and its importance for us now.

Our approach will be to look at the main theological themes in Bullinger’s thought, arranged as theological doctrines. These present Bullinger’s understandings of what each topic means for Christian faith and life. At points, Bullinger presented understandings that were at variance with the thought of other Protestant reformers. We try to note when this happened. Bullinger worked with the theological loci—the topics (literally places) of Christian theology. But his theology was not explicitly systematic. As one scholar noted, Bullinger preferred the dynamic relationship between the individual and the Word.⁹ Bullinger’s theology is marked by a lively engagement with Scripture as the Word of God. He believed the task of biblical interpretation was at the center of the church’s theological life. The Holy Spirit leads and guides our interpretation of Scripture as we use the best tools available for understanding biblical texts. So, readers of the Bible can have a dynamic relationship with the Word of God.

This is a basic reality that can shape our beliefs and understandings and our ways of living. Reading Bullinger’s theology brings us directly in touch with scriptural interpretations and their meanings for what the church believes—and what we can believe. Bullinger had full confidence that in our encounter with Scripture, in our efforts to understand the meanings of biblical texts, and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, our ability to receive the messages God intends for us to know. We can trust God; and we can believe God will act in our lives according to God’s providence and loving good will for us. This makes Scripture reading and theological understanding dynamic and life-changing!

We trust this book will present Bullinger’s theological insights with clarity and we hope those insights will energize those who will find Bullinger’s theology a solid basis for faithful discipleship in today’s world.

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. Bruce Gordon, Introduction in Gordon and Campi, eds., Architect of Reformation,

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1

Heinrich Bullinger’s Life

¹

At the age of seventy-one, Heinrich Bullinger breathed his last as a seizure racked his body and rendered him lifeless. He had fallen victim to seizures several times over the last months of his life, with an extraordinarily powerful one striking him on May 24, 1575 and its ill effects lingered until 17 September, when death took him.

Bullinger’s Early Life

Bullinger’s life had commenced seventy-one years earlier, on July 18, 1504, in the beautiful little town of Bremgarten. His father, a priest, had already fathered four children with his papally approved wife Anna. Priestly celibacy, though the official stance of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries, was widely ignored and many priests had mistresses, wives, or concubines. Or they simply made use of the prostitutes who were widely available in sixteenth-century Europe. Hardly any priests were actually celibate. Heinrich’s father, Heinrich, was simply one priest among many who had families.

Heinrich’s home life was typical. He experienced the usual trials of childhood. He was injured while walking along the street one day when he fell and a whistle he was carrying was shoved into his neck. His family was touched by the plague. He was nearly abducted by a beggar, to who knows what end or purpose. He was, by all accounts (or the few accounts we actually possess, and these mostly based on his diary), a normal child in a normal family from a normal home in a normal town. That status as average would be overturned in 1531 and thereafter when he would take charge of the church in Zurich.

Before arriving in Zurich, though, Bullinger had to attend school. At the age of five he started his schooling in Bremgarten. He continued there until he arrived at the ripe old age of twelve years, when he was sent off, on June 11, 1516, to the grammar school at Emmerich on the Rhine. This was no short distance or easy journey and it would have taken the twelve-year-old boy 614 kilometers to the north, passing through the territories of Strasbourg, Koblenz, Bonn, Cologne, and Essen, arriving on the border of the Netherlands and taking up residence at his new home. This was Bullinger’s first exposure to the world beyond his native Switzerland and portended his extensive international contacts in later