Portal:Reformed Christianity
The Reformed Christianity Portal
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. Today, it is largely represented by the Continental, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.
A foundational event that divided the Reformed from the Lutheran tradition occurred in 1529 when reformer Huldrych Zwingli of Zürich broke with Martin Luther on the topic of the Lord's Supper. A separate Reformed tradition developed over several generations, especially in Switzerland, France, Scotland and the Netherlands.
In the seventeenth century, Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants were expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over disputes regarding predestination and salvation, and from that time Arminians are usually considered to be a distinct tradition from the Reformed. This dispute produced the Canons of Dort, the basis for the "doctrines of grace" or "five points" of Calvinism.
Reformed theology emphasizes the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God, and covenant theology, a framework for understanding the Bible based on God's covenants with people. Reformed churches have emphasized simplicity in worship. Several forms of ecclesiastical polity are exercised by Reformed churches, including presbyterian, congregational, and some episcopal. (Full article...)
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He developed the symbolic view of the Eucharist. He denied the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and following Cornelius Henrici Hoen, he agreed that the bread and wine of the institution signify and does not literally become the body and blood of Christ. Zwingli’s differences of opinion on this with Martin Luther resulted in the failure of the Marburg Colloquy to bring unity between the two Protestant leaders.
Zwingli believed that the state governed with divine sanction. He believed that both the church and the state are placed under the sovereign rule of God. Christians were obliged to obey the government, but civil disobedience was allowed if the authorities acted against the will of God. He described a preference for an aristocracy over monarchic or democratic rule.
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Did you know...
- ...that Peter Martyr Vermigli was allegedly challenged to a duel with a double-edged axe by Theodore Bibliander over the doctrine of double predestination?
- ... that criticisms made by John Cotton (pictured) about the doctrine of preparationism were a factor in the Antinomian Controversy and Anne Hutchinson's banishment from Massachusetts in 1638?
- ... that Glasgow's Wellington Church was founded in 1792 as an Anti-Burgher congregation?
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Background: Christianity • St. Augustine • The Reformation • John Calvin • Five Solas • Synod of Dort
Theology: Five Points (TULIP) • Covenant Theology • Regulative principle
Documents: Calvin's Institutes • Confessions of faith • Geneva Bible
Influences: Theodore Beza • John Knox • Jonathan Edwards • Princeton theologians • Henry Cooke
Churches: Reformed • Presbyterian • Congregationalist • Reformed Baptist
Peoples: Afrikaner Calvinists • Huguenots • Pilgrims • Puritans • Scots • Ulster Protestants
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