Archive for the ‘Bullinger’ Category
Fun Facts From Church History: Bullinger and Denmark
Heinrich Bullinger was very interested in persuading the Danes that the Swiss Reformation was worth considering (rather than the Lutheran) and he wrote De gratia Dei justificante nos propter Christum per solam fidem absque operibus bonis, fide interim exuberante in opera bona, libri IV. ad sereniss. Daniæ regem Christianum to prove it.
It is such a well written book that none less than Philip Melanchthon thought very highly of it!
Nevertheless, the Danish Reformation, led by Hans Tausen, was and remained essentially Lutheran (which explains why Danes are not as Reformed as they should be…)
Tigurinerchronik (3 Volumes)
Die dreibändige Ausgabe macht erstmals das historiografische Hauptwerk Heinrich Bullingers (1504–1575), die sogenannte «Tigurinerchronik», zugänglich. Das Werk vermittelt die Sicht des engagierten und belesenen Zwinglinachfolgers, der darin die Geschichte Zürichs mit jener der Eidgenossenschaft und Europas verquickt und aufarbeitet. Die Darstellung, die sich von vorchristlicher Zeit bis zur Reformation erstreckt, ist heilsgeschichtlich angelegt und versteht die Entwicklung des Christentums und der Kirche als Ausbreitung der Wahrheit (Antike), deren Verschüttung (Mittelalter) und der Wiederentdeckung (Reformation). Dabei erhält die Stadt Zürich hohe Bedeutung und ihre Reform die endgültige Legitimation.
Mit der vorliegenden umfangreichen kritischen Edition – Bullingers eigenhändiges Manuskript umfasst rund 1800 Folioseiten – steht der Forschung nun diese wichtige Quelle des 16. Jahrhunderts zur Verfügung.
Heinrich Bullinger Werke, Band WA4 = HI1
2018, 1854 (in drei Bänden) Seiten, 16.8 x 24.4 cm, Leinen mit SU. ISBN 978-3-290-17851-2. 450,00 €
A review copy was graciously sent in July and I’ve now made my way through the work.
The three volumes in this set are comprised of the famous historical survey composed by Bullinger towards the end of his life titled the Tigurinerchronik (hereafter TC). The Zurich Chronicles. This work is not to be confused with the 3 volumes of Bullinger written on the history of the Reformation- his Reformationsgeschichte. The two works differ in scope and in focus.
TVZ’s new critical edition of the TC is comprised of three volumes. The first two are the work itself and the third is a tremendously important supplemental volume the contents of which I will describe shortly.
Volume 1 contains books 1-8 of the TC and is prefaced by a foreword, an introduction to the work, and a word of appreciation for the work’s many important supporters. More precisely, Peter Opitz and Martin Rüsch take a couple of pages to set the stage for the work that follows. The introduction, written by Hans Urs Bächtold, discusses Bullinger as historian, the TC’s development and history, the chief manuscripts incorporated into the present critical edition, and printed forerunners of the work.
The critical edition of the TC is offered exactly as presented in the oldest manuscripts, including morphologically and textually. Readers will experience what the first readers experienced in every respect save the font utilized. Modern Times Roman-esque print in used instead of the Fraktur-esque font of the first printed copies. References to the original works are found in the margins so that interested researchers can find the source pages without any difficulty at all. Sentences are also numbered so that locating a particular piece of information from the index is very simple. Copious footnotes are also provided and these contain historical and linguistic/ textual information. Also contained in the margins are subject indicators, so that readers can find matters of interest and follow the argument of the work at a glance. These, naturally, originate with the first printed editions and are here faithfully reproduced.
The language is, naturally, the German of Bullinger’s Zurich. Readers will need to have that language well in hand or at the very least be willing to look up uncertain words in the lexicon provided in the third volume. There are also swaths of Latin.
Volume two of the massive work covers books 9 through 14 of the TC. Appendices are included as well which include three supplemental historical documents:
- Stiftsgeschichte
- Schulsatzungen 1559
- Großes Mandat 1550
Pages in the two volumes are numbered consecutively, so that volume two does not begin with page 1, but carries on where volume one left off. This makes finding items referenced in the Index quite simple.
Concerning the Index, it is found in the third volume of the work and it too is very much a work to be consulted. It begins with an overview, chapter by chapter, of the contents of the TC. Second, readers will discover the very useful lexicon or glossary of unfamiliar terms. Bullinger’s German, like Zwingli’s, was particular and at times idiosyncratic. So a glossary is provided for terms that, while common in Zurich in 1575, are not so common any longer.
Third, a listing of printed sources is provided. Fourth, hand written sources are listed. Fifth, a modern bibliography is provided. Next, an index of persons and places. And finally, a series of photographic plates of Bullinger’s original hand written work.
This work is encyclopedic. And it is brilliantly executed. Besides simply reading through it as a narrative work (which readers certainly should do), it is also immensely useful for tracking down various persons and their doings from the perspective of Bullinger’s point of view. So, for instance, one of the more interesting person (who nonetheless is hardly known outside of specialist circles) is one Conrad Hoffmann. Hoffmann despised Zwingli and the entire time Zwingli and Hoffmann were in Zurich together (from 1519 till 1524 when Hoffmann left) (Hoffmann died in 1525), Hoffmann was Zwingli’s constant foe.
Making use of the index of persons, one can easily discover the places in the Chronicle where Hoffmann is mentioned: 380:28 (that is, page 320, line 28), 399:13, 1184:24, 1222:20, and 1229:16. Reading through those passages one discovers that Bullinger is thoroughly capable of objectivity and rationality unimpinged by personal sentiments. Bullinger, in other words, is an excellent historian.
And that, I suspect, is the key to the work. That is, readers can take Bullinger seriously and they can take his historical reconstruction as unbiased and accurate. The critical edition of the work opens it up to modern readers and by doing so opens up the history of Zurich in a way that contemporary history simply cannot do. Accordingly, this work is indispensable for students of the Reformation. Indispensable. It cannot, and should not, be ignored. Rather, it should be consulted and made use of.
Further, it belongs on the shelves of researchers and libraries around the globe. If other acquisitions need to be set aside for budgetary reasons, this one should be obtained. Tell your librarian, your spouse, your church, your neighbors, your family, and anyone who may have a little spare cash to pitch in and get it.
Now, if we can just get a critical edition of The Reformationsgeschichte!
Fun Facts from Church History: Bullinger’s Thoughts on Servetus
During the trial of Servetus, Bullinger was kept informed of things by his friend Haller. In a letter dated 27 September, 1553 Haller writes
Yesterday we received the documents in the case of Servetus, and have since been studying them in view of our reply. But we should like to know what your answer is before we send ours. We therefore entreat you immediately to inform us of its tenor. Yet wherefore so much ado! the man is a heretic, and the Church must get rid of him. Let me, however, I beseech you, speedily know the conclusion you have come to.
R. Willis remarks
The Zürich pastor would seem to have been the most active of all the ministers in collecting and imparting information of a kind that would lead to unanimity of conclusion among the Churches and Councils. His friend, Ambrose Blaurer, acknowledging receipt of a letter from him communicating the decision of Zürich, says that he ‘had thought the pestilent Servetus, whose book he had read twenty years ago, must long since have been dead and buried.’ But the … man must add further: ‘We are surely tried by heresies and satanic abortions of the sort, in order that they who are steadfast in the faith may be made known.’*
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*R. Willis, Servetus and Calvin: a study of an important epoch in the early history of the reformation, p. 460.
Quote of the Day
Concerning the importance of Scripture study, Bullinger writes
There is I confess, some difficulty in the scriptures. But that difficulty may easily be helped by study, diligence, faith, and the means of skillful interpreters. I know that the apostle Peter says in the epistles of Paul “many things are hard to be understood” but immediately he adds, “which the unlearned, and those that are imperfect, or unstable, pervert, as they do the other scriptures also, unto their own destruction.” Whereby we gather that the scripture is difficult or obscure to the unlearned, unskillful, unexercised, and malicious or corrupted wills, and not to the zealous and godly readers or hearers thereof. – Heinrich Bullinger
What Sort of Undesirables Occupy the Ministry
I am ashamed and sorry to rehearse what a censure for reformation of manners remains in the church. The thing itself cries put, and experience witnesses that unworthy persons are not shut out from this holy ministry; for without difference all are admitted; and as yet whoremongers, drunkards, dice-players, and men defiled, yes, overwhelmed with divers heinous crimes, are allowed in the ministry. — Heinrich Bullinger
It’s worse now, Heinrich… We have atheists in ministry…
Not Every Expositor is of Equal Quality
Heinrich Bullinger astutely remarked
There may be one that expoundeth very darkly, and another expoundeth more plainly: this man hitteth the mark, he comes not near it: and this man applieth the place which he handleth very fitly, some other useth not like simplicity of application: in the mean season, notwithstanding, he saith nothing contrary to the soundness of faith and the love of God and our neighbour, and useth all things to edification. I say, that of this diversity no man taketh just occasion to depart from the church. For all godly men prove all things, and keep that which is good; and in all sermons and holy exercises4 refer their whole study only unto edifying.
And moreover the preachers agree well among themselves, and hereunto direct all things, that both themselves and their hearers may become better; not that they may seem better learned, or to have uttered that which no man saw heretofore.
And the best learned loathe not their sermons which are not so learned: for albeit they may seem not altogether to have hit the mark, yet forasmuch as they have taught wholesome things, they are praised and not condemned; albeit in fit time and place they be somewhiles admonished.
A Bullinger Gallery In Remembrance of His Death
Heinrich Bullinger: On Aiding the Stranger
We must not only do good to them that are familiar with us, but to them also whom we did never see before, in keeping hospitality for wayfaring strangers, so far as our substance will stretch to maintain it. For if otherwise thy wealth be slender, as that it will do no more but maintain thine own house and family, no parcel of God’s law doth bind or bid thee to distribute to other men the wealth which thou thyself dost need as much or more than they.
It is sufficient for thee to provide that they of thine own household be not a burden to other men’s backs. So then the man, whose wealth is small, is not compelled to spend that little which he hath in doing honour or shewing courtesy to other men: it is enough for him to bear with a valiant heart his own hard hap, and to take heed that his poverty procure him not to offend against right and honesty.
What does Bullinger mean? If you have the resources, help others. If you don’t, be sure you maintain your family so as not to be a burden to others so that they can aid the truly needy.
Recent publications based on the work on the Bullinger correspondence by members of the editorial team
All the details are over at the IRG blog. A lot of great stuff that needs to be read.
Heinrich Bullinger: on Invoking God
That invocation therefore or calling upon God, whereof at this time we entreat, is a lifting up of man’s mind to God in great necessity or in some desire, and a most ardent craving of counsel and assistance by faith; and also a bequeathing or committing of ourselves into the protection of God, and as it were a betaking of ourselves to his sanctuary and only safeguard. In invocation therefore (true invocation, I mean) a faithful mind is first of all required, which doth acknowledge God to be the author and only giver of all good gifts; who is willing to hear them that call upon him, and is able to grant us all our requests and desires whatsoever. An incessant and ardent petition or beseeching is also required. But of these points more shall be said, when God shall give us leave, in our sermon of the prayer of the faithful; for invocation is a kind of prayer. — Heinrich Bullinger
Today With Bullinger
In Sacrosanctum Jesu Christi Domini nostri Evangelium secundum Matthæum Commentariorum libri XII. fol. Tig. 1542, was translated by Frisius into German, with the title, “The Hope of the Faithful,” and published August 18, 1544.
The preface to the volume is lovely. Really lovely.
The Reticence of the Editors of Luther’s Works in English to Publish his Book on the Jews
In the preface, the editors of the American Edition of Luther’s works write
The fact that Luther, during the last years of his life, wrote treatises harshly condemnatory of the Jews and Judaism is rather widely known. The treatises themselves, however, have not previously been available in English. The publication here of the longest and most infamous of them, On the Jews and Their Lies, will no doubt prove dismaying to many readers, not only because it shows Luther at his least attractive, but also because of the potential misuse of this material. The risk to Luther’s reputation is gladly borne, since the exposure of a broader range of his writings to modern critical judgment is an inherent purpose of this American edition. However, the thought of possible misuse of this material, to the detriment either of the Jewish people or of Jewish-Christian relations today, has occasioned great misgivings. Both editor and publisher, therefore, wish to make clear at the very outset that publication of this treatise is being undertaken only to make available the necessary documents for scholarly study of this aspect of Luther’s thought, which has played so fateful a role in the development of anti-Semitism in Western culture. Such publication is in no way intended as an endorsement of the distorted views of Jewish faith and practice or the defamation of the Jewish people which this treatise contains.*
Luther’s book doesn’t just make us squirm today, it was also viewed negatively in Luther’s own day, among his own supporters!
Already upon its first appearance in the year 1543, Luther’s treatise caused widespread dismay, not only among contemporary Jews but also in Protestant circles. Melanchthon and Osiander are known to have been unhappy with its severity. Henry Bullinger, in correspondence with Martin Bucer, remarked that Luther’s views reminded him of those of the Inquisitors. And a subsequent document prepared by the churches of Zurich declared (speaking specifically of the treatise Vom Schem Hamphoras, published later in 1543), that “if it had been written by a swineherd, rather than by a celebrated shepherd of souls, it might have some—but very little—justification.”* [The Zurich document is cited in WA 53, 574. For the views of Melanchthon, Osiander, Bullinger, and other Reformers, see Lewin, Luthers Stellung zu den Juden (cited above, p. 96, n. 35), pp. 97 ff.]
(WA 53,574)
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*Luther’s works, vol. 47: The Christian in Society IV.
Fun Facts from Bullinger’s Reformationsgeschichte
While a student in Basel, Huldrych Zwingli learned to play a number of musical instruments, but he came to a special mastery of the lute.
Today With Bullinger
On 17 July, 1532 Heinrich Bullinger gave a speech to the Zurich city council concerning recent events in Baden (on 9-10 July of that same year) where the cantons had discussed entering into an alliance with Charles V and Francis I against the Turkish threat. Bullinger, on behalf of the Zurich Clergy. Bullinger reminds them of various connivings of those two monarchs and the disastrous results of Swiss involvement in previous wars involving the French and the Holy Roman Empire, including the battle which moved Zwingli to object to all such military entanglements with foreign lords- Marignano in 1515.
In sum, Bullinger, in the name of the others, advised the Zurich-ers to avoid any war. Those who signed in agreement were
- Doctor Heinrich Engelhart
- Leo Jud
- Doctor Andreas Karlstadt (!)
- Erasmus Schmid
- Konrad Pellikan
- Theodore Bibliander
- Heinrich Bullinger
Unfortuntely theologians today are too occupied with appearances on tv mockumentaries to send such notices to governments. If they did, well maybe the world would be different. One thing is for sure, they wouldn’t be so disdained by society for their acceptance of the status quo.
Bullinger’s Letters
Der Briefwechsel des Zürcher Reformators Heinrich Bullinger ist von ausserordentlicher Bedeutung. Mit rund 12000 Briefen ist er wohl die umfangreichste erhaltene Briefkorrespondenz des 16. Jahrhunderts. Er gibt in einzigartiger Weise Einblick in die Zeit der Reformation. Darüber hinaus dokumentiert er die zentrale Stellung Zürichs im damaligen Europa. Etwa ein Viertel von Bullingers Briefen wurde in den letzten Jahren durch das Institut für Schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte der UZH veröffentlicht.
Ziel ist, weitere Briefe zu edieren, sowie die gesamte Korrespondenz zu digitalisieren und zu veröffentlichen, damit sie weltweit genutzt werden kann. Die UZH Foundation unterstützt dieses Projekt mittels einer Fundraising-Kampagne.
Kontakt: Isabel Probst
Via.
Nüwe Zyttungen
This just arrived from Zurich thanks to Reinhard Bodenmann and the other lovely folk there at the University in the Department of Theology. It’s from a new exhibit on the letters of Bullinger. And it’s wonderful!
It’s a treasure trove, just like Bullinger’s correspondence. Now, to enjoy it.
Nüwe Zyttungen: Von schlurfenden Pfaffen, Wundern und anderen Zeichen. Der Briefwechsel des Reformators Heinrich Bullinger
Der Reformator Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575), Nachfolger Huldrych Zwinglis, hat über 12 000 Briefe erhalten und geschrieben. Diese Korrespondenz ist mehr als privater oder seelsorgerischer Austausch: Als Medium für Nachrichtenübermittlung, internationale Kirchenpolitik und theologische Debatten zeichnet sie ein vielschichtiges Bild ihrer Zeit. Während die Briefe die krisenhaften internationalen Ereignisse abbilden, geben sie gleichzeitig Aufschluss über die Kommunikationsstrategien der Reformatoren nach Zwinglis Tod. Meldungen über Kriegsgeschehen, Wunderzeichen oder Naturkatastrophen, polemische Schriften, Flugblätter, Schmählieder und Gerüchte erreichen Zürich, werden im Streit der Konfessionen widerlegt, geahndet oder weiterverbreitet.
Dieses Buch erscheint anlässlich des Jubiläums 500 Jahre Zürcher Reformation und begleitet eine Ausstellung an der Universität Zürich. Die ausgewählten Briefzitate und Bilder geben Einblick in ein beispielhaftes frühneuzeitliches Kommunikationsnetzwerk. Ergänzt werden die Auszüge durch einordnende Interviews mit Spezialisten, die den Kontext und die medientheoretische Aktualität aufzeigen.
Get yourself one!
Bullinger for Today
They serve God … who by faith and obedience gather themselves into the holy assembly at specified times; who keep the ecclesiastical discipline derived out of the word of God; who hear the word of God, or the holy exposition of the sacred scriptures; who pray publicly with the church; who religiously participate in the sacraments; and observe other lawful and wholesome rites or ceremonies. By this their service they glorify God among men…
Truce-breakers are they, disloyal, and infamous through their adultery, whosoever, being not knit to one God by faith, or worship him alone, or call upon him through Christ, and who do not serve him also as he himself hath said in his word he would be served. — Heinrich Bullinger
