Zwingli. God's Armed Prophet, Bruce Gordon. Review.

Zwingli. God’s Armed Prophet. (New Haven: Yale, 2021) 349 pages

Those who know Bruce Gordon’s work on the Swiss Reformation and on John Calvin will not be disappointed with this recently published biography of Zwingli. This is the first substantial biography of Zwingli since the 1976 biography by G R Potter. It is written with informed verve, and sufficient detail to allow nuance without losing the narrative flow. Gordon writes with the sympathetic evaluation of a writer who appreciates Zwingli’s great gifts and achievements without trying to minimise the dangers and consequences of politicised theology in Reformation Europe.

One strength of Gordon’s work is the attention he pays to how Zwingli combined in one charismatic central figure, a prophetic reforming theology drawn from the Word of God, with political goals achieved by persuasion, power and ultimately military conflict. In doing this, the book also brings Zwingli into historically plausible relationship with the other major Reformation figures.

There is Erasmus whom Zwingli admired as his mentor, and who inspired him as a humanist priest. Erasmus later broke with Zwingli over his attacks on the Mass, images, the saints and indeed the entire fabric of medieval Catholic piety. There is Luther, who throughout Zwingli’s life and time in Zurich was his nemesis, the two utterly irreconcilable not only in their views on the Lord’s Supper, but on the means of promoting reform, on the interpretation of the Word of God, and on  human and divine agency as they relate to predestination and ecclesiology.

Then there is Calvin, who came late in Zwingli’s life but who steadfastly opposed the Zurich prophet’s theological views and reforming methods. Johann Eck appears throughout the narrative as the Catholic inquisitor par excellence, formidable opponent of Luther and Zwingli, and one whose rhetorical and theological precision were weaponised in the struggle between the Reformers and the Papacy. Other significant players in Zwingli’s story include the much more reasonable Oecolampadius from Basel, the mediating Martin Bucer from Strasbourg, and Heinrich Bullinger who became Zwingli’s young successor as prophet preacher in Zurich.

The lives and relationships of all the major German and Swiss Reformers are placed by Gordon in the evolving context of late medieval and early modern Europe. And in the case of Zwingli, in the complicated and volatile political machinations of the Swiss Confederation and its awkward relations with surrounding nations and states. Gordon is the best kind of expert, a reliable guide through the complexities and dynamics of radical social and religious upheavals in the context of political flux.

It is clear from the narrative of Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation that there were multiple surges and streams of reform playing out across Europe. As well as the agendas of the reformers there were powerful political currents and collisions of interest involving the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, France, the Swiss Confederation and the Papacy. Emerging from Gordon’s lucid and convincing portrayal of these social forces, religious upheavals and political power plays, is a portrait of Zwingli as both major instigator of reform, and as a human being caught up in events and circumstances too powerful for any individual to control. The story reads like a Shakespearean tragedy, and with moments of high drama and almost comical intransigence.

Each of Zwingli’s major writings are examined, especially as Zwingli’s theology relates to Catholic and Lutheran doctrine. On the Lord’s Supper, Gordon gives careful attention both to what Zwingli both taught and wrote, and to the caricatures and distortions of his opponents, and his later (mistaken) supporters. What emerges is a much more robust view of ‘what happens’ in the gathering of the covenant community of Christian believers when bread is broken and wine is poured and all partake spiritually of the presence of the Lord. Zwingli’s irreconcilable difference with Luther is thoroughly explored in a chapter entitled ‘Broken Body’.

Other perspectives enhance and further clarify the inner springs and external influences that Zwingli by turns drove, or was driven by. These include Zwingli’s humanist education, his wide-ranging promotional epistolary network, regular prophetic preaching in the Grossmünster and sermon dissemination as both propaganda and edification. In addition Gordon explores Zwingli’s often overlooked work as skilled musician and liturgist, his relentless emphasis on social justice and care for the poor, his role as scourge of the Anabaptists and as virtual Chaplain to the Large and Small City Councils, and the spiritual paradox of one who moved from pacifism to sword carrying priest in defence of the Reformed faith.

The two final chapters are essential reading to understand the legacy and reputation of Zwingli. Gordon reviews the many biased and distorted versions of Zwingli’s motives, actions and the manner of his death. The conflicted factions within the movements for Reformation had their own reasons to vilify or praise the Zurich priest-soldier. Apologetics and polemics created a web of distorted narratives intended to fit the larger narrative of the interest groups; many were examples of unabashed verbal air brushing. Where possible Gordon separates myth from fact, and like a good archaeologist brushes away the layers of dust and accretions to expose something of the original.

Two further commendations of this book. 1. The 2019 film Zwingli is reviewed and placed at the end point of what is effectively a reception history of Zwingli biography. It’s not often a scholarly biography makes room for a film review; this one is enthusiastic though critical of occasional historical licence. Gordon is a shrewd reviewer, and sees clearly the film director’s intention to portray Zwingli in terms that resonate 21^st Century sensibilities. 2. The Index is immensely valuable. It is carefully constructed, it avoids the software catch-all that produces a sand storm of more or less relevant page references. The several times I used it I found exactly what I needed in jig time!

Why read this book. Let Bruce Gordon put the case:

“With their emphasis on the power of one person to conceive, initiate and prosecute, biographies are complicit in the attempt to make reformers part of our story. The early Reformation continues to be the lives of Luther, Zwingli and Calvin as recent anniversaries have underscored…the perspective remains firmly that of the dominant reformer.” (300)

One way or another, our contemporary Western world has to reckon with a religious history that is deeply problematic for modern sensitivities. A first step to understanding the nature of those problems is the search for truth and perspective that is the work of the best biographers. 

Jim Gordon        

Comments

[Jason Goroncy]

Thanks, Jim, for whetting my appetite with this review.