Background
Sulzer was born in Schattenhalb, the child of a priest. The sudden death of his father, the provost of Interlaken, forced him to turn to manual labor to support himself.
rector theologian university professor
Sulzer was born in Schattenhalb, the child of a priest. The sudden death of his father, the provost of Interlaken, forced him to turn to manual labor to support himself.
He was educated in Bern and Lucerne. He worked as a barber in Strasbourg and attended lectures by Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Capito.
He moved to Basel in 1531, where he associated with Simon Grynaeus. From 1533 he worked in Bern in education and proved his worth in the schools. On the initiative of the Bern town council, he pursued additional studies in 1537 and took a master’s degree.
He blamed the disagreement with Luther on the Swiss.
Meanwhile, the older generation of reformers of Bern, Berchtold Haller and Franz Kolb, died, and a new direction was set by certain theologians from Strasbourg, to which he also adhered. As a learned and clever man, he soon became the head of the Bernese clergy.
His impact was multifaceted and not always unambiguous. He received a post in Basel in 1549, first as pastor of the Peterskirche, then as a professor and as Antistes of the Basel church in 1553.
He proceeded more cautiously here than in Bern.
He endeavored to bring about the reconciliation of the German and Swiss churches, although he kept a relative distance from the Zwinglian and Calvinist position. His Lutheran inclinations made him favor the Formula of Concord over the Second Helvetic Confession and to likewise to promote private confession, organs and church bells. Thus he occupied an awkward position vis-à-vis the Swiss churches and provoked opposition.
His efforts proved to be only an ephemeral episode in Basel.
He played a major role in the introduction of the Reformation into the margravate of Baden-Durlach. Without abandoning his position in Basel, he worked as a Superintendent in Baden.
Sulzer was an energetic and responsible worker into his old age. He died in Basel.