Background
Heinrich Bullinger was born at Bremgarten, near Zurich, on July 18, 1504.
Heinrich Bullinger was born at Bremgarten, near Zurich, on July 18, 1504.
The son of a priest, Bullinger was educated at Emmerich, where he came under the lasting influence of the Brethren of the Common Life. His move, at age fifteen, to the university at Cologne exposed him more fully to humanism and the study of the church fathers. Education and its provision were to be lifelong concerns for Bullinger, and in the 15206 he sought to reform the monastery along humanist lines.
Heinrich Bullinger returned to his native land in 1523 to become a teacher at the Cistercian monastery at Kappel, southwest of Zurich. During this period he became acquainted with the Swiss theologian and reformer Huldrych Zwingli. A military force from Zurich, accompanied by Zwingli as chaplain, was surprised and defeated at Kappel by an army from the central cantons of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the Five Forest Cantons.
He heard Zwingli at Zurich in 1527, and next year accompanied him to the disputation at Berne.
After the battle of Cappel (nth of October 1531), in which Zwingli fell, he left Bremgarten.
Zwingli was killed in the battle (11 October 1531).
Out of loyalty to Zurich, he accepted a call from the Council was elected head of the church on 13 December 1531.
After Zwingli's death Bullinger had to reconstruct the institutional basis of the Zurich church.
This required him to balance conflicting principles.
First, the Zurich magistrates and population were no longer prepared to tolerate an independent clergy who used sola scriptura ('Scripture alone', that is, the authority of the Bible as superior to all other authorities), to force political agendas contrary to will of the people—such as Zwingli's war against the Catholics in 1531.
He regularly preached two or three times a week, and many of his sermons were printed.
As a theologian, his central concern was to demonstrate that the Reformed Church stood in line with the teachings of the early church.
In the Zurich tradition, his theology was directed toward pastoral application, emphasized the clarity of Scripture and the role of the Spirit, and drew heavily from the Old Testament.
On the matter of the Eucharist he remained close to Zwingli, but the influence of Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531) and Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) is now recognized in his writings.
He worked closely with John Calvin (1509–1564) and played a crucial role in the latter's return to Geneva.
With Calvin he concluded (1549) the Consensus Tigurinus on the Lord's Supper.
In contrast, Heinrich Bullinger was an enthusiastic supporter of Reform movements in Eastern Europe, France, Italy, and, most famously, England.
Heinrich Bullinger was married to Anna Adlischweiler, a nun, by whom he had eleven children.