Protestant Reformers

Theologians who brought about the Reformation

For a full and detailed list of all known Protestant Reformers, see List of Protestant Reformers.

Part of a series on the

Reformation

Ninety-five Theses, written by Martin Luther in 1517

Precursors

* Peter Waldo and Waldensians
* John Wycliffe and Lollardy
* Jan Hus and Hussites
* Girolamo Savonarola and Piagnoni
* Arnold of Brescia and Arnoldists
* Peter of Bruys and Petrobrusians
* Henry of Lausanne and Henricians
* Berengar of Tours and Berengarians
* Friends of God
* Pataria
* Gottschalk of Orbais
* Ratramnus
* Claudius of Turin
* Wessel Gansfort
* Johann Ruchrat von Wesel
* Johannes von Goch
* Gundolfo

Beginning

* Ninety-five Theses
* Diet of Worms
* Luther Bible
* Magisterials
* Radicals

Contributing factors

* Western Schism
* Avignon Papacy
* Bohemian Reformation
* Northern Renaissance
* Christian humanism
* German mysticism
* Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press
* Erasmus
* Johann Reuchlin

Theologies of seminal figures

* Theology of Martin Luther
* Theology of Huldrych Zwingli
* Theology of John Calvin

Protestant Reformers

* Martin Luther
* Philip Melanchthon
* Huldrych Zwingli
* John Calvin
* Martin Bucer
* William Tyndale
* Andreas Karlstadt
* Theodore Beza
* George Buchanan
* Heinrich Bullinger
* Peter Martyr Vermigli
* William Farel
* François Hotman
* John Knox
* Hubert Languet
* Thomas Müntzer
* Balthasar Hubmaier
* Menno Simons
* Thomas Cranmer
* Richard Hooker
* Jacobus Arminius
* Thomas Helwys
* Roger Williams
* Henry Denne
* Many others

By location

* Germany
* Switzerland (Geneva/Zürich)
* England
* Scotland
* Netherlands
* Czech Lands
* Hungary
* Romania
* Slovenia
* Denmark–Norway and Holstein
* Sweden and Finland
* Iceland
* Estonia and Latvia
* Austria
* France
* Italy
* Poland-Lithuania
* Ireland

Major political leaders

* Henry VIII
* Elizabeth I
* Oliver Cromwell
* James VI and I
* William the Silent
* Gaspard II de Coligny
* Henry IV of France
* Jeanne d'Albret
* Stephen Bocskai
* Gabriel Bethlen
* Gustav II Adolf
* Frederick V, Elector Palatine
* Philip I of Hesse

Electors of Saxony

* Frederick III
* John Frederick I

Counter-Reformation

* Catholic Church
* Council of Trent

* Counter-Reformation § Politics

* Censorship of the Bible § 16th century

* Anti-Protestantism
* Criticism

Holy Roman Emperors

* Charles V
* Ferdinand II

Political and religious conflicts

* Thirty Years' War
* French Wars of Religion
* Eighty Years' War
* War of the Three Kingdoms
* German Peasants' War
* Wars of Kappel
* Schmalkaldic War

Art and literature

Painting and sculpture

* Northern Mannerism
* Lutheran art

* German Renaissance Art
* Swedish art

* English art
* Woodcuts

* Art conflicts
* Beeldenstorm

Building

* Influence on church architecture

Literature

* Elizabethan
* Metaphysical poets
* Propaganda

* Welsh
* Scottish
* Anglo-Irish
* German

* Czech
* Swiss
* Slovak
* Sorbian
* Romanian
* Danish
* Bohorič alphabet

* Faroese
* Norwegian
* Swedish
* Finnish

* Icelandic
* Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age

* Folklore of the Low Countries

* 16th century Renaissance humanism

* 16th century in poetry
* 16th century in literature

Theater

* English Renaissance theatre
* Pastoral

* Morality
* History
* Tragedy
* Revenge

Music

Forms

* Hymnody of continental Europe

* Music of the British Isles
* Hymn tune

* Lutheran chorale
* Lutheran hymn

* Anglican church music
* Exclusive psalmody

* Scottish church music
* Normative principle

* Anglican chant
* Homophony vs. Polyphony

* Falsobordone
* Verse anthem

Liturgies

* Reformed worship
* Calvin's liturgy

* Formula missae
* Deutsche Messe

* Liturgical Struggle
* Ecclesiastical Latin

* Lutheran and Anglican Mass in music

* Cyclic mass vs. Paraphrase mass

* Roman vs. Sarum Rites

* Sequence (retained by Lutherans, mostly banned by Trent)

Hymnals

* First and Second Lutheran hymnals

* First Wittenberg hymnal
* Ausbund

* Swenske songer
* Thomissøn's hymnal

* Book of Common Prayer
* Metrical psalters

* Book of Common Order
* Souterliedekens

* Genevan Psalter
* Scottish Psalter

* Whole Book of Psalms

Conclusion and commemorations

Conclusion

* Confessionalization with subsequent Protestant orthodoxy
* Peace of Westphalia
* Simultaneous rise of Pietism and Rationalism

Monuments

* Reformation Wall
* Luther Monuments

Calendrical commemoration

* Reformation Day
* Lutheran
* Anglican

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Protestantism

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* Criticism
* Culture
* Demographics
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* Relations with Catholics
* Theologies
* Five Solas

History

* Proto-Protestantism
* Bohemian Reformation
* Reformation
* Magisterial
* Radical
* Counter
* Martin Luther
* Ninety-five Theses
* Augsburg Confession
* Huldrych Zwingli
* John Calvin
* Arminianism
* Crypto-Protestantism
* Nonconformists
* Dissenters
* Puritans
* John Wesley
* Pietism
* Great Awakenings in America
* Revival meetings

Branches

* Proto-Protestants
* Hussites
* Waldensians
* Lutherans
* Reformed
* Continental
* Presbyterians
* Congregational
* Anglicans
* Continuing
* Anabaptists
* Amish
* Hutterites
* Mennonites
* Quakers
* Baptists
* Black church
* Methodists
* Radical Pietism
* Shakers
* Stone-Campbell
* Plymouth Brethren
* Adventist
* Irvings
* Holiness
* Keswickians
* Eastern Protestant
* Pentecostals
* United and uniting churches
* Nondenominational

Movements

* Augsburg Catholics
* Charismatics
* Confessionalism
* Confessing Movement
* Convergence
* Church Growth
* Ecumenism
* Emerging church
* Evangelicalism
* Fundamentalism
* High church
* Liberalism
* Mainlines
* Neo-charismatics
* Neo-orthodoxy
* New Calvinism
* Paleo-orthodoxy
* Progressivism
* Spiritual Christianity

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Protestant Reformers were theologians whose careers, works and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

In the context of the Reformation, Martin Luther was the first reformer, sharing his views publicly in 1517, followed by Andreas Karlstadt and Philip Melanchthon at Wittenberg, who promptly joined the new movement. In 1519, Huldrych Zwingli became the first reformer to express a form of the Reformed tradition.

Listed are the most influential reformers only. They are listed by movement, although some reformers influenced multiple movements and are included in each respective section.

## Notable precursors

[edit]

Main article: Proto-Protestantism

Throughout the Middle Ages, according to Edmund Hamer Broadbent, there were a number of Christian movements that sought a return to what they perceived as the purity of the Apostolic church and whose teachings foreshadowed Protestant ideas.[1]

* Claudius of Turin[2]
* Gottschalk of Orbais[3][4][5]
* Berengar of Tours[6][7][8]
* Peter Waldo[9]
* Lorenzo Valla[10]
* Wessel Gansfort[11]
* Girolamo Savonarola[12]
* Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples[13]
* John Wycliffe[14]
* Jan Hus[15]

## Magisterial Reformers

[edit]

Fictitious dispute between the leading Protestant Reformers (sitting at the left side of the table: Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen and Oecolampadius) and the representatives of the Catholic Church

There were a number of key reformers within the Magisterial Reformation, including:

### Lutheran

[edit]

* Martin Luther
* Philipp Melanchthon
* Justus Jonas
* Martin Chemnitz
* Georg Spalatin
* Joachim Westphal
* Andreas Osiander
* Johannes Brenz
* Johannes Bugenhagen
* Andreas Karlstadt, later a Radical Reformer
* Hans Tausen
* Mikael Agricola
* Primož Trubar
* Jiří Třanovský

### Reformed

[edit]

* Huldrych Zwingli
* Martin Bucer
* John Calvin
* Heinrich Bullinger
* Theodore Beza
* William Farel
* John Knox
* Wolfgang Capito
* Johannes Oecolampadius
* Peter Martyr Vermigli
* Leo Jud
* Matthias Devay
* Jacobus Arminius
* Thomas Helwys
* Roger Williams
* Henry Denne

### Anglican

[edit]

* Thomas Cranmer
* Thomas Cromwell
* Matthew Parker
* William Tyndale
* Hugh Latimer
* Richard Hooker

## Radical Reformers

[edit]

Important reformers of the Radical Reformation included:

### Anabaptist

[edit]

* Thomas Müntzer
* Zwickau prophets
* John of Leiden
* Menno Simons
* Dirk Willems

### Schwenkfelder

[edit]

* Kaspar Schwenkfeld

### Unitarian

[edit]

* Ferenc Dávid
* Michael Servetus

## Second Front Reformers

[edit]

There were also a number of people who initially cooperated with the Radical Reformers, but separated from them to form a "Second Front", principally in objection to sacralism. Among these were:

### Anabaptist

[edit]

* Johannes Bünderlin
* Hans Denck
* Christian Entfelder
* Conrad Grebel
* Balthasar Hubmaier
* Felix Manz

## Counter-Reformers

[edit]

Catholics who actively opposed the Reformation and partook in the Counter-Reformation include:

* Girolamo Aleandro
* Augustine Alveld
* Thomas Cajetan
* Johann Cochlaeus
* Johann Eck
* Jerome Emser
* Pope Leo X
* John Tetzel
* Thomas More
* Ignatius of Loyola
* Francis de Sales
* Pope Paul III
* Pope Pius V
* Charles Borromeo
* Francis Xavier
* Peter Faber
* Diego Laynez

## See also

[edit]

* List of Protestant Reformers (alphabetical)
* Protestantism in Germany

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Broadbent, E.H. (1931). The Pilgrim Church. Basingstoke: Pickering & Inglis. ISBN 0720806771. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
2. ^ F. L. Cross; E. A. Livingstone, eds. (13 March 1997). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition. USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 359. ISBN 0-19-211655-X.
3. ^ "Gottschalk Of Orbais | Roman Catholic theologian". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
4. ^ caryslmbrown (2017-07-18). "Reformation parallels: the case of Gottschalk of Orbais". Doing History in Public. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
5. ^ Lockridge, Kenneth R. "Gottschalk "Fulgentius" of Orbais".
6. ^ Minton, Gretchen E. (2014-01-26). John Bale's 'The Image of Both Churches'. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-94-007-7296-0. "Berengar of Tours was an 11th-century theologian who argued that the doctrine of transubstantiation was contrary to reason and unsupported by scripture"
7. ^ Siebeck, Mohr (11 March 2016). Prophecy, Piety, and the Problem of Historicity: Interpreting the Hebrew. Germany. p. 372\. ISBN 978-3-16-154270-1. "Berengar of Tours (c. 1005-1088), Bernand of Clairvaux, the Waldensians in the twelfth century, the Albigensians in the thirteenth century and John Wycliffe (x. 1330-1385) and Jan Hus (c. 1370-1415) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are all prefigured in the poetic images of Solomon's Songs. They all become forerunners of Luther and Calvin"`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
8. ^ Jung, Emma; Franz, Marie-Luise von (1998). The Grail Legend. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00237-8. "Berengar of Tours (first half og the eleventh century), whose views occasioned the dispute known as the Second Eucharistic Controversy. Berengar aught that the body and the blood of the Lord were no "real" in the Eucharist but a specific image or likeleness ("figuram quandam similitudinem"). He was thus a forerunner of the Reformers."
9. ^ "Pierre Valdo (1140-1217) and the Waldenses". Musée protestant. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
10. ^ "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VI: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1294-1517 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
11. ^ "The forms of communication employed by the Protestant Reformers and especially Luther and Calvin" (PDF). Pharos Journal of Theology. 98. 2016. "John of Wessel was one member in the group who attacked indulgences (Reddy 2004:115). The doctrine of justification by faith alone was the teaching of John of Wessel (Kuiper 1982:151). He rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation where it is believed when the priest pronounces the sacraments then the wine and bread in turned into the real body and blood of Christ"
12. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Savonarola, Girolamo" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
13. ^ "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VI: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1294-1517 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
14. ^ "Lollard | English religious history". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
15. ^ "Jan Hus (1369-1415) and the Hussite wars (1419-1436)". museéprotestant. Archived from the original on Jun 18, 2023.

## Further reading

[edit]

* George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0805401950. N.B.: Comparative studies of the various leaders of the Magisterial and Radical movements of the 16th century Protestant Reformation.

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