Forgotten Reformers: Others in Brief

People sometimes ask me: "How can the names and deeds of minor Reformation figures be distinguished and memorized? How can they be recalled in five seconds or less?" I find it is helpful to understand that most reformers had discrete geographic roles. That is, in most major cities or polities that became Protestant, there was one guy who brought Protestantism to that city. Sometimes the same guy would bring Protestantism to two or even three different places; other times a single city would require two guys, often in succession, to become fully Protestant. Since this isn't a Reformation blog and I can't do a "Forgotten Reformers" entry on every single forgotten reformer, I thought I'd make a list of somewhat notable reformers and tell you a bit about where they were active, or other fun facts about them.

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Andreas Osiander (Lutheran): Lead the reformation in Nuremburg, later went to Prussia and helped lead the Lutheran reformation there.

Johannes Honterus (Lutheran): Brought the reformation to Transylvania, where he preached to the Transylvania Saxons, ethnic Germans who lived mostly in the seven walled cities of Transylvania. The Hungarian population in Transylvania would later become largely Calvinist or Unitarian, while the Romanian population in Transylvania remained Eastern Orthodox.

Michael Agricola (Lutheran): Lutheran scholar from Finland. Translated the Bible into Finnish. Finland was part of Sweden at the time of the Reformation, which became Lutheran after the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Philipp Melancthon (Lutheran): Author of the Augsburg Confession, the creed of Lutheranism. Important figure in early Lutheranism.

Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran): German reformer, helped Melancthon write the Augsburg confession. Later went to Denmark to help the Danes organize their state-sponsored reformed church.

Johannes Oecolampadius (Calvinist): Brought the reformation to Basel. His last name means "house lamp" in Greek. His birth name was Johannes Hussgen. "Hussgen" sounds kind of like "Hausschein", which is the German word for house lamp. From there, it was only a short step to translating his sounds-like name into Greek.

The best way to remember this name is to note that "Oeco", house, is also the root of "economics", which originally meant management of an estate or farm. Hence, Xenophon's socratic dialogue on farm management is called "Oeconomicus". Then "Lampadius" sounds a lot like "lamp". You just have to memorize the -adius ending.

Theodore Beza (Calvinist): Successor of Calvin in Geneva; edited Calvin's writings, including Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Heinrich Bullinger (Calvinist): Successor of Zwingli in Zurich.

Ferenc David (Unitarian): After 1526, Transylvania became an independent principality ruled by the Hungarian nobility. Many Hungarian nobles adopted Calvinism or Unitarianism at this time. Ferenc David was an advisor to the Zapolya dynasty of Transylvania princes and urged them to establish freedom of religion in Transylvania. The result of this was the Edict of Turda, one of the first proclamations of religious toleration in all of Europe. Subsequently, many different denominations flourished in Transylvania, but especially Calvinism and Unitarianism (among Hungarians) and Lutheranism (among Germans).

Jerome of Prague (Hussite): The best friend and companion of Jan Hus. Along with Hus, he was burned at the Council of Constance

Forgotten Reformers: Martin Bucer

Most reformers are notable for their activities in just one city. For instance, Calvin in Geneva, or Zwingli in Zurich. But Martin Bucer -- aka Martin Butzer, or Martin Bucerus -- had a major impact on the reformation in two different countries: France and England.

When the Reformation started, Martin Bucer was attending theology school at the University of Heidelberg. In 1518, Martin Luther came to Heidelberg for the Heidelberg Disputation, an event in which Luther debated theology with local Catholic monks. Bucer was in the audience for the Heidelberg Disputation and found himself agreeing with Luther.

However, Bucer did not think that Luther's views were incompatible with Catholicism. While Luther and Karlstadt left the church and renounced their vows, Bucer remained a Catholic priest for a number of years.

However, Bucer finally left the Catholic Church in 1521, when religious authorities tried to prosecute the humanist scholar Johan Reuchlin, whom Bucer admired. Reuchlin is perhaps most notable as the teacher of another great reformer, Philipp Melancthon.

At this time, Bucer became associated with Franz von Sickingen, a German knight. Sickingen sympathized with the protestants and used his wealth and power to protect Bucer, Luther and other reformers. However, 1523, Franz von Sickingen became the leader of the Knight's Revolt, an unsuccessful rebellion of knights against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

With his primary benefactor wanted for treason, Bucer had to get out of Germany. So he went to Strasbourg, which was then a free imperial city.

The citizens of Strasbourg accepted Bucer and let him lead their reformation. Under his leadership, services were simplified, religious images were destroyed, and leading Catholics were expelled.

During this time, Bucer tried his hand at diplomacy and sought to unite the Lutheran churches of Germany with the Calvinist churches of Switzerland into a single Protestant church. The sticking point in these talks was always the doctrine of the Real Presence -- which Lutherans accepted and Calvinists rejected. All of these talks failed. As for Bucer's own views, they were closer to the Calvinists, despite his early influence by Luther.

In 1549, Bucer's time in Strasbourg ran out. Charles V conquered the city, imposed Catholicism, and expelled the Protestant reformers.

Bucer was given refuge in England, where radical Protestants were quickly gaining power under Edward VI. Archbishop Thomas Cramner invited Bucer to become a professor at Cambridge. While in England, Bucer influenced the Book of Common Prayer of 1552, the most radically Protestant prayer book in the history of the English church.

Bucer died in England, two years before Edward VI did. When Queen Mary restored Catholicism, she ordered Bucer's body to be dug up and burned.

Forgotten Reformers: Andreas Karlstadt

Everyone knows that Martin Luther had 95 theses and nailed them to the door of a church in Germany. But did you know that there was another reformer from the same city who had 151 theses? And who actually went to Rome and hand-delivered them to the Pope?

There was, and his name was Andreas Karlstadt.

Karlstadt attended theology grad school at the University of Wittenberg, and got his doctorate in 1510, two years before Luther did. Karlstadt stayed at Wittenberg and soon became chair of the theology department.

In 1515, Karlstadt decided to attend law school at Sapienza universty at Rome. This was during the Papacy of Leo X, the famously corrupt Pope who authorized the sale of indulgences in Germany and would later excommunicate Luther. While in Rome, Karlstadt witnessed Catholic church corruption first hand. This led him to write his 151 Theses in 1517 -- a year before Luther wrote his 95 theses. Since he was in Rome, he was able to present his theses directly to the power center of the Church.

Karlstadt returned to Germany and supported Martin Luther's movement. When Luther had to leave -- first to defend his ideas at the Diet of Worms, then to hide from Holy Roman Empire authorities in Wartburg Castle -- Karlstadt became the leader of the reformed church in Wittenberg.

At this time, Karlstadt began to drift towards a more radical view than Luther. Karlstadt rejected infant baptism (thus becoming an Anabaptist), a step that Luther was unwilling to take. Karlstadt also denied the Real Presence -- the belief that Christ was not physically present during Communion, another step that Luther was unwilling to take. Finally, Karlstadt invited the Zwickau Prophets to preach in Wittenberg. The Zwickau Prophets were three radical Anabaptists who, among other things, claimed to be receiving spiritual revelations and preached that the apocalypse was near.

When Luther returned to Wittenberg, he was outraged at this. He expelled the Zwickau Prophets and returned to a more moderate form of Protestantism.

As for Karlstadt, he left Wittenberg. For some years, he wandered Europe and served as pastor in several cities. However, no Protestant group today really traces their heritage to Karlstadt.