![Porträt von Rudolf Gwalter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Portr%C3%A4t_von_Rudolf_Gwalter.jpg)
Rudolf Gwalther (1519–1586) was a
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
pastor and
Protestant reformer
Protestant Reformers were those 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 15 ...
who succeeded
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss Re ...
as
Antistes
Antistes (from Latin ''ante'' "before" and ''sto'' "stand") was from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century the title of the head of a church in the Reformed Churches in Switzerland. It was the highest office in churches with synodal church gover ...
of the
Zurich church.
Life
Gwalther was born the son of a carpenter, who died when he was young.
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss Re ...
assumed responsibility for Gwalther's upbringing. He attended schools in
Kappel,
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
,
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
and
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...
and studied mathematics and poetry in addition to theology. He learned French and Italian in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
. Landgrave
Philip of Hesse
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (in English: "the Magnanimous"), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestan ...
brought the gifted student along to the
Regensburg Colloquy in 1541. When he returned to Zurich, he received the pastorate of
St Peter's Church to replace
Leo Jud
Leo Jud (; also Leo Juda, Leo Judä, Leo Judas, Leonis Judae, Ionnes Iuda, Leo Keller; 1482 – 19 June 1542), known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich.
Biography
Jud was born ...
. He married
Huldrych Zwingli’s daughter Regula (1524–1565).
He was an inspiring and popular preacher. His sermons and biblical commentaries have been frequently printed and widely read. As Zwingli’s son-in-law, he sought to preserve the great reformer's heritage and remained true to his theological orientation. Gwalther's Latin translations of Zwingli's works helped disseminate his thought in the Romance language world.
For Bullinger, he was a valuable collaborator in the management of the Zurich church and in assisting with his widely dispersed correspondence network. Outside of historical narratives, he produced numerous translations, and composed Latin poems and spiritual songs. Following Bullinger’s wish, Gwalther was elected in 1575 as his successor as ''Antistes'' at the
Grossmünster
The Grossmünster (; "great Minster (church), minster") is a Romanesque-style Swiss Reformed Church, Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche Zür ...
. He held this difficult office until 1585, when his declining mental state forced him from the post. He was succeeded as head of the
Zurich church by his longtime colleague
Ludwig Lavater
Ludwig Lavater (4 March 1527; Kyburg (castle) – 5 July 1586 in Zurich) was a Swiss Reformed theologian working in the circle of his father-in-law, Heinrich Bullinger. He served as Archdeacon at the Grossmünster in Zurich and briefly Antistes ...
.
Influence
He had contacts with English Calvinists through
John Parkhurst
John Parkhurst (c. 1512 – 2 February 1575) was an English Marian exile and from 1560 the Bishop of Norwich.
Early life
Born about 1512, he was son of George Parkhurst of Guildford, Surrey. He initially attended the Royal Grammar School, Guild ...
, in exile in Zurich in the 1550s. His works were one of the influences on the English
vestments controversy
The vestments controversy or vestarian controversy arose in the English Reformation, ostensibly concerning vestments or clerical dress. Initiated by John Hooper's rejection of clerical vestments in the Church of England under Edward VI as desc ...
of the 1560s; and his sermons were translated by Robert Norton of
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
in the 1570s.
['']Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', article on Norton. His son, Rudolf Gwalther the younger (1552–77), likewise enhanced his influence in England when he studied in Oxford in the early 1570s. Gwalther was in regular communication with English bishops. With Zwingli, Bullinger,
Wolfgang Musculus
Wolfgang Musculus, born "Müslin" or "Mauslein", (10 September 1497 – 30 August 1563) was a Reformed theologian of the Reformation.
Life
Born in the village of Duss ( Moselle), in a German-speaking area (French-speaking, from the Thirty Years ...
, and
Thomas Erastus
Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians shou ...
, Gwalther was a prime advocate of the Swiss German single-sphere model of church-state relations, and was a significant influence on the evolution of a statist model of church organization within the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
References
Sources
* J. Wayne Baker (1996) "Rudolf Gwalther," in Hans J. Hillerbrand, ed., ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation,'' vol 2, 203.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwalther, Rudolf
1519 births
1586 deaths
Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians
16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians
16th-century Swiss people