Reformed Christian

Definition and terminology

The definitions and boundaries of the terms Reformed Christianity and Calvinism are contested by scholars. As a historical movement, Reformed Christianity began during the Reformation with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich, Switzerland. Following the failure of the Marburg Colloquy between Zwingli's followers and those of Martin Luther in 1529 to mediate disputes regarding the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, Zwingli's followers were defined by their opposition to Lutherans (while Lutherans affirmed a corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist through a sacramental union, the Reformed came to hold a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist as propounded by Calvin and Bullinger). They also opposed Anabaptist radicals thus remaining within the Magisterial Reformation. During the 17th-century Arminian Controversy, followers of Jacobus Arminius were forcibly removed from the Dutch Reformed Church for their views regarding predestination and salvation, and thenceforth Arminians would be considered outside the pale of Reformed orthodoxy, though some use the term Reformed to include Arminians while using the term Calvinist to exclude Arminians.