 |
|
| home | help | |
|
|
|
| home | help | |
Top: Society: Religion_and_Spirituality: Christianity: Theology: Reformed: Calvinism: Early_Orthodoxy
The period from 1565-1640 was a period of Reformed scholasticism and the early orthodox codification of theological systems.Several factors account for the growth of orthodoxy or scholasticism. In response to the defining of the faith in the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent(1545-1563), there arose a similar need to more carefully define the Reformed faith. This need resulted in such documents as the Heidelberg Catechism(1563). The Reformed Church also had the need to respond to controversies, as in the Synod of Dort as a response to Arminianism in 1618-19.
Franciscus Gomarus was born in Bruges but his family fled to the Palatinate in 1577. Franciscus studied both in Germany and England before returning to the Netherlands and becoming Professor of Theology at Leiden. He later taught at Saumur and Groningen and opposed Arminius at the Synod of Dort.
Caspar Olevianus one of the founders of the Reformed Church of Germany, the co-laborer of Ursinus, and one of the compilers of the Heidelberg Catechism, was born August 10, 1536, near Treves.At age 14 Olevianus moved to Paris to study law. There he allied himself with French Protestant students whose spiritual depth and searching friendship soon won him to the Reformation. Afire now with the gospel, he finished law school and began devouring the theology of the Reformers. His insatiable appetite took him to the classrooms of Peter Martyr in Zurich, Theodore Beza in Lausanne, and John Calvin in Geneva.
Zacharias Ursinus (1534 - 1583) was born Zacharius Baer in Breslau. He gave himself the nickname ursus, meaning bear, by which he is best known. He entered Wittenberg University, boarding with Melanchthon, the successor to Martin Luther. He then studied in Strasbourg, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva. He then went to Heidelberg as professor of theology but was expelled when political power changed. While at Heidelberg, Ursinus (28 years old) and Caspar Oleviantus (26 years old) wrote the 129 questions and answers that constitute the Heidelberg Catechism.
Girolamo Zanchi (1516-1590) also known as Jerome Zanchi was born in Italy. In his early days in a monastery he came under the influence of Peter Martyr Vermigli, who was on his way to becoming the most well known of the Italian reformers. After producing a synopsis of Calvin's Institutes, he fled for fear of the Inquisition. After time in Strasbourg, he taught in Heidelberg, where he wrote "De Religione Christiana Fides (Confessions of the Christian Religion), a masterpiece of Reformed theology.
In 1559 Guido de Bres wrote the first edition of the Belgic Confession, which clearly summarized the Calvinistic faith and set it off from Roman Catholicism and Anabaptism. The Belgic Confession became one of the basic doctrinal standards of Dutch Calvinism.
| Copyright © 1998-2005 Netscape |