Heinrich Bullinger

Life

Bullinger is generally said to have been born on July 18, 1504, in Bremgarten in the Swiss region of Aargau, though some sources give the date as June 11. His father, who bore the same name, was the village priest. After studying in Emmerich, Germany, he entered the University of Cologne in 1519. During this period he read the works of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon and embraced Protestant thought. After completing his master's degree in 1522, he returned home and taught at the monastery school in Kappel. In 1528 he attended the Disputation of Bern with Huldrych Zwingli, and from 1529 he served as a preacher in his hometown of Bremgarten.

When Zwingli was killed at the Battle of Kappel in 1531, Bullinger took refuge in Zurich. In December of that year, at the age of twenty-seven, he was elected to succeed Zwingli as Antistes (the chief pastor representing the city's church) of Zurich. He held this office for nearly forty-four years, until his death. Late in life, in 1564–1565, he lost his wife and daughters to the plague.

Ministry and Achievements

• Organization of the Zurich church: In 1532 he drew up regulations for preachers and for the synod (an assembly of representatives of the regional churches), setting in order the church's structure and its relationship with the city council.
• Covenant thought: In 1534 he published a treatise on the covenant of God. In it he set forth a view that reads the whole of Scripture as a single, eternal covenant, and the work is regarded as an early form of Reformed covenant theology.
• Agreement with Calvin: In 1549 he reached agreement with John Calvin on the Lord's Supper in the Consensus Tigurinus, uniting the Reformed movements of Zurich and Geneva. He criticized the Lutheran understanding of the Supper and refuted the baptismal teaching of the Anabaptists.
• Second Helvetic Confession: Bullinger wrote this text around 1562 as a personal confession of faith. He sent it to Frederick III, Elector Palatine, who had come under pressure over the Heidelberg Catechism, and it was published in 1566. The Swiss Reformed churches subsequently adopted it as their common confession, and it is still counted among the principal Reformed confessions of faith.

Influence on the Korean Church

Korean Presbyterians and Reformed theologians have come to know Bullinger chiefly through the Second Helvetic Confession and his covenant thought. The confession has been made available in Korean translation, and Korean homileticians have also examined its understanding of preaching. In a recent debate within parts of the Korean church over the active obedience of Christ, Bullinger's understanding of the covenant has also been invoked in support of arguments.

Assessment

During his lifetime Bullinger, together with Calvin, exercised great influence over the Reformed churches throughout Europe, and he was also called "the comforter of the afflicted." A German biographical dictionary portrays him as a moderate Reformer who, amid conflict, was firm without being harsh and fostered reconciliation. Overshadowed by Luther and Calvin, however, he long received little attention. Since the nineteenth century, and especially from around 1975, research on him has flourished, leading to a reassessment of his significance.

Theologically, he is regarded as standing on Zwingli's foundation while developing his own distinctive thought. Interpretations of his understanding of the covenant differ. Some hold that his emphasis differs from Calvin's in that he stresses human response alongside divine action. Others argue that the later twofold structure of a covenant of works and a covenant of grace undermined the oneness of the covenant that Bullinger emphasized. On baptism, he represented the Reformed position in support of infant baptism; his understanding therefore differs from that of the Anabaptist and Baptist traditions, which recognize only believer's baptism.