Editing Heinrich Bullinger

{{short description|Swiss Protestant theologian (1504–1575)}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Heinrich Bullinger
| image       = Heinrich Bullinger.jpg
| caption     = Portrait by [[Hans Asper]], c. 1550
| birth_date  = 18 July 1504
| birth_place = [[Bremgarten (Aargau)]], [[Canton of Aargau]], [[Old Swiss Confederacy]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1575|9|17|1504|7|18}}
| death_place = [[Zürich]], [[Canton of Zürich]], Old Swiss Confederacy
| nationality = [[Swiss (people)|Swiss]]
| occupation  = [[Theologian]], [[antistes]]
| spouse      = Anna Adlischwyler
| parents     = Heinrich Bullinger and Anna Wiederkehr
| children    =
| relatives   = [[Johann Balthasar Bullinger]] and [[E. W. Bullinger]]
| module             = {{Infobox theologian
| embed              = yes
| child_header       = no
| period             = 
| notable_works      = 
| ordination         = 
| era                = [[Renaissance]]
| language           = 
| tradition_movement = {{Tree list}}
* [[Protestantism]]
** [[Calvinism|Reformed]]
{{tree list/end}}
| school_tradition   = 
| main_interests     = [[Systematic theology]]
| notable_ideas      = {{hlist | [[Covenantalism]] | [[Spiritual real presence]]}}
}}
| signature   = 
}}

'''Heinrich Bullinger''' (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[Protestant reformers|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 [[Reformation in Switzerland|Swiss Reformation]], Bullinger co-authored the [[Helvetic Confessions]] and collaborated with [[John Calvin]] to work out a [[Lord's Supper in Reformed theology|Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kirby|first=Torrance |title=Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575): Life - Thought - Influence|journal=Zwingliana|date=2005|volume=32|issn=0254-4407}}</ref>

== Life ==

=== Early life and studies (1504–1522) ===
Heinrich Bullinger was born to Heinrich Bullinger Sr., a priest, and Anna Wiederkehr, at [[Bremgarten AG|Bremgarten]], [[Aargau]], [[Switzerland]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575)|url=https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/heinrich-bullinger-1504-1575/|access-date=2020-06-28|website=Musée protestant}}</ref> Heinrich and Anna were able to live as husband and wife, even though not legally married, because the bishop of Constance, who had clerical oversight over Aargau, had unofficially sanctioned clerical concubinage by waiving penalties against the offense in exchange for an annual fee, called a cradle tax.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Bruce |title=Architect of Reformation: An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger, 1504-1575 |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2004 |isbn=9780801028991 |editor-last=Gordon |editor-first=Bruce |series=Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought |location=Grand Rapids |chapter=Introduction |editor-last2=Campi |editor-first2=Emidio}}</ref>{{Rp|18}} Heinrich was the fifth son and youngest of seven children born to the couple.<ref name=":7">{{Cite magazine |last=Müller |first=Patrik |date=2004 |title=Bullinger the Family Man |url=https://www.der-nachfolger.ch/content/e850/e793/Annex_01_16_Engl._2004.pdf |magazine=Annex |location=Zürich |publisher=Beilage zur Reformierten Presse |pages=7 |issn=1420-9934}}</ref> The family was relatively affluent, and often hosted guests. As a small child, Bullinger survived the plague and a potentially fatal accident.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Stephens |first=William Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDa0DwAAQBAJ |title=The Theology of Heinrich Bullinger |date=2019-10-07 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |isbn=978-3-647-56482-1 |language=en}}</ref>

At age 11, Bullinger was sent to the St. Martin's Latin school in [[Emmerich am Rhein|Emmerich]] in the [[Duchy of Cleves]].{{NoteTag|Stephens (2019) says that Bullinger went to the Emmerich Latin School "before his fourth birthday," but he likely means "fourteenth, since Gordon (2004) says that he left at age 14. Ella (2007) puts the specific date of departure at June 11, 1516, which would make Bullinger 11.}}<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=54}} Though the family was wealthy by standards of the day, Bullinger's father refused to provide the boy money for food. He encouraged his son to beg for bread for three years, as he had done, and by doing so increase the boy's empathy for the poor.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=55}} At St. Martin's Latin school, Bullinger studied classic texts, including [[Jerome]], [[Horace]], and [[Virgil]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|19}} He was also influenced by the [[Brethren of the Common Life]] and their adoption of the [[Devotio Moderna|''Devotio moderna'']], which emphasized Christian living and the reading of the Bible.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|18}}<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|19}} Due to this influence, he expressed an interest in becoming a [[Carthusian]] monk.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|19}}

In 1519, at 14, he went to the [[University of Cologne]], where it was supposed he would prepare to follow his father into the clergy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Bruce |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/protestant-christianity-biographies/heinrich-bullinger |title=Bullinger, Heinrich (1504–1575) |work=Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World |publisher=Charles Scribner & Sons |year=2003 |isbn=9780684312002}}</ref> Although there is no evidence that Bullinger was initially aware of [[Martin Luther]]'s ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'' or the [[Leipzig Debate|Leipzig Disputation]] of 1519, a year later, he had definitely been exposed to Reformation teaching. He read [[Peter Lombard]]'s ''[[Sentences]]'' and the ''[[Decretum Gratiani]]'', which led him to the [[Church Fathers|church fathers]]. Bullinger discovered that the Fathers relied more on Scripture than did Lombard and Gratian, and this discovery encouraged Bullinger to read both the Bible and Luther, including ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church|The Babylonian Captivity of the Church]]'' and ''[[On the Freedom of a Christian|The Freedom of a Christian]]''. He also read works by other Reformers, such as [[Philip Melanchthon]]'s ''[[Loci communes]]''. Now believing that salvation came through God's grace rather than through man's good works, Bullinger was converted to Protestantism.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=20–21}} Later in life, he wrote that he had also been encouraged to embrace the Reformation because of the humanist influence of two of his teachers, Johannes Pfrissemius and Arnold von Wesel.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Ives|first=Eric|title=The Reformation Experience: Living Through The Turbulent 16th Century|publisher=Lion Books|year=2012|isbn=9780745952772|pages=103–104}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Other intellectual influences on Bullinger included the humanism of [[Erasmus]] and [[Rodolphus Agricola]], the theology of the church fathers [[Cyprian]], [[Lactantius]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|Hilary]], [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]], [[Jerome]], and [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], and the theology of [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=21–22}}

In 1522, as a follower of Martin Luther, Bullinger earned his Master of Arts degree but ceased receiving the Eucharist. He also abandoned his previous intention of entering the [[Carthusian]] order.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Heinrich Bullinger {{!}} Swiss religious reformer|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Heinrich-Bullinger|access-date=2020-06-28|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> When he returned to Bremgarten, his family accepted his new theological views. Though Bullinger was called to lead an abbey in the [[Black Forest]], he found its monks worldly and licentious and so returned home again and spent some months reading history, the church fathers, and Reformation theology.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=62}}

=== Kappel Abbey and the early Swiss Reformation (1523–1531) ===
{{See also|Kappel Abbey}}

==== Kappel Abbey (1523–1528) ====
In 1523, he accepted a post as a teacher at a Cistercian monastery, [[Kappel Abbey]], though only under the condition that he would not take [[monastic vows]] nor attend [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]]. At Kappel Abbey, Bullinger initiated a systematic program of Bible reading and exegesis.<ref name=":0" /> He also tried to reform its ''[[Trivium]]'' curriculum in a more humanist and Protestant direction. Bullinger discovered that the monks barely understood Latin, and so he preached to them in Swiss-German.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />{{Rp|18}} By 1525, the abbey had abolished mass, and the next year all the monks renounced their vows as they participated in their first Reformed Eucharist.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=65}}

During this period, during the [[Reformation in Zürich]], Bullinger heard [[Huldrych Zwingli]] and [[Leo Jud]] preach; and in 1523, he met them.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=23}} Bullinger became a friend and ally of Zwingli and was present at the Zürich disputation of 1525.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=23}} Under the influence of Zwingli and the [[Waldensians]], Bullinger moved to a more symbolic understanding of the [[Eucharist]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|18}} In 1527, he spent five months in [[Zürich]] studying Greek and Hebrew while regularly attending the ''[[Prophezei]]'' that Zwingli had established there.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=23}}<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|18}} Zürich authorities sent Bullinger with the city delegation to assist Zwingli at the [[Bern Disputation]], an occasion where he met [[Martin Bucer]], [[Ambrosius Blarer|Ambrosius Blaurer]], and [[Berthold Haller]]. In 1528, at the urging of the Zürich Synod, Bullinger left Kappel Abbey and was ordained as a parish minister in the new [[Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich|Reformed church of Zürich]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|18}}

Meanwhile, Bullinger wrote theological treatises on the Eucharist, covenants, images, and the relationship of the church to society, important topics he continued to develop in his later writings.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=24}} He sent these treatises to neighboring cities, attempting to win them to the Reformed position; and these treatises were attacked by Roman Catholics defending papal infallibility and transubstantiation.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=69–70|page=}} Bullinger's humanism was also evident in his writings about the church fathers, his belief in the study of liberal arts as preparatory for the study of Scriptures, and even a play he wrote about the classical story of [[Lucretia]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=24}}

==== Marriage to Anna Adlischweiler (1529) ====
In the summer of 1527, Bullinger met Anna Adlischweiler, a former [[nun]], in Zurich.{{NoteTag|Lawson (2019) suggests that Bullinger met Anna in 1529, when he "traveled to the former Dominican convent at Oetenbach," but Müller (2004) explicitly states that he met Anna "in the summer of 1527," and suggests that he sent the proposal then, and not in 1529 as Lawson suggests.}} Contrary to contemporary practice, he sent her a direct proposal of marriage and was betrothed four weeks later.<ref name=":7" /> Anna's mother objected because she wanted her daughter to marry a wealthier man and because she wanted Anna to stay by her side until her death. When the engagement became publicly known, she tried to legally break it. Though she failed in this effort, Anna did stay with her mother until her death two years later. Anna then married Bullinger on 17 August 1529.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=75–76|page=}} The couple had five daughters and six sons, all of the latter except one becoming Protestant ministers. The couple also adopted other children.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Shane|first=E. D.|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/protestant-christianity-biographies/heinrich-bullinger|title=Bullinger, Heinrich|work=New Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=Gale Research Inc.|year=2002|isbn=9780787640040}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Lawson |first=Steven |title=Covenant Theologian: Heinrich Bullinger |url=https://www.ligonier.org/blog/covenant-theologian-heinrich-bullinger/ |access-date=2020-06-29 |website=Ligonier Ministries |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=|page=77}}

==== Hausen and Bremgarten (1528–31) ====
In June 1528, Bullinger took up a part-time preaching position in [[Hausen am Albis|Hausen]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=25}} Shortly thereafter, in February 1529, Bullinger's father renounced Roman Catholicism. Though most of his congregation approved, city officials were wary because of the threat of Roman Catholic protests.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=|page=78}} Nevertheless, after a few months of debate, those sympathetic to the Reformation prevailed, and Bullinger was chosen to replace his father. Within a week of his first sermon, the images and church altar were removed from the church.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=25}} Bullinger's father also officially married his mother on 31 December in a Reformed ceremony.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=|page=78}} In Bremgarten, Bullinger preached four times a week and held a well-attended Bible study every day at 3 in the afternoon.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=25}}

=== Ministry at Zürich (1531–1575) ===

==== Installed at Zürich (1531) ====
While Zwingli viewed war as an appropriate way of spreading the Reformation, Bullinger did not. When Zwingli called the cantons of Zürich and Bern to war against the Catholic cantons, Bullinger opposed him, even preaching against it. Bullinger argued that religious reform came only through the preaching of the gospel, not through war. Despite a period of peace following the [[First War of Kappel|First Kappel War]], Zwingli once again sought military victory over the Roman Catholics. His bellicosity led to the [[Second War of Kappel|Second Kappel War]], after Roman Catholics attacked Bremgarten, where Bullinger was ministering. Zwingli's supposed reinforcements turned out to be Roman Catholic and deserted him, and Zwingli was killed. Although the Peace of Kappel allowed each canton to choose its own religion, Bremgarten was excluded from the agreement and re-catholicized. Bullinger and his family lost almost all their possessions and fled to Zürich.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=84–86|page=}}

As a leading Protestant preacher, Bullinger was immediately called as pastor by [[Bern]], [[Basel]], and [[Appenzell]].<ref name=":0" /> Only three days after fleeing from Bremgarten, Bullinger stood in the pulpit of the [[Grossmünster]]. [[Oswald Myconius]] said Bullinger so "thundered a sermon from the pulpit that many thought Zwingli was not dead but resurrected like the [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]]".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> On 9 December, Zürich also officially asked him to be Zwingli's successor as [[antistes]].<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=|page=91}}<ref name=":5" /> In part out of loyalty to Zürich, Bullinger chose to succeed Zwingli there.<ref name=":1" /> He retained the office until his death in 1575.<ref name=":3" /> Bullinger regularly preached 12 sermons a week in the Grossmünster for the first ten years of his ministry until [[Kaspar Megander]] was appointed to assume the majority of his preaching duties. Bullinger preached an estimated 28,000 sermons in the Grossmünster pulpit.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=125–26|page=}}

==== Zürich church government (1531–32) ====
Bullinger's most important task was to rebuild the Zürich church,<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|19}} even as he continued to defend Zwingli's character and theology.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gäbler|first=Ulrich|title=Huldrych Zwingli: His Life and Work|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1986|isbn=9780800607616|pages=157–158}}</ref> When the Zürich council initially asked Bullinger to be antistes, they listed seven articles as conditions for the position. The fourth article required Bullinger to be peaceful and not interfere in secular affairs.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Campi |first=Emidio |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004316355/B9789004316355-s004.xml |title=A Companion to the Swiss Reformation |publisher=Brill |year=2016 |isbn=978-90-04-31635-5 |editor-last=Burnett |editor-first=Amy Nelson |pages=57–125 |language=en |chapter=The Reformation in Zurich |editor-last2=Campi |editor-first2=Emidio}}</ref>{{Rp||page=95}} Bullinger agreed that ministers should not take civic roles, but he also stressed that the minister should retain the freedom to preach the Word of God, even if that message varied from the position of civil authorities.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||page=27}} Bullinger's rebuilding of the church also included defending it against the Roman Catholics, who were once again poised to invade Zürich. Bullinger persuaded them that he endorsed the Peace of Kappel and did not seek political controversy as Zwingli had done.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=129–31|page=}} Finally, in 1532 Bullinger negotiated a compromise peace that guaranteed the freedom of Protestants in exchange for the independence of Roman Catholics in Protestant cantons.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=136–39|page=}}

In 1532, Bullinger and [[Leo Jud]] engaged in a controversy over [[church discipline]] that developed into a debate about the proper relationship between church and state. Jud viewed the church and state as two separate institutions established by God, while Bullinger held a more traditional view. Following [[Johannes Oecolampadius]], Jud proposed exercising church discipline separately from the secular power, while Bullinger argued that separating church and state courts was necessary only if the government were not Christian. In a July sermon, Jud not only sharply criticized Bullinger's view of church discipline, he also accused Bullinger of abandoning the Reformation. Later in the year, a synod settled the debate by siding with Bullinger. The church would be overseen by both a civil council and the ministers of the church, each with its own president. In matters of civil discipline, the council would take precedence over the ministers, but the ministers could disagree with and criticize the council.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp||pages=|page=28}}

Through the arrangements of this synod, Bullinger was able to implement his own synodal order, which became a model for other Reformed churches in German-speaking areas.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=126–27|page=}} Bullinger freed the Zürich church from civil authorities by assuming direct personal oversight of the other clergy. He ensured that political and clerical controversies were discussed and resolved behind closed doors; and by carefully informing himself about the 120 parishes under his supervision, he was able to direct their clerical appointments and ordinations.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|22}} Jud's 1534 ''Catechism'' demonstrates that he eventually accepted Bullinger's views on church discipline.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||pages=|page=133}}

==== Additional responsibilities ====
In addition to his responsibilities as antistes, Bullinger also served as ''Schulherr'', or school principal, charged with organizing Latin schools and theological education in Zürich. He transformed Zwingli's ''Prophezei'' into the ''Lectorium'', or ''[[Carolinum, Zürich|Carolinium]]'', to provide theological higher education. Although he helped run the ''Carolinium'', he never held professorship in it, leaving the teaching to a notable faculty, which included [[Konrad Pellikan]], [[Theodor Bibliander]], [[Peter Martyr Vermigli]], [[Conrad Gessner|Conrad Gesner]], and Bullinger's son-in-law [[Rudolf Gwalther]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|21}}

==== Interactions with Anabaptists (1531–60) ====
Bullinger sortied against the [[Anabaptism|Anabaptists]] in his 1531 work, ''Four Books to Warn the Faithful of the Shameless Disturbance, Offensive Confusion, and False Teachings of the Anabaptists''. Although Bullinger regarded Anabaptists as unstable citizens who encouraged a society of chaos and superstition, in practice he allowed them to follow their consciences and refused to forbid their freedom of worship in Zurich.<ref>George Ella, "Henry Bullinger (1504-1575): Shepherd of the Churches," in Thomas Harding, ed., ''The Decades of Henry Bullinger'' (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2004), 40.</ref> Bullinger upheld this principle of quasi-toleration for the rest of his life.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=115|pages=}} During Bullinger's leadership of Zürich from 1531 to 1575, not a single Anabaptist was executed for his faith. By comparison, four Anabaptists were executed under Zwingli and forty in Bern.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp||page=115|pages=}} Nevertheless, when the Anabaptist [[Münster rebellion|Munster]] fell in 1534, he wrote, on behalf of the whole Zürich synod, a defense of the death penalty for Anabaptists who had offended the public peace.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp||page=112}} Bullinger eventually wrote a long history of the Anabaptists called ''On the Origins of Anabaptism'' (1560), which detailed their origin and spread in Europe. The book was widely disseminated and is still reflected in recent histories of Anabaptists.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp||page=|pages=112–113}}

==== Interactions with Lutherans (1536–45) ====
{{See also|Helvetic Confessions|}}

In 1536, Bullinger and other Protestant reformers, including Jud and [[Martin Bucer]], drafted the [[Helvetic Confessions|First Helvetic Confession]], an attempt to reach a consensus of Protestant belief.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Helvetic Confessions|volume=13|page=253|inline=1}}</ref> The confession, a combination of Zwinglian and Lutheran theology,<ref name=":3" /> was adopted by a number of Protestant churches, but Bullinger distrusted Bucer, and by 1538, negotiations to unite the Swiss and Lutheran churches broke down.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|19}} During the last years of his life, Luther denounced the Swiss Zwinglians in his ''Short Confession of the Lord's Supper'' (1543), and Bullinger responded in 1545 with his own ''True Confession.''<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|20}}

==== Cooperation with Geneva ====
{{See also|Consensus Tigurinus|}}
By the 1540s, Bullinger had drawn closer to [[John Calvin]] of [[Geneva]]. Together they wrote a response to the [[Council of Trent]], and then, in 1549, they jointly drafted the ''[[Consensus Tigurinus]]'', an agreement between [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] and Zwinglians about the doctrine of the Eucharist.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />{{Rp|20}}

In the early 1550s, Bullinger published his most significant work, ''Decades'', a series of fifty sermons, written in Latin and published from 1548 to 1551, a series that effectively served as a systematic theology. The sermons were widely distributed, and Bullinger became even better known as a Reformer.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|20}} Nevertheless, Bullinger's Zurich suffered bad weather, poor harvests, the bane of Swiss politics, and the plague. Bullinger's wife and daughter both died of the plague during the early 1560s, when the disease swept across central and western Europe.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|21}}

Bullinger played a crucial role in drafting the ''Second Helvetic Confession'' of 1566. Bullinger had written the first draft in 1562 as a personal statement of faith, which in a 1564 revision, he intended to be presented to the Zürich [[Rathaus (Zürich)|Rathaus]] after his death.<ref name="EB1911" /> In 1566, after [[Frederick III, Elector Palatine|Frederick III the Pious]], [[elector palatine]], introduced Reformed elements into churches in his region, Bullinger had this statement of faith circulated among the Protestant cities of Switzerland; and it gained a favorable response in many Swiss cities, including Bern, Zürich, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Chur, and Geneva.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.vi.v.html |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=ccel.org}}</ref> The statement was also adopted by Reformed churches in Scotland (1566), Hungary (1567), France (1571), and Poland (1578). Only the Heidelberg Catechism was better known as a Reformed confession. The Second Helvetic Confession was also slightly modified to become the French Confession de Foy (1559), the Scottish Confessio Fidei (1560) the Belgian Ecclasiarum Belgicarum Confessio (1561) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) itself.<ref name="EB1911" /> 
[[File:Heinrich Bullinger Grossmunster Zurich.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of Bullinger at [[Grossmünster]] (Otto Charles Bänninger 1940)]]

==== Death ====
Bullinger died at Zürich in 1575 and was followed as antistes by Zwingli's adopted son [[Rudolf Gwalther]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|21}}<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Ella |first=George Melvyn |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/176804738 |title=Henry Bullinger (1504-1575) : shepherd of the churches |date=2007 |publisher=Go Publications |isbn=978-0-9548624-3-5 |location=Eggleston |oclc=176804738}}</ref>{{Rp||page=459}}

== Theological views ==
{{Expand section|date=July 2020|talksection=Sources for expansion}}

=== The Eucharist ===
Bullinger's mature [[eucharistic theology]] differed notably from that of Zwingli. Though at first Bullinger viewed both the Old Covenant [[Passover|Passover feast]] and the New Covenant Lord's Supper as symbolic, a view reflected in the language of the [[First Helvetic Confession]] (1536), in 1544, in a pamphlet responding to Luther, Bullinger argued that [[Real spiritual presence|the real spiritual presence of Christ]] occurred in the Eucharist. Bullinger thereafter linked the symbolic and spiritual presence in the [[Consensus Tigurinus]] of 1549, which he composed with Calvin, a formula codified in the [[Heidelberg Catechism]] (1563) and the [[Helvetic Confessions|Second Helvetic Confession]] (1562/4).<ref name=":6" />

=== Covenant theology ===
Bullinger played an important role in developing [[covenant theology]] in the Reformed tradition. Bullinger initially used the covenants as an interpretive grid for eucharistic theology, but by the 1550s he employed the covenant as a theological category.<ref name=":6" />

=== Baptism ===
Bullinger, like Zwingli, was a staunch advocate of [[infant baptism]]. As early as 1525, both argued that Old Covenant [[circumcision]] was the predecessor of New Covenant baptism.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Leu |first=Urs B. |date=2004 |title=Bullinger and the Anabaptists |url=https://www.der-nachfolger.ch/content/e850/e793/Annex_01_16_Engl._2004.pdf |magazine=Annex |location=Zürich |publisher=Beilage zur Reformierten Presse |pages=10–12 |issn=1420-9934}}</ref>

== Works ==
Bullinger's writings exceed Luther and Calvin combined, including 12,000 surviving letters.<ref name=":2" /> During his lifetime they were translated in several languages and counted among the best known theological works in Europe.

=== Theological works ===

==== Helvetic Confessions ====
{{See also|Helvetic Confessions|}}

Bullinger was part of the drafting of the ''First Helvetic Confession'', an early consensus document of the Reformation and expression of Swiss theology.<ref name="EB1911" />

Bullinger was also part of the drafting of the ''Second Helvetic Confession'' of 1566, which he originally drafted himself in 1562 as a personal statement of faith.<ref name="EB1911" />

==== ''The Decades'' ====
Bullinger's main theological work was the ''Dekaden'', or ''The Decades'', which is a compilation of 50 sermons that Bullinger published from 1549 to 1551.<ref name=":6">{{Cite magazine |last=Campi |first=Emidio |date=2004 |title=Bullinger the Theologian |url=https://www.der-nachfolger.ch/content/e850/e793/Annex_01_16_Engl._2004.pdf |magazine=Annex |location=Zürich |publisher=Beilage zur Reformierten Presse |pages=3–6 |issn=1420-9934}}</ref> Many regard ''The Decades'' to be comparable to Calvin's ''[[Institutes of the Christian Religion]]'' and [[Peter Martyr Vermigli]]'s ''Loci communes'' as an early Reformed theological explication.<ref name=":6" /> Though in sermon form, it was likely never actually delivered by Bullinger, but only written in imitation of the sermonic form. They are structured upon the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Apostles' Creed]], the [[Lord's Prayer]], and the two Protestant sacraments. The work was quickly translated from Latin into German, French, Dutch, and English, and was one of the most popular Protestant theological works in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indeed, it was so essential that it was termed "house book" by German and Dutch translators. The Dutch, at points, even required a copy of the book to be in all Dutch trading vessels by law, which led to its spread into America and Asia.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Opitz |first=Peter |title=Architect of Reformation: An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger, 1504-1575 |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2004 |isbn=9780801028991 |editor-last=Gordon |editor-first=Bruce |series=Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought |location=Grand Rapids |pages=101–116 |chapter=Bullinger's ''Decades'': Instruction in Faith and Conduct |editor-last2=Campi |editor-first2=Emidio}}</ref>

==== Other Theological Works ====
In 1531, Bullinger helped edit and write the preface to the ''[[Zürich Bible]]'' with Jud, Bibliander, and Pellikan.
Many of his sermons were translated into [[English language|English]] (reprinted, 4 vols., 1849). His works, mainly expository and polemical, have not been collected.

=== Historical ===
[[File:Carolinum Zürich - Stadelhofen - Reformationschronik von 1605 Heinrich Bullinger 2015-11-06 17-09-52.JPG|thumb|upright|Iconoclasm during the [[Reformation in Zürich]], [[Stadelhoferplatz|Stadelhofen]], illustrated Bullinger chronicle]]
Besides theological works, Bullinger also wrote some historical works of value. The "Tiguriner Chronik" is a history of Zürich from Roman times to the Reformation; others are a history of the Reformation and a history of the Swiss confederation. Bullinger also wrote in detail on [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Biblical chronology]], working within the framework that was universal in the Christian theological tradition until the second half of the 17th century, namely that the Bible affords a faithful and normative reference for all ancient history.<ref>Refer to [[Jean-Marc Berthoud]]'s paper for a fuller discussion. In this respect, Berthoud compares Bullinger to [[James Ussher]] and [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]].</ref><ref>[https://www.evangelical-library.org.uk/lectures/evangelical-library-lecture-2004-bullinger/ Evangelical Library - Annual Lecture 2004 - Address given by Jean Marc-Berthoud on Bullinger and the Reformation]</ref>

=== Letters ===
There exist about 12,000 letters from and to Bullinger, the most extended correspondence preserved from Reformation times. He was called by German Reformation historian Rainer Henrich "a one-man communication system".<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|21}}

Bullinger was a personal friend and advisor of many leading personalities of the reformation era. He corresponded with Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, and Baptist theologians, with [[Henry VIII of England]], [[Edward VI of England]], [[Lady Jane Grey]] and  [[Elizabeth I of England]], [[Christian II of Denmark]], [[Philipp I of Hesse]] and [[Frederick III, Elector Palatine]].

== Legacy ==
Bullinger's Helvetic Confessions are still used by [[Calvinism|Reformed churches]] as a theological standard. His legacy as a writer and historian survives today. His idea of covenant influenced the development of [[covenant theology]].<ref name=":2" />

Among Bullinger's direct descendants were the Swiss painter [[Johann Balthasar Bullinger]] and the British theologian [[E. W. Bullinger|E.W. Bullinger]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carey|first=Juanita S.|title=E.W. Bullinger: A Biography|publisher=Kregel Publications|year=2000|isbn=9780825423727|pages=28–29}}</ref>

=== Impact on England ===
Bullinger opened Zürich to Protestant fugitives from religious persecution in other countries. After the passing of [[Thirty-nine Articles#Six Articles (1539)|the Six Articles]] in 1539 by [[Henry VIII of England]], and again during the rule of [[Mary I of England]] from 1553 to 1558, Bullinger accepted many English fugitives. When the English fugitives returned to England after the death of Mary I, Bullinger's writings found a broad distribution in England. In England, from 1550 to 1560, there were 77 editions of Bullinger's Latin ''Decades'' and 137 editions of their vernacular translation ''House Book'', a treatise in pastoral theology. In comparison, Calvin's ''Institutes'' had two editions in England during the same time.<ref name="Lowe2017">{{cite book|author=Ben Lowe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAVBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT297|title=Commonwealth and the English Reformation: Protestantism and the Politics of Religious Change in the Gloucester Vale, 1483–1560|date=2 March 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-95038-1|pages=297–}}</ref> By 1586, [[John Whitgift]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], ordered all non-graduate [[Ordination|ordinands]] to buy and read Bullinger's ''Decades''.<ref name=":2" /> Due to his involvement and correspondence with the English Reformers, some historians{{Who|date=June 2020}} count Bullinger together with [[Bucer]] as the most influential theologian of the English Reformation.

Two of the English fugitives were [[John Hooper (bishop)|John]] and [[Anne Hooper (protestant)|Anne Hooper]]. Anne eventually became Bullinger's correspondent and in 1546, Bullinger became the godfather of Hooper's daughter during her [[Baptism|infant baptism]].<ref name="Lowe2017" /> Bullinger also accepted fugitives from [[northern Italy]] and France, especially after the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre|St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre]].<ref name=":3" /> [[Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi|Johann Pestalozzi]] was a descendant of the Italian fugitives.<ref name="Lowe2017" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}{{reflist|group=note}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{EB1911 poster|Bullinger, Heinrich}}
*{{PRDL|175}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Heinrich Bullinger}}
*{{Librivox author |id=15880}}
*[https://bullinger-stiftung.ch/en/home-en/ Heinrich Bullinger Foundation]
*[http://teoirgsed.uzh.ch/SedWM.cgi?fn=Swd_Briefe&lng=0 Edition of Bullingers Correspondence Online]
*[https://www.bullinger-digital.ch/ Database of Bullingers Correspondence (Work in Progress)] {{In lang|de}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Huldrych Zwingli]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Antistes]] of [[Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich|Zürich]]|years=1532–1575}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Rudolph Gualther]]}}
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[[Category:1504 births]]
[[Category:1575 deaths]]
[[Category:Christian humanists]]
[[Category:People from Bremgarten, Aargau]]
[[Category:Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:Swiss Protestant Reformers]]
[[Category:Swiss evangelicals]]
[[Category:16th-century Swiss writers]]
[[Category:16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:People from Zurich]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Carolinum, Zurich]]