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Architect of Reformation: An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger, 1504-1575
Heinrich Bullinger stands as one of the most influential Reformers and also one of the most neglected. This book is the first available in English to offer a broad introduction to Bullinger's life and theology. Architect of Reformation features contributions from the world's leading Bullinger and Reformation scholars that address such categories as theology, spirituality, ecclesiology, humanism, politics, and family
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2004
40 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Gordon
146 books28 followersTitus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History
http://divinity.yale.edu/gordon
bruce.gordon@yale.edu
Denomination: Presbyterian
A native of Canada, Bruce Gordon taught from 1994 to 2008 at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where he was professor of modern history and deputy director of the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute. His research focuses on European religious cultures of the late-medieval and early modern periods, with a particular interest in the Reformation in German-speaking lands. He is the author of Calvin (Yale University Press, 2009), a biography that seeks to put the life of the influential reformer in the context of the sixteenth-century world. It is a study of Calvin’s character, his extensive network of personal contacts and of the complexities of church reform and theological exchange in the Reformation. The Swiss Reformation (Manchester University Press, 2002) (an “Outstanding Publication” for 2003 by Choice Magazine) studies the emergence of the Reformation n the multi-lingual world of the Swiss Confederation and its influence across Europe in the sixteenth century. His book Clerical Reformation and the Rural Reformation (1992) examined the creation of the first Protestant ministry, which took place in the Swiss city of Zurich and its numerous country parishes. In addition, he has edited books on the development of Protestant historical writing, the relationships between the dead and the living in late-medieval and early modern society, the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger, and, most recently, on biblical culture in the sixteenth century. He was the principal investigator of a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom on Protestant Latin Bibles of the Sixteenth Century. The project explores the new translations of the Old and New Testaments by Protestant scholars into Latin during the Reformation and the questions posed by these extraordinary works for our understanding of translation, authority, material culture, confessional identity and theological formulation. The monograph is currently being completed. He has started work for Princeton University Press on a study of the reception of Calvin’s Institutes from the Reformation to the modern world. His teaching includes a lecture course on Western Christianity from the early church to the scientific revolution, and seminars on the culture of death, sources and methods of religious history, the Reformation, Calvinism, and the Reformed tradition from Zwingli to postmodernism. He teaches in the Department of History and in Renaissance Studies and works with graduate students on a wide range of topics in early modern religious history. He is on the board of various publishing series: St Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Ashgate), Zürcher Beiträge zur Reformationsgeschichte (Theologischer Verlag Zürich), and Refo500 Academic Studies (Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht). He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2012 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. (Presbyterian)
Read a feature article about Professor Gordon.
Education
B.A. (Hons) King’s College
M.A. Dalhousie University
Ph.D University of St. Andrews
Books
1. Shaping the Bible in the Reformation. Books, Scholars and Their Readers in the Sixteenth Century, ed with Matthew McLean (Brill, 2012).
2. Calvin. 1509‐1564 (Yale University Press, 2009)
3. Architect of Reformation. An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger, 1504‐1575, co-ed. (Baker Academic, 2004)
4. Translation and Edition of Hans R. Guggisberg, Sebastian Castellio. Defender of Religious Toleration (Ashgate Press, 2003)
5. The Swiss Reformation (Manchester University Press, 2002)
6. The Place of the Dead in Late Mediaeval and Early Modern Europe, ed. with Peter Marshall (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
7. Protestant History and Identity in Sixteenth‐Century Europe, 2 vols., ed. (Scolar Press,
http://divinity.yale.edu/gordon
bruce.gordon@yale.edu
Denomination: Presbyterian
A native of Canada, Bruce Gordon taught from 1994 to 2008 at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where he was professor of modern history and deputy director of the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute. His research focuses on European religious cultures of the late-medieval and early modern periods, with a particular interest in the Reformation in German-speaking lands. He is the author of Calvin (Yale University Press, 2009), a biography that seeks to put the life of the influential reformer in the context of the sixteenth-century world. It is a study of Calvin’s character, his extensive network of personal contacts and of the complexities of church reform and theological exchange in the Reformation. The Swiss Reformation (Manchester University Press, 2002) (an “Outstanding Publication” for 2003 by Choice Magazine) studies the emergence of the Reformation n the multi-lingual world of the Swiss Confederation and its influence across Europe in the sixteenth century. His book Clerical Reformation and the Rural Reformation (1992) examined the creation of the first Protestant ministry, which took place in the Swiss city of Zurich and its numerous country parishes. In addition, he has edited books on the development of Protestant historical writing, the relationships between the dead and the living in late-medieval and early modern society, the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger, and, most recently, on biblical culture in the sixteenth century. He was the principal investigator of a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom on Protestant Latin Bibles of the Sixteenth Century. The project explores the new translations of the Old and New Testaments by Protestant scholars into Latin during the Reformation and the questions posed by these extraordinary works for our understanding of translation, authority, material culture, confessional identity and theological formulation. The monograph is currently being completed. He has started work for Princeton University Press on a study of the reception of Calvin’s Institutes from the Reformation to the modern world. His teaching includes a lecture course on Western Christianity from the early church to the scientific revolution, and seminars on the culture of death, sources and methods of religious history, the Reformation, Calvinism, and the Reformed tradition from Zwingli to postmodernism. He teaches in the Department of History and in Renaissance Studies and works with graduate students on a wide range of topics in early modern religious history. He is on the board of various publishing series: St Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Ashgate), Zürcher Beiträge zur Reformationsgeschichte (Theologischer Verlag Zürich), and Refo500 Academic Studies (Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht). He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2012 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. (Presbyterian)
Read a feature article about Professor Gordon.
Education
B.A. (Hons) King’s College
M.A. Dalhousie University
Ph.D University of St. Andrews
Books
1. Shaping the Bible in the Reformation. Books, Scholars and Their Readers in the Sixteenth Century, ed with Matthew McLean (Brill, 2012).
2. Calvin. 1509‐1564 (Yale University Press, 2009)
3. Architect of Reformation. An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger, 1504‐1575, co-ed. (Baker Academic, 2004)
4. Translation and Edition of Hans R. Guggisberg, Sebastian Castellio. Defender of Religious Toleration (Ashgate Press, 2003)
5. The Swiss Reformation (Manchester University Press, 2002)
6. The Place of the Dead in Late Mediaeval and Early Modern Europe, ed. with Peter Marshall (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
7. Protestant History and Identity in Sixteenth‐Century Europe, 2 vols., ed. (Scolar Press,
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 16, 2015
In lieu of an (long overdue) English-language biography of Bullinger, this is the best that could be asked for. The opening chapter by Bruce Gordon is a fine first stop for general information about his life. This book is to be commended for taking such a broad view of Bullinger. Most English-language scholarship to date has focused on him as the head of the Zurich church or as a theologian, but this volume also gives significant attention to him as a historian, educator, and facilitator of international reformation.
December 31, 2025
A useful set of academic essays on Bullinger. There isn't much about him written in English.
As with all such collections you will have to piece together a whole Bullinger from disparate topics. The authors mainly come from the broader Reformed world and/or academia so there is a lack of wholehearted sympathy with the joy of Reformed teaching.
Due to the links with England set up by Thomas Cromwell (not explored in this book) Bullinger was a major figure in the English Reformation and his most important work, The Decades, a series of lectures in five sets of ten, were influential in settling Reformed doctrine on the Elizabethan church where it was required reading for all ministers (though I don't know how many of them read it!)
Bullinger had a tumultuous early life being plucked from teaching at a school/monastery near in Kappel near Zurich: a town that was lost to Roman Catholicism due to religious wars in Switzerland. He was unexpectedly called to succeed Zwingli after the latter's death in the Battle of Kappel in 1531.
He was a central and dominant figure in Zurich from then on. Though he did not travel a network of correspondents kept him informed of events around Europe and he was much sought for advice. His long life, he died at 71 in 1575, gave him prominence in theological matters.
A theological seminary was set up that was influential and succesful for some years, attracting teachers from around Europe. It went into decline from 1562 when city officials prohibited the employment of teachers from outside Zurich.
Interestingly congregational singing, famously dropped by Zwingli, was not reintroduced until 1598, some time after Bullinger's death.
Useful as a work to gain some insights into the life and times of Zurich's longest lived Reformer.
As with all such collections you will have to piece together a whole Bullinger from disparate topics. The authors mainly come from the broader Reformed world and/or academia so there is a lack of wholehearted sympathy with the joy of Reformed teaching.
Due to the links with England set up by Thomas Cromwell (not explored in this book) Bullinger was a major figure in the English Reformation and his most important work, The Decades, a series of lectures in five sets of ten, were influential in settling Reformed doctrine on the Elizabethan church where it was required reading for all ministers (though I don't know how many of them read it!)
Bullinger had a tumultuous early life being plucked from teaching at a school/monastery near in Kappel near Zurich: a town that was lost to Roman Catholicism due to religious wars in Switzerland. He was unexpectedly called to succeed Zwingli after the latter's death in the Battle of Kappel in 1531.
He was a central and dominant figure in Zurich from then on. Though he did not travel a network of correspondents kept him informed of events around Europe and he was much sought for advice. His long life, he died at 71 in 1575, gave him prominence in theological matters.
A theological seminary was set up that was influential and succesful for some years, attracting teachers from around Europe. It went into decline from 1562 when city officials prohibited the employment of teachers from outside Zurich.
Interestingly congregational singing, famously dropped by Zwingli, was not reintroduced until 1598, some time after Bullinger's death.
Useful as a work to gain some insights into the life and times of Zurich's longest lived Reformer.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews