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Period: 1450 to 1536
Faber Stapulensis (Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples)
After studying humanities in Paris, he began to study the Bible. He came to the conclusion that there was a surplus between the teachings of the early church and the contemporary church. The church, he proclaimed, should return to the teaching and practice of the early church and reform itself in the spirit of early Christianity. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lef%C3%A8vre_d%27%C3%89taples) -
Period: Oct 28, 1466 to Dec 7, 1536
Erasmus of Rotterdam
In principle, he did not doubt the truth of traditional beliefs and did not harbour hostile feelings against the church organisation. His criticism of church life was aimed at purifying the doctrines of faith and making the institutional system of Christianity more liberal. He saw himself as a spokesman for honesty, and in so doing he renewed Europe through his honest and courageous criticism of the Catholic Church. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus) -
Period: Nov 10, 1483 to Jan 18, 1546
Martin Luther
Martin Luther's seminal document, the "95 Theses", is credited with sparking the Protestant Reformation. The central themes are repentance, repentance and that the true treasure of the church is the gospel. It is from such biblical foundations that he approaches the then very topical issue of the sale of indulgences and what bishops and the Pope can and cannot do. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther) -
Period: Jan 1, 1484 to Oct 11, 1531
Huldrych Zwingli
His Reformed doctrine was largely in line with that of the German Reformers, but there were differences on certain points. The main difference was on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, but there were also differences on externals and rituals, as well as on church government. Zwingli recognised the secular authority of the people, freely elected by the people, as the supreme governing authority of the church. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldrych_Zwingli) -
Period: 1488 to May 27, 1526
Thomas Müntzer
He was a representative of the radical and popular branch of the Reformation, a current of Anabaptism. His apocalyptic sermons, writings and hymns reflect the German mysticism. In contrast to the mystics, he did not seek union with God in earthly life, but the realisation of a society without private property, priesthood, nobility and princes. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer) -
Period: May 31, 1491 to Jul 31, 1556
Ignatius of Loyola
Founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). His experiences of spiritual life were summarised in his book Spiritual Exercises, which became the basis of the Jesuit and Saint Ignatius spirituality.
Ignatius Loyola was instrumental in the development of the Catholic revival that followed the Reformation. The Jesuits played a major role in leading the Counter-Reformation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola) -
1492
Erasmus ordained a priest
Ordained a priest in 1492, he reluctantly took monastic vows and became a canon of the Order of St Augustine around the age of twenty-five. However, he probably never actually exercised his priestly vocation, and monastic life was one of the main subjects of his later works criticising the Church. -
Period: Oct 7, 1509 to May 27, 1564
Jean Calvin
Calvin's fundamental idea is that God can be known by anyone who has a rational view of humanity, the order of nature and the course of history, and that this kind of knowledge is not the exclusive preserve of Christians, whereas Jesus Christ can only be known from the texts of Scripture. There is a fundamental continuity between the Old and the New Testament, which are essentially identical, but differ in certain things. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin) -
Period: Sep 29, 1511 to Oct 27, 1553
Michael Servetus
He was fully convinced of the absolute truth of the Christian religion, and regarded the Bible as the incontestable source of truth - in this sense he agreed with contemporary Protestantism, but he sought a much more radical reform of the faith. The fundamental thesis of his teaching was the absolute unity and indivisibility of God's being, in contrast to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Servetus) -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther
Nailed his theses on the church door in Wittenberg. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses) -
1525
Teh works of Faber Stapulensis
After his translation of the New Testament in 1523, he published a translation of the Psalms in 1525 in Antwerp under the title Le Psautier de David, and two years later a translation of the Torah in French was published. His complete translation of the Bible, based on the Vulgate of St Jerome, was published in 1530 by the Antwerp printer Merten de Keyser. -
1525
Müntzer backs the peasant uprising
In 1525, he and his supporters supported the peasant uprising demanding the reform of the law, the abolition of the landlord's despotism and the free election of pastors. On 25 May, near Frankenhausen, an army of peasants, miners and townspeople was severely defeated, Muenzer himself escaped, but was captured and tortured. Before his beheading, he was brutally tortured and, allegedly (unconfirmed), converted to Catholicism. -
1529
Contention between the cantons and the death of Zwingli
The richer and more educated cantons joined Zwingli, while the five "ancestral cantons" (whose poor population was more under the influence of priests and monks) were firmly opposed to any innovation. As early as 1529, the differences almost provoked a war, but by then the clash had been averted by the so-called First Peace of Chapel. On 11 October 1531, however, they met again as enemies in a battle near Kappel, the former victorious, Zwingli also falling. -
1537
Calvin's activities in Geneva
On January 16, 1537, Farel and Calvin presented a new draft of the Church's statutes to the Geneva City Council. In it, they proposed to increase the frequency of communion, which had hitherto been once a month, to preserve the existing 'corrective and disciplinary excommunication', to establish a church tribunal independent of the secular, to provide for the religious education and public examination of young people, and to change the rules on marriage. -
1540
Foundation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order)
The magistrates of Paris, popularly known as "pilgrim priests" or "reform priests", decided after much deliberation to maintain their community and transform it into a monastic order, to be called the Society of Jesus. On 27 September 1540, a solemn document, Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, was drawn up, by which Pope Paul III approved the foundation of the new order. The first Jesuits unanimously elected Ignatius as their first general. -
1553
Servetus publishes his most famous theological work
In 1553, he published his most famous theological work, Christianismi Restitutio, which expounded antitrinitarian views. He sent a first draft of the book to John Calvin, whom he had met in Paris in 1534 and with whom he corresponded on the subject until 1546. Later, Servetus tried to recover the manuscript from Calvin, but was unsuccessful; it was used against him in the trial and his work was burned along with the author.