Portal:Reformed Christianity

The Reformed Christianity Portal

Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Baptist and Anglican (known as "Episcopal" in some regions) traditions.

Reformed theology emphasizes the authority of the Bible and the sovereignty of God, as well as covenant theology, a framework for understanding the Bible based on God's covenants with people. Reformed churches emphasize simplicity in worship. Several forms of ecclesiastical polity are exercised by Reformed churches, including presbyterian, congregational, and some episcopal. Articulated by John Calvin, the Reformed faith holds to a spiritual (pneumatic) presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.

Emerging in the 16th century, the Reformed tradition developed over several generations, especially in Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands. In the 17th century, Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants were expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over disputes regarding predestination and salvation, and from that time Arminians are usually considered to be a distinct tradition from the Reformed. This dispute produced the Canons of Dort, the basis for the "doctrines of grace" also known as the "five points" of Calvinism. (Full article...)

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The basis of the theology of Huldrych Zwingli was the Bible. He took scripture as the inspired word of God and placed its authority higher than human sources such as the ecumenical councils and the Church Fathers. He also recognised the human element within the inspiration noting the differences in the canonical gospels.

He developed the symbolic view of the Eucharist. He denied the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and following Cornelius Henrici Hoen, he agreed that the bread and wine of the institution signify and does not literally become the body and blood of Christ. Zwingli’s differences of opinion on this with Martin Luther resulted in the failure of the Marburg Colloquy to bring unity between the two Protestant leaders.

Zwingli believed that the state governed with divine sanction. He believed that both the church and the state are placed under the sovereign rule of God. Christians were obliged to obey the government, but civil disobedience was allowed if the authorities acted against the will of God. He described a preference for an aristocracy over monarchic or democratic rule.

Selected images

Image 1The burning of the Guernsey Martyrs during the Marian persecutions in 1556 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 2A Reformed church in Koudekerk aan den Rijn in the Netherlands in the 19th century (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 3Early Calvinism was known for simple, unadorned churches as depicted in this 1661 portrait of the interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 4The Directory for Public Worship described what should (and should not) occur in worship. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 5The seal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, an early American Presbyterian church founded in 1789 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 6Stephen Bocskai, leader of Hungarian Calvinists in the anti-Habsburg rebellion and first Calvinist prince of Transylvania (r. 1605–1606) (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 7Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper initiated Neo-Calvinism. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 8Moses Amyraut formulated Amyraldism, a modified Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Jesus' atonement. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 9John Calvin depicted on his deathbed with church members in The last moments of Calvin, a late 19th century portrait by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 10The Parable of the Prodigal Son, depicted in a portrait by Rembrandt, illustrates forgiveness. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 11The Shield of the Trinity diagrams the classic doctrine of the Trinity. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 12The Grote Kerk in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, c. 1665 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 13Fall of Man by Jacob Jordaens (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 14Calvin preached at St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. (from Reformed Christianity)

Did you know...

...that John Calvin's works include some 1,300 letters, making him "the great letter-writer of the Reformation age" according to B. B. Warfield?

...that Peter Martyr Vermigli's best known work, the Loci Communes, is a compilation of excerpts from his biblical commentaries published after his death?

... that Robert Dick Wilson was a leading Bible scholar who was able to read the New Testament in nine different languages while still at Princeton University, and strongly defended the Bible's historical accuracy?