In the sixteenth century, a number of church scholars discovered, through studying the Bible, that their institution had strayed from its biblical moorings and become a false church. Clerics had substituted the sacraments for the true gospel, and set themselves as the only worthy interpreters of God's revelation, which included their traditions as well as the Bible, all to the glory of the church. But cries for reform brought only rejection, and the Reformers and their followers began churches outside the Catholic hierarchy. These Protestants taught that forgiveness of sins came by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and that the church was founded on the Bible alone, to the glory of God alone.
The writings of many of these historic figures may be found at the on-line library of classic Christian literature.
Most of these figures are known more for their place in history than for their writings. Foxe's Book of Martyrs is a profound classic that should be read by every Christian. Also recommended are Calvin's Institutes and Luther's The Bondage of the Will
William Ames (1567-1624) - English priest who refused to wear Catholic vestments or practice the sign of the cross. He was exiled to Holland and became highly influential in the development of the Reformed and Puritan churches. His primary work, The Marrow of Theology, has been required reading in many seminaries ever since. He also wrote A Fresh Conscience Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship.
Lanceleot Andrewes (1555-1626) - bishop of Winchester, trained in eighteen languages. Andrewes was one of the best known translators of the King James Version, and oversaw the translation of Genesis through 2 Kings. Titles: A Manual for the Sick; Tortura Torti; The Wonderful Combat Between Christ and Satan, Opened in Seven Sermons.
James Arminius (1560-1609) - Dutch theologian whose followers challenged the Protestant churches' teaching on five key points. The Synod of Dort saw Arminianism as opening the door to heresy and re-asserted those five doctrines, which became known as the five points of universalism
Calvinism. His collected orations and disputations are available on-line. Arminius' greatest lasting influence was on General Baptists and the teaching of John Wesley. Also known by his Latin name, Jacobus Arminius.
Theodore Beza (1519-1605) - Reformed evangelical; successor and strict follower of Calvin. He helped systematize Reformed theology, highlighting the points that distinguished it from Catholicism. Beza was also a textual critic known for his discovery of Codex Bezae and for making important corrections to Erasmus' Textus Receptus. (His 1598 edition of the TR was the primary source for the KJV's Greek text) Additionally, Beza helped develop covenant theology. Titles: The Christian Faith; History of the Christian Church; Propositions and Principles of Divinity.
William Bradford (1590-1657) - Reformed governor of the English Separatist Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth to find a new home for Christianity. Bradford lost his wife on the way to America yet maintained his faith in God's providence. A wise leader and a devout Christian, he is best remembered for declaring the first Day of Thanksgiving in October 1621. His record of the Pilgrims' settlement is titled Of Plimoth Plantation.
Martin Bucer (1491-1551) - disciple of Martin Luther and leader of the South German Reformation. He sympathized with Zwingli and sought mediation between the two Reformers and thereby brought about the Concordia of Wittenberg in 1536. He was eventually a professor at Cambridge in England.
John Calvin (1509-1564) - Reformed evangelical who defined the theology of most Protestants prior to the time of John Wesley. Calvin placed great stress on the necessity of salvation for church membership and on the sufficiency of Scripture. The elements of his theology now called "Calvinism" were actually derived in great part from Augustine of Hippo. Calvin also contributed to the Protestant understanding of the Trinity, asserting that each Person of the Trinity is autotheos, God in and of Himself. Calvin's commentaries on most of the Bible are still in print, as is his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) - Lutheran theologian remembered as "the second Martin." Influenced by Philipp Melanchthon and trained in mathematics, his words were marked by his mild demeanor and reasoned argument. By opposing both the teachings of Rome and the doctrines of Calvin, and by uniting various Lutheran factions in the Formula of Concord, he firmly established Lutheranism's unique Protestant heritage. Titles: Examination of the Council of Trent; Justification; The Lord's Prayer; The Lord's Supper; Ministry, Word, and Sacrament; Two Natures in Christ.
John Cotton (1595-1652) - Puritan pastor of the First Church of Boston. Traditional, intellectual, and refined. He borrowed Plymouth's Congregational form of church government but supported the existence of a nobility distinct from the common people. Cotton became personally enamored with Anne Hutchinson despite her teachings yet had to preside at her trial. Titles: Democracy as Detrimental to Church and State; Spiritual Milk for Babes; The Way of Congregational Churches Cleared; The Way of the Churches of Christ in New England. Not to be confused with his grandson Cotton Mather.
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) - Anglican archbishop of Canterbury and friend and supporter of Henry VIII; also a translator of the Bishop's Bible, which would later be revised as the KJV. A theologian and poet, he taught that the king was God's appointed ruler of both the state and the church. Cranmer was eventually executed by Queen Mary for opposing a return to Catholicism. He is the primary author of the Book of Common Prayer and also published a Book of Homilies.
Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536) - Catholic humanist who was critical of the church's excesses but loyal to its teachings. As a Greek scholar, Erasmus determined the pronunciation of biblical Greek that is generally followed today, and compiled the Textus Receptus, which went through several editions. He also wrote Freedom of the Will in opposition to Martin Luther's theology of salvation, as well as satires against corruption in his own church, such as Colloquies and In Praise of Folly.
John Foxe (1516-1587) - Reformed evangelical expelled form Oxford for converting to Protestantism. A poor man all his life, he was a close friend of Bible translator William Tyndale and devoted himself to studying the history of Christian persecution. Foxe was eventually executed by order of Queen Elizabeth I, and his Book of Martyrs was eventually distributed throughout England after his death. The book Jesus Freaks by the band dc Talk is based on this work.
Conrad Grebel (1498-1526, pictured), Felix Manz (c. 1500-1527), and George Blaurock (1491-1529) - students of Zwingli who broke from his teachings in the early 1520s over the issue of believer's baptism. Hated by Catholics and Protestants alike, all three became martyrs for their faith. Their movement of founding churches by rebaptizing believers who had been baptized as infants became known as Anabaptism. In addition to being theologically Arminian, they rejected the authority of the Old Testament and stressed Jesus' deity over His humanity, tending toward a docetic view of the Incarnation. The Anabaptists practiced strict local autonomy and shunned all violence and capital punishment. They also isolated themselves from society's evil influences, refusing to participate in government and sometimes living in asceticism communes. Their descendants include the Amish and Mennonites.
Richard Hooker (1554-1600) - Anglican who was one of the greatest writers in Elizabethan England. He held the position Master of the Temple (dean of the law school) and was responsible for giving the Anglican church its current form. Hooker retained reason and church tradition as religious authorities alongside the Bible, and made aesthetics a priority in worship. He left the exact nature of the Lord's Supper undefined, regarding it as a spiritual mystery. His major Christian work is Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Not to be confused with American Puritan Thomas Hooker.
Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) - popular Puritan preacher who came to America, where he became a friend of John Winthrop. Hooker encouraged democratic government in both church and state. The founder of Hartford, he was profoundly influential in the development of civil liberty in Connecticut. His writings are said to represent Puritanism at its best. Titles: Beholding the Majesty of God; The Christian's Two Lessons: Self-Denial and Self-Trial; The Soul's Preparation for Christ; The Sum of Church Discipline. Not to be confused with traditional Anglican Richard Hooker.
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) - brilliant but wild Puritan whose bizarre teachings and divisiveness got her exiled from Boston. Believing she was in constant, direct communication with God, Hutchinson taught that good works were unnecessary in the Christian life and that she could "detect" by the Holy Spirit who was saved and who was not. When she drew away people from the churches and refused to submit to church authority or to the Bible, she was forced to leave for Rhode Island, where she was killed in an Indian attack.
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) - Catholic soldier inspired by miracle stories of the saints and the zeal of Ximines de Cisneros, who had used force to weed out heresy and enforce asceticism. It was Ignatius' ambition to repress and convert heretics. After much study, he eventually founded the Order of the Jesuits with the goal of destroying Protestantism and bringing the Holy Land under the control of the church through missions. His Spiritual Exercises are still in print. Not to be confused with first-century martyr Ignatius of Antioch or Eastern Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople.
John Jewel (1522-1571) - Reformed Anglican bishop of Salisbury and trusted advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He wrote the first methodical statement of the Church of England's position against the Church of Rome, titled An Apology of the Church of England. He was also concerned about the rise of occultic practices in the British Isles.
John of the Cross (1542-1591) - Catholic "doctor of mystic theology." John had a vast knowledge of the writings of Thomas Aquinas and was an extreme ascetic. He believed the soul must empty itself to be filled with God, and advocated meditation to transcend one's own consciousness.
John Knox (1505-1572) - priest who broke from the Catholic church for their persecution of the Reformers. He led the Reformation in Scotland, drawing on the teachings of John Calvin. Knox was a powerful preacher who spent a great deal of time in prayer. He also wrote a very interesting work titled Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.
Leo X (1475-1521) - Pope during the Protestant Reformation. He was highly resistant to all kinds of reform, and his rule is considered a low point in the papacy by Protestants and Catholics alike. Leo X excommunicated Luther, drank heavily, and used money from the sale of indulgences on extravagant projects like the Colonnade at St. Peter's. He was, however, a strict follower of religious observances and a promoter of the arts. Luther mocked him by "reviewing" his decree of excommunication line by line (MST3K style). Not to be confused with Leo IX, who was Pope during the Great Schism of 1054.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) - Catholic monk who took the first steps away from sacramentalism while studying the concept of God's righteousness in the Psalms. In 1517, he protested the sale of indulgences on Halloween, the night Catholics would pray for those in purgatory. Known both for his harsh tongue and his devotion to the sufficiency of Scripture. His commentaries on Romans and Galatians are famous for defending justification by faith. He also wrote Bondage of the Will (against Erasmus) and the book By Faith Alone.
Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) - Reformed friend and defender of Martin Luther. He wrote the Augsburg Confession and gave the first systematic treatment of evangelical doctrine. Melanchthon was an extraordinarily even-tempered man who believed biblical doctrine would provide a common ground for all Christians. One of his most famous works is Loci Communes Rerum. It was to Melanchthon we owe the formula, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
Nicolas Ridley (c. 1500-1555) - Anglican bishop of London. Ridley was a brilliant scholar and eloquent preacher, quiet in demeanor and famously generous. He attempted to convert Lady Mary, who regarded him bitterly and as Queen Mary had him burned at the stake in 1555 for refusing to convert to Catholicism. His life and death are given two full chapters out of the sixteen in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) - eloquent English Puritan whose writings are a model for many contemporary Reformed pastors. Sibbes placed the glory and sovereignty of God squarely at the center of his theology. His collected works are now in print by Banner of Truth. Titles: The Bruised Reed; The Excellency of the Gospel Above the Law; Glorious Freedom; Light from Heaven; The Returning Backslider.
Menno Simons (1492-1559) - Dutch Anabaptist for whom the Mennonites are named. Originally a priest, he left the Catholic church when Bible study convinced him of believer's baptism. Loving but stern, he made frequent use of the ban (excommunication) to enforce discipline in the community. His Foundation of Christian Doctrine shows a heightened awareness of sin and helped establish the "celestial flesh" version of docetism.
William Tyndale (1494-1536) - early English reformer whose focus was putting the Bible into the minds and mouths of common believers. Tyndale believed the confusion over church teachings arose from ignorance of the Scriptures. He fled from England to Germany and France to translate the New Testament and most of the Old. He was eventually kidnapped from Antwerp and executed for translating the Bible. The Bishop's Bible and its various revisions (KJV, NKJV, EV, ASV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, ESV, LB, NLT) are all based on Tyndale's work.
John Winthrop (1588-1649) - Cambridge-educated Puritan who settled in Maine in 1630. Winthrop was a wise and generous leader who for a time sustained the colony from his own personal fortune. He had a keen eye for God's providence and was a constant friend of Roger Williams, whom he urged (unsuccessfully) to be peaceable. Winthrop wrote the valuable History of New England from 1630 to 1649.
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) - Reformed evangelical leader of the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli focused on the sufficiency of Scripture and rejected beliefs and practices that were not explicitly stated in the Old or New Testament. He differed with Luther on the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper but also opposed Anabaptists' commitment to believer's baptism.
For a statement of my beliefs, see my Declaration of Faith.
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