A World Premiere of Religious Reforms in Zurich in 1525
9 April 2025
Martin Luther initiated the most significant separation of the Christian church since 1054 (the separation between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church) with his 95 theses in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
This separation was not only religious and political but also geographically inspired. Western and Central Europe were on one side, and Eastern Europe (the Byzantine Empire) was on the other. Although the Orthodox had a common denominator, they quickly developed their regional identities.
Pope Leo IX (1002-1054) and Michael Kerularios (1000-1059), Patriarch of Constantinople (1000-1059). Greek manuscript. 15th century. State Library Palermo. Picture: Wikipedia
The Reformation and Anabaptism
Five centuries after several failed reform attempts, Roman Catholic Europe was ready for a separation from the Church. The reforms proposed by Luther were indeed the direct cause, but the discussions were centuries old. Erasmus was one of many critical theologians; Jan Hus had ended up at the stake a century earlier (1415).
Luther’s reform plans reached a broad audience thanks to the printing press, the Renaissance, humanism, and the prevalence of poverty in both cities and rural areas. Moreover, he wrote in German rather than Latin (although most of the population was still illiterate).
Luther’s ideas quickly reached the Swiss Confederation, primarily the major cities (Basel, Bern, Zurich, Schaffhausen). Zurich had a world premiere: in a short time, around 1525, two new world religions emerged: the Evangelical Reformed Church, founded by Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), and the Anabaptists. Luther and Zwingli differed on various religious dogmatic points, but they rejected and persecuted the Anabaptists.
Not only these areas of the old Swiss Confederation, but ten years later, the independent republic of Geneva and the principality of Neuchâtel were areas with a religious reform: Calvinism. Switzerland was the epicentre of humanism on one side and the dogmatic discussions of the new world religions on the other.
Collégiale in Neuchâtel met standbeeld Guillaume Farel (1489-1565)
Calvinism
Geneva remained the capital of Calvinism for centuries. For example, thousands of students from the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Germany, France and other countries visited the academy founded by Calvin. William of Orange is even honoured on the Wall of the Reformation in Geneva, just as the Dutch admiral and war hero Michiel de Ruyter has his plaque in the Grossmünster in Zurich (and his grave in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, as well as a national day dedicated to him in Hungary).
The Wall of Reformers in Geneva
Disputatio in Zurich
The reform in Zurich was the first in the Confederation, the Swiss way, after a ‘disputatio‘, a public discussion, and a vote in the government. However, this reform did not go far enough for some reformers. They based themselves on the rejection of the baptism of babies because faith is a confession, and a baby does not yet have that discernment.
They did not want a state church but rather religious communities that were privately organised. In other words, they did not recognise the ecclesiastical, thus state hierarchy. At that time, there was no separation between church and state.
Another disputatio occurred on January 17, 1525, between the Protestant Zwingli and the Anabaptist Konrad Grebel (1498-1526). Zwingli won the debate, but that did not prevent the baptism of the first adults on January 21, 1525, including Grebel and Felix Manz (1498-1527).
After that, the conflict escalated, especially because the Anabaptists did not recognize the state church (the new Protestant church; the Catholic church had been the state church for centuries) or the armed service for the government.
For the rulers, Anabaptism was synonymous with anarchy, non-payment of taxes, and refusal to serve in the army. Thus, they undermined the state’s authority (and the leaders’ privileges). They were persecuted (by Protestants and Catholics) and sometimes, like Felix Manz, put to death.
The disputatio of 17 January 1525. Secular lordsds (left), theologians (right), anabaptist delegation (bottom)anded the reformers (Zwingli). Collectie: Zentralbibliothek Zürich
Global Anabaptism
Due to persecution in Zurich (and later in other cities), they sought refuge in the countryside, where the Anabaptists could count on considerable sympathy and support. After all, it was the time of the peasant uprisings. The religiously inspired Anabaptists and the politically motivated peasants had come together. An exhibition in the Dreiländermuseum in Lörrach examines this context in detail.
The Anabaptists of Zurich eventually fled abroad and to the United States, where they founded Amish and Mennonite communities. The Amish are named after the Swiss Jacob Ammann (1644-1712), and the Mennonites after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496-1561). Moreover, several other splits of the Anabaptists exist worldwide, a true world religion.
The exhibition ‘Verfolgt, Vertrieben, Vergessen—500 Jahre Täufertum im Kanton Zürich‘ at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich presents this little-known yet eventful history through documents from its archives and other institutions.
It takes place on the 500th anniversary of the first adult baptism, which occurred on January 21, 1525. On May 29, the world conference of the Mennonites and a service in the Grossmünster in Zurich will be held. The circle is complete, less than 100 meters from the place where Felix Manz was put to death by drowning in the Limmat in 1527.
(Source and additional information: Zentralbibliothek Zürich, M. Jost, Unpassend. Roman zu den Anfängen der Täuferbewegung, St. Gallenkappel, 2024; Mennonitica. Schweizerischer Verein für Täufer geschichte)