Clerical Discipline and the Rural Reformation The Synod of Zurich, 1532-1580

Gordon, Bruce. Clerical Discipline and the Rural Reformation The Synod in Zurich, 1532-1580. Bern: Peter Lang, 1992. 297 pp. $99.95/£61.00.

The French theologian, Bernard Vogler pioneered local studies on protestant clergy with his Vie religieuse en Pays Rhenan dans las seconde moitie du XVIe siècle (1556-1619). Subsequent to this work, a number of other important studies have now been published. One of those studies is Bruce Gordon’s, Clerical Discipline and the Rural Reformation The Synod in Zurich, 1532-1580. Bruce received his PhD from University of St. Andrews and currently teaches at Yale Divinity School. His most recent noteworthy work is John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Biography in Princeton University Press’s Lives of Great Religious Books series.

Primarily a treatment of the relationship between the function of the Synod in Zurich to rural clergy around Zurich, this book secondarily provides insight into Heinrich Bullinger’s role as Zwingli’s heir to the Swiss Reformation. Since the key leaders of the Reformation hailed from urban centers, it is valuable to see how Reformation was received by people living in rural contexts, and how it contended against the Catholic alternative. Gordon presents how the teaching and disciplinary function of the Swiss Synod “imposed” the Reformation in those contexts and maintain the quality of the church as the Reformation held its ground in the surrounding area of Zurich, holding off Catholic resurgence or Anabaptist insurgence.

Gordon begins by presenting how important clerical reform was leading up to the Reformation. One of the contributing stimuli for the Reformation was laity’s disappointment with the moral and ethical fiber of clergy. This led to acts of anticlericalism throughout the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century, Zwingli emerges as a leader who clarifies the ecclesiology of the church through his theology. The Disputation of Bern in 1528 becomes a landmark example of how he successfully advocates for “the legitimacy of local churches” while having them be united “in their common confession of Christ” through the Synod (40). After the first war of Kappel but before the second, Bern and Zurich held their first Synods. These gatherings set the expectation for future meetings by focusing on clerical discipline.

Chapter three of this study offers a detailed discussion of Synod gatherings, including the official offices that people held, the roles that those offices accomplished, the agenda for the meeting, and what that agenda was meant to accomplish. Two meetings occurred a year: one a week after May Day (May 1), and the second a week after the feast of St. Gall (October 18) (82). The meeting had a six-part agenda: Invocatio, Catalogus, Sacramentum, Externi, Senatus, and Censura. Records of these meetings are consulted in the two-volume Synodalakten, which includes Bullinger’s own notes concerning these meetings. In addition, there are also records from the Synod clerk for meetings during the 1560s.

The two most important parts of the meeting, though we know little about the Externi stage, are the Sacramentum and the Censura. The Sacramentum is when new clergy were interviewed and ordained into the ministry. The final portion of the meeting (Censura) is the one that is pertinent to the issue of church discipline. During this stage of the meeting, clergy were confronted for either being morally lax in their dealings with parishioners or being morally lax themselves. Consequences for moral laxity might be as gentle as private rebuke but as serious as two or three days of imprisonment in the Wellenberg with nothing but bread and water. The most common behavior that would precipitate consequences of any kind is drunkenness.

The discipline measures employed in Synod gatherings were critical for maintaining civil order in Zurich during this tumultuous period of the Swiss Confederacy’s history. Gordon argues that these measure were a form of social control to extinguish grumbling, which under minded civil and ecclesial leadership. Gordon does not reduce the function of Censura to social control. He insists that church discipline is a critical function of teaching doctrine (111). Both Zwingli and Bullinger had a vision for fostering Reformation theology in the ecclesiology of the church, and they served as paternal figures, who shepherded under-shepherds in establishing healthy ecclesial and civil contexts that deter wickedness and insubordination to civil authorities (ideas that were one in the same).

The teaching element of Censura had much to do with the reality that the earliest reformed clergy were rarely well-educated; they were given to slip back into rituals and practices of Catholicism, which had been condemned. Thus, not just was Censura employed but preventative measures—like establishing Humanist learning centers to teach exegesis to rising clergy, writing postils, and also publishing biblical commentaries—were leveraged as well. Nonetheless, the measures did not ensure that rural clergy would be enthusiastic about study or desire to teach the doctrines of the Reformation. Ultimately, matters of doctrine and heresy were not just ecclesial matters in Zurich; they were civil matters. “All decisions regarding theology were ultimately in the hands of the magistracy” (100).

The disciplinary element was for those clergy that practiced personal moral laxity—whether it was excesses in drinking, gossip, fighting, or adultery. Gordon gives detailed accounts, accompanied with the Prosopography beginning of page 225 that summarizes each clergy’s case record (presented alphabetically). Social control, such as the prohibition of particular festivals connected to Catholic feasts would be prohibited (123). This was done to circumvent excesses in drinking, which often led to other sin. Alcoholism was a serious cause for problems in these rural communities. Cases include church discipline related to couples presenting their children for baptism, while intoxicated (124), or clergy becoming drunk at wedding or funerals, or holding services while drunk. Some pastors became known for being far too frequent in taverns and one even was known for running a tavern in his home. The problem of drunkenness became so serious that the council and church set civil regulations on the quantity of wine that an individual could purchase (129).

Excesses in drink often led to looseness of the tongue. The church used the preaching of the Word to guide people in understanding the kind of civilization that Zurich was fostering. Non-conformity to the Reformation, by those who advocated Catholicism or Anabaptism, was a serious threat to the delicate balance of hegemony that Swiss reformers were trying to hold on to following the Second War of Kappel. Other common matters of concern for the Synod included clergy who did not care for the poor or the sick. The sixteen century was a time of economic distress, which hit the rural economy worse, incubating challenges like famine and plague. The Synod saw these difficulties as a serious concern and clergy should be greatly concerned with caring for these needs. Unfortunately, there was already little tithe to go around as it was. Caring for spiritual health might also be lax because clergy failed to catechize and encourage catechism in homes or they may not even hold services at all (often because they were busy in the tavern).

Gordon’s study is absolutely fascinating. The vivid accounts through the use of Synod documentation gives life to the rural situation around Zurich. One often thinks that men like Zwingli and Bullinger simply wooed people to their ideas and that the Reformation was readily embraced. However, this study demonstrates how complex the life situation was, and, perhaps, how well contented people were with Catholicism. For many, Catholicism did not interrupt their manner of living: show up for the mass, do penance, and work hard. But the ideas of the Reformation set a new benchmark for expectations—often times rural common people and their clergy did not even find this new benchmark a desirable one to meet. The various methods that Bullinger and other city leaders employed to foster reformed ideas or deter ideas that ran counter to their hopes for Zurich and the surrounding area demonstrate their earnestness to cultivate change.

The greatest challenge for readers is that one must have an understanding of Latin and German in order to glean the largest benefit from this study. Zwingli’s theology and many of the comments from the case records are footnoted in Latin or German. On the other hand, making this material accessible—rather than forcing researchers to dig into archives in Zurich—is a welcomed asset. Gordon’s even-handed and sympathetic approach to understanding why and how leaders in Zurich achieved reform, is also appreciated. I did not get a sense that the Swiss reformers’ methods were oppressive. Rather, Gordon demonstrates the level of patience with which Bullinger and others brought clergy to repentance and improved conditions for those living in rural contexts.

This work is recommended to those wishing to have a richer understanding of the complexities related to Reformation in Zurich.