Pre Reform
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ScribdTranslationsFigures of the Pre-Reformation and the Reformation
The reform was one of the most extraordinary periods in the history of the
church. God sovereignly raised up men and women who were
willing even to be tortured or burned to rescue the truths
biblical truths that false religion, ignorance, and superstition have obscured
during the spiritual dark ages of the Middle Ages.
Before the Reformation in the 16th century, there were men who, although they were
Silenced ones paved the way for those who came later.
The following names are just a few of the hundreds that were raised in
Europe before and during this fabulous period of the church of Christ.
PreReformers
These were men who, before the time of the Reformation, had the vision and
the zeal to raise their voices to proclaim the truth of the Scriptures that
had extinguished during the Middle Ages. Many of them paid with their lives.
his love and his struggle for that truth, but his work and his seed inspired and gave life
to the work of the reformers.
Pedro Valdo (1140 1217) was a wealthy merchant who lived in Lyon, France.. His
conversion happened when after listening to a song about God, he
he asked the priest if it was the best way to God. The priest quoted Matthew.
t
19.21 that speaks of selling everything you have and following Christ. He did that and of
From then on, he lived a life of poverty and service. His known followers
,
like the Waldensians, believed that the Bible was the only source of authority and
they rejected the organization and many of the teachings of the Roman Church.
For centuries, the Waldenses were persecuted due to their radical beliefs. .
Juan Wycliffe (132984) Prominent English philosopher and reformer during the end of
the Middle Ages. He taught at the University of Oxford and was invited
t to serve in
the court by the powerful Juan de Gaunt. He promoted knowledge and the
authority of the Bible and was condemned by the Pope in 1377 for supporting the
government in its attempt to confiscate the properties of corrupt priests.
He published a translation of the Latin Vulgate into English. . For his vision of
reformer in the darkest era of the Middle Ages is known as 'The
Early Star of the Reform f
John Hus (1374-1415) was ordained as a priest in 1401 and dedicated much
of his career as a professor at Charles University in Prague Strongly .
influenced by Wyclif, affirmed that only the Scriptures and not the church had
divine authority. Even being a Catholic priest, he stated f that only God can
forgive sins. His teachings put him in conflict with the Church and in
1415 was summoned to the Council of Constance to defend his beliefs. There he was
judged and sentenced to die by burning without being given the opportunity to
explain yourfe.
against the church with a message of repentance similar to that of John the
Bautista. During the Florentine carnival in 1497, he organized 'the bonfire of the...
"vanities" to protest against materialism and immorality. The Pope
Alexander VI excommunicated him and together with his
Dominican friars of Pescia and Silvester
Maruffi hung him and burned him in Piazza Signoria in Florence on May 23rd.
1498.
Reformers
The Reformation of the 16th century was not the work of a single man, but of hundreds.
of men and women who rose from different places, with the vision of
return to the truth of the Scriptures. It was a work of God in which the
circumstances and the hearts of men were prepared in a
providential and supernatural way to bring the world out of darkness of the
human religion in the light of the truth of the gospel of grace.
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) was born in Switzerland and started a reform in Zurich.
similar to Luther's but independent of him. He believed that the Bible, not the church
neither the Pope was the only authority of the Christian. His theology and his morality
they were based on the principle that if the Old or the New Testament did not say
explicitly something about a matter, it did not have to be believed or practiced.
He denounced the use of music, painting, and sculptures in churches. He had
a disagreement with Luther regarding the bread and wine of communion that for him,
unlike this one, it was only a memorial, not the presence of the body and the
blood of Cris to.
Martin Bucer (1491-1551) Swiss Reformer who abandoned his...
Franciscan Order. In 1523 he went to Strasbourg where he became one of the
main statisticians among the reformers. In 1549 he had to leave
Strasbourg and went to live in England where he helped Thomas Cranmer in the
preparation of "The Book of Common Prayer," a worship manual used by
the Anglican church.
Guillermo Farel (1489-1565) Calvin spent a night sleeping in Geneva. . Farel,
upon learning of his arrival, he asked for help to shepherd in the city . Calvin did
he refused as he wanted peace to write and read. Farel said to him,
: 'God damn your...
rest and your peace, if in the face of such a great need you refuse to lend
help." Calvin stayed and ministered in Geneva for more than two decades.
Then he wrote: "I felt that God placed His mighty hand upon me to
stop me... they were filling me with terror that I had withdrawn from the journey I had started...
John Calvin (1509-1564) was born in France where he studied law and theology.
He wrote 'The Institutions of the Christian Religion,' one of the most important books
important figures of Protestant Christianity. He was a pastor in the city of Geneva in
Switzerland, which served as a refuge for thousands of ministers and persecuted Christians in
Europe, from where countless evangelists of the gospel went out to
numerous countries. He was the theologian, missionary, pastor, and statesman most
influential of the time .
Theodore Beza (1519-1605). Disciple and successor of Calvin as leader of the
reformed movement in Geneva, Switzerland. Before arriving in Geneva, it was a
lawyer who enjoyed writing poetry. He was a protector and advisor of the
French Christians persecuted known as Huguenots. Like Luther,
He was a talented translator and his Greek and Latin versions of the New Testament
they were the basis for the historical and revolutionary Protestant translations
King James and Geneva .
Juan Knox (1505-1572) One of the main leaders of the Reformation and founder
the Presbyterianism in Scotland. In 1543, being a Catholic priest, he heard of
the Reformed doctrines through Jorge Wishart, a martyr for the gospel
who had studied under Martin Luther. In July 1574, he was enslaved in a
French ship for nineteen months, after which he worked in England for
ten years. After being with Calvin in Geneva for several years, he returned to
Scotland in 1559 where God used him for a great revival. He wrote the book,
The History of the Reformation in Scotland.
