Protestant Reformers

Fictitious dispute between leading Protestant reformers (sitting at the left side of the table: Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, and Oecolampadius) and representatives of the Catholic Church

Protestantism
The Reformation
Great Awakenings
History
Culture
Demographics
Ecumenism
Persecution
Major branches:
Adventism Anabaptism Anglicanism Baptist churches Calvinism Lutheranism Methodism Pentecostalism Minor branches
Transdenominational movements:
Evangelicalism Charismatic movement Neo-charismatic movement
Related movements:
Nondenominational churches House churches

Protestant Reformers were those theologians, churchmen, and statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Historically speaking, "Protestant" was the name given to those theologians, magnates, and delegations present at the Holy Roman Imperial Diet of Speyer in 1529 who protested the revocation of the suspension, granted at a prior Diet of Speyer in 1526, of Edict of Worms of 1521, which had outlawed Martin Luther and his followers.

Precursors

There were a number of people who contributed to the development of the Reformation, but lived before it, including:

• John Wycliffe
• John Hus
• Jerome of Prague
• Savonarola
• Peter Waldo
• Wessel Harmenz. Gansfort

Magisterial Reformers

There were a number of key reformers within the Magisterial Reformation, including:

• Theodore Beza
• Martin Bucer
• Heinrich Bullinger
• Johannes Hus
• John Calvin
• Andreas von Carlstadt, later a Radical Reformer
• Wolfgang Fabricius Capito
• Martin Chemnitz
• Thomas Cranmer
• William Farel
• Matthias Flacius
• Caspar Hedio
• Justus Jonas
• John Knox
• Jan Łaski
• Martin Luther
• Philipp Melanchthon
• Johannes Oecolampadius
• Peter Martyr
• Aonio Paleario
• Laurentius Petri
• Olaus Petri
• John Wycliffe
• Jiří Třanovský
• William Tyndale
• Joachim Vadian
• Pierre Viret
• Huldrych Zwingli

Radical Reformers

Reformers of the Radical Reformation and the Anabaptist movement included:

• John of Leiden
• Thomas Müntzer
• Kaspar Schwenkfeld
• Sebastian Franck
• Menno Simons

Second Front Reformers

There were also a number of people who initially cooperated with the Radical Reformers, but separated from them to form a "Second Front", principally in objection to sacralism. Among these were:

• Hans Denck
• Conrad Grebel
• Balthasar Hubmaier
• Felix Manz

Counter Reformers

Roman Catholics who worked against the Protestant Reformation included:

• Girolamo Aleandro
• Augustine Alveld
• Thomas Cajetan
• Johann Cochlaeus
• Johann Eck
• Jerome Emser
• Pope Leo X
• John Tetzel
• Thomas More
• Ignatius Loyola
• Francis de Sales

See also

• List of Protestant Reformers (alphabetical)

Further reading

• George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1988. N.B.: Comparative studies of the various leaders of the Magisterial and Radical movements of the 16th century Protestant Reformation.