Below are a loose collection of thoughts, some talking points (largely dependent/derived from J. W. Nevin’s History and Genius of the Heidelberg Catechism) from a short, high-overview talk that I gave about the German-Reformation at our church’s annual Reformation Celebration.
- The Reformation was not something that flared up overnight; it had been developing within the Roman Catholic Church for some time, e.g., Wycliffe – “the Morning Star of the Reformation” – was born nearly two-hundred years before Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door at Wittenberg. Nevin calls the Middle Ages the “womb” of the Reformation; he says that the Church, by God’s Spirit, gave birth to the Reformation.
- Because the Reformation was something birthed in the Church by God’s Spirit, Nevin says, “[Luther and the other Reformers] did not make the Reformation. The Reformation made them.”
- Because the Reformation was something that God’ Spirit was birthing within the church, we cannot say the Reformation was bound only to Germany (although German was the “proper cradle of the Reformation”). This was a movement that occurred across the board, i.e., in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, etc.
- The “Reformed Church” found its initial distinction through opposition to Roman Catholicism in France; there it first known as the “Catholic Church Reformed” – in time it became a “technical term”, a form of nomenclature that distinguished it from both Lutheranism and Romanism.
- “The Reformed Church was the national Protestantism of Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Scotland and England, and eventually the German Palatinate (South-Western Germany).”
- The Catechism of the Palatinate (aka – Heidelberg Catechism) was chiefly written by Zacharius Ursinus, who was trained at Wittenberg by Luther’s successor (Melanchthon).
- Heidelberg Catechism was “eagerly accepted by other Reformed Synods”, e.g., Synod of Dort included the Catechism as one of the Three Forms of Unity, and even now its acceptance and use are widespread.