The following is an abstract of Peter Opitz, "The Authority of Scripture in the Zurich Reformation," Journal of Reformed Theology, vol 5, 2011, pp296-309.
The decisive impulse of the Zurich Reformation was not a
particular theological tenet or the religious experience of one single
reformer. It was the discovery of the authority of God’s Word. This discovery
was essentially a liberating experience. Scripture was experienced as the place
for encountering the living God, who is intrinsically a gracious God, and who
correspondingly makes his will known to people. Given the circumstances of
early modernity, it was, however, consequent and inevitable that in the process
of restructuring a Christian society and church according to God’s Word the
Bible became the authoritative scripture., Abstract The decisive impulse of the
Zurich Reformation was not a particular theological tenet or the religious
experience of one single reformer. It was the discovery of the authority of
God’s Word. This discovery was essentially a liberating experience. Scripture
was experienced as the place for encountering the living God, who is intrinsically
a gracious God, and who correspondingly makes his will known to people. Given
the circumstances of early modernity, it was, however, consequent and
inevitable that in the process of restructuring a Christian society and church
according to God’s Word the Bible became the authoritative scripture.
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