For God and His People by Jean Henri D'Aubigne Book Review

D'Aubigne beings his book by quoting Zwingli arguing the case that in 1516 he did not learn the "doctrine of Christ" from Luther but instead from the Word of God (D'Aubigne, xxv), and what is notable about such a clam is that it suggests that the reformation was something that God was inspiring several people to work towards in one accord without those people necessary coordinating with one another. D'Aubigne continues his case by showing how Zwingli considered himself not a Lutheran because he knew Greek before he knew the Lutheran doctrine, and by this D'Aubigne is suggesting not only that knowing Greek was the bases for the reformation but also that people that read the New Testament in the original language all agreed upon it in a reformed view. (D'Aubigne, 12). Overall, the problem with the views that D'Aubigne gives or recites is that they have a way of over portraying the differences in terns of devout qualities and education between the early reformers and the non reformers, but history shows in contrast that some very well educated and devout Christians like Erasmus, whom Zwingli met (D'Aubigne, 15), did not become Protestant reformers but instead continued the Roman Catholic faith.

The Reformation Turned Churches into Barnyards

D'Aubigne describes a time when a crucifix outside of a city was dug around by reformers until it smashed on the ground, and to this act Zwingli and his colleagues did not condemn these acts as a sacrilege as the Old Testament forbid graven images. (D'Aubigne, 104-105) After D'Aubigne describes a long course of other such expressions that would conflict with Roman Catholic views, looking toward the end of Zwingli's life D'Aubigne describes Zwingli being able to see the Reformation and the city of Zurich coming to their ruin under Zwingli's leadership that problematically, for D'Aubigne views, did not see a separation of church and state. (D'Aubigne, 217-218) The problem with D'Aubigne's views is that they support the potential for secularism and a government that is required to make judgments outside of scriptural truth, so in other words if the Bible condemns graven images and if all the people of a city understand this to condemn a crucifix, then having a separation of church and state would mean that someone without belief in the scripture would have to judge over people that believe in the scripture in order to maintain a crucifix in a city. Overall, Zwingli would have made no separation between church and state, and if he had made a distinction, then he would be promoting hypocrisy in the people by teaching them about God's kingdom in one utterance and then teaching them about why secular state government should judge over God's people without use of the scripture as a bases for judgment in yet another utterance.

The Word of God Alone

D'Aubigne writes time and time again how Zwingli and his supporters favored the Word of God as ultimate authority and this is described as pentacle for the Reformation views. (See D'Aubigne, 13, 23, 110, 131) Although the value of the scripture as Word of God can be quite correctly valued as the ultimate authority, a person would be best not to think that Roman Catholicism in contrast is not founded on the World of God as it does not show a simplistic correlation to the Word of God. The fact is that Zwingli and his supporters had much vigor for the authority of the scripture in light of the indulgence trade and the corruption of the Catholic church at the time (D'Aubigne, 45-46), but things would have been much different with Zwingli's vigor offering a stark contrast to the Catholic church if the church had not been in a state of moral corruption but instead had clear gospel teaching. Overall, texts like that of D'Aubigne have a way of writing history as if the Catholic church was all bad and had been completely lead astray while the reformers had been all good with clear gospel teachings because they went back to the direct reading of the scripture, but in contrast a better explanation is that the Catholic church had well developed doctrine (developed from scripture) while much of its leadership just happened to be corrupt at the time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

D'Aubigne, Jean Henri Merle, Henry White trans., and Mark Sidwell ed. For God and His People: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation. Greenville, South Carolina: BJU Press, 2000.