Bullinger, Heinrich

Bullinger, Heinrich (hīn`rĭkh b`lĭng-ər), 1504–75, Swiss Protestant reformer. After the death of Ulrich Zwingli in 1531, Bullinger became pastor of the principal church in Zürich and a leader of the reformed party in Switzerland. He played an important part in compiling the first Helvetic Confession (1536), a creed based largely on Zwingli's theological views as distinct from Lutheran doctrine. In 1549 the Consensus Tigurinus, drawn up by Bullinger and Calvin, marked the departure of Swiss theology from Zwinglian to Calvinist theory. His later views were embodied in the second Helvetic Confession (1566), which was accepted in Switzerland, France, Scotland, and Hungary and became one of the most generally accepted confessions of the reformed churches. He wrote a life of Zwingli and edited his complete works.

Bibliography

See J. W. Baker, Bullinger and the Covenant (1981); P. Biel, Doorkeepers at the House of Righteousness: Henrich Bullinger and the Zürich Clergy (1990).