“It Varies from Canton to Canton”: Zurich, Basel, and the Swiss Reformation

One of the most important developments in the study of the Reformation over the past generation has been a growing appreciation of the various influences that went into the making of the Reformed tradition. Fifty years ago, the American historian John T. McNeill could write the book, The History and Character of Calvinism, which treated the Zurich Reformation as merely a prelude to the much more important developments in Geneva and beyond. In comparison, in his recent book, Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed, Philip Benedict avoids the term Calvinism unless referring specifically to the Genevan reformer, and he places much more emphasis not only on Ulrich Zwingli but also on Heinrich Bullinger and the other reformers of south Germany and Switzerland who contributed to the Reformed tradition.1