Zurich Consensus

ZUNZ, taunts, LEOPOLD: Jewish scholar; b. at Detmold (50 m. s.w. of Hanover), Germany, Aug. 10, 1794; d. at Berlin Mar. 18, 1886.' He was educated at the University of Berlin; became rabbi to the new synagogue there, 1820; was an editor of the Spenerscleen Zeitung, 1823-31; provisory director of the new Jewish Congregational School, 1826-1829; preacher in Prague, 1835-39; and director of the Normal Seminary of Berlin, 1840-50. After 1845 he was a member of the board of commissioners for the communal and educational interests of the Jews in Prussia. His life was one of great literary activity, and his works were distinguished by learning, beauty, and clearness of style. Among them may be mentioned Predigten (Berlin, 1823); Die gottesdienstlichen Vortriige der Juden, kistorisch enttvickelt (1832), his moat valuable book; Namen der Jvden (Leipsic, 1837); Zur Geschichte und Liter atur (Berlin, 1845); Die Vorschriften caber Eidesleisttcngen der Juden (1859); Die Monatstage des Kalenderjahrs (1872); his works appeared as Gesammelten Schriften (3 vols., 1875-76>.

Bibliography: 3. Maybaum, Aua den Leben von Leopold Zunz, Berlin, 1894; JE, aii. 899-704.

ZURICH CONSENSUS (CONSENSUS TIGURINUS): A creed of the Reformed Church embodying the united views of Calvin and Bullinger on the Lord's Supper, and forming one of the best sources for a knowledge of Reformed theory on this subject. In 1541 Calvin had published his Genevan Catechism, setting forth a view of the Lord's Supper which inclined toward that of Luther rather than that of Zwingli. For a time there seemed to be a prospect of union between the Lutherans and the Reformed, but in 1541 Luther began a series of impassioned attacks on Zwingli and the Reformed; calling their leader a foe of the sacrament and-putting him in a class with the Anabaptists. -As Zwingli's successor and the recognized head of the German-Swiss Reformed, Bullinger, in 1545, replied to Luther with a defense of Zwingli's character and doctrine, as well as of the Reformed in general, in his Wahrhafte Bekenntnis der Diener der Kirche ztc Zurich . . . . insbesondere caber das Nachtmahl. As a result the confession of the Zurich preachers, who had ever felt themselves essentially in sympathy with Zwingli, strongly manifested the original Zveinglian type. This found approval in Bern, where the Lutheranizing tendencies under the in-

fluence of Butzer had been overthrown by Zwinglianism after all attempts at union had proved hopeless. But these proceedings at Bern, which included stern measures against Lutheranizing pastors and the disuse of a catechism which Butzer had helped to revise in 1537, directly affected Calvin and his views of the Lord's Supper, for the Vaud preachers, controlled by Bern since 1536, were placed in a serious position by the contradictions between the catechism of their spiritual lord in Geneva and the Zwinglian catechism prescribed to them by Bern. It thus became necessary for Calvin and Bullinger to enter into negotiations, especially as Calvin was already eager for a union of at least all the Reformed, while Bullinger, however loyal to Zwinglian tradition and however mistrustful of Butzer's tactics, was fully inclined to alliance, provided it admitted of no misinterpretation. In 154? Calvin spent some days in Zurich, and the two leaders met. After three more visits to Zurich, Calvin, accompanied by Farel, who had also worked in the interests of harmony, met Butzer at Zurich in the latter part of May, 1549. A few days later the twenty-six articles were agreed upon which united Zwinglians and Calvinists in one Reformed body. The basis of the deliberations had been the twenty articles sent by Calvin two months earlier to. the Bern synod.

The articles of the Zurich Consensus fall into two divisions: the first nine declaring that the Lord's Supper is not a mere "empty symbol," and the re mainder aiming to refute the charge that Calvin's teaching tended toward consubstantiation. The Zwinglian conception of " a testimony and seal of grace " and the spiritual communion with Christ are emphasized, but neither the distinctly Calvinistic tenet of the miraculous influence, through the Holy Ghost, of the vivifying body of Christ on the be lieving soul nor the Zwinglian theory of the Lord's Supper as a mere commemorative meal receives per spicuous mention. In arts. 10-26 the Roman Cath olic and Lutheran doctrines of the Eucharist are denied in favor of the Reformed theories of the Lord's Supper, and the tenet of predestination is pressed to its full logical conclusion as regards the reception of the elements. These articles were sub mitted to each of the Protestant estates of the Swiss confederation, as well as to certain foreign theo logians, and after some hesitation, particularly on the part of Bern and Basel, they were accepted, ap pearing in their Latin original, with a few emenda tions by Pierre Viret (q.v.), at Zurich in 1551. Ger man and French translations were issued at the same time. Later editions included an explanation and defense of the Consensus by Calvin, this being ren dered necessary by the violent Lutheran attacks upon the document. The Consensus never became a formal confession of the Reformed Church, yet it is noteworthy as the first bond that united the Swiss Reformed among themselves and with their core ligioniats abroad, thus giving them the consciousness of being members of the great Reformed body, and avoiding the threatening danger of a second Protestant cleavage into Calvinism and Zwinglian lam.

Paul Christâ .

Bibliography: The Consensus was printed at Zurich, 1649, may also be found conveniently in H. A. Niemeyer, Col.

537
ia4a; v. n. a. 1�:orara,

Iigen Abendmahl, ii. 484-624, Frankfort, 1846; C. Pesta lozzi, Ballinger, pp. 373-387, Elberfeld, 1858; W. Walker, John Calvin, pp. 395-397, New York, 1906; and, in general, works on the lives of Ballinger, Calvin, and Farel.