This week in Christian history: ELCA created, Father Damien born, Zwingli sermon series

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 29, 2019

Zwingli begins preaching on the New Testament - January 1, 1519

This week marks the anniversary of when Ulrich Zwingli, considered the founder of Swiss Protestantism, began to preach a sermon on the New Testament.

The decision, made not long after he became the “people’s priest” at the Great Minster at Zurich, was significant due to it being a break from the tradition of preaching according to the Church’s liturgical calendar.

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“On January 1, 1519, his thirty-fifth birthday, Zwingli began a series of expository sermons through Matthew that were drawn from his exegesis of the Greek text,” wrote Steven Lawson of Ligonier Ministries in 2018.

“He continued this consecutive style until he had preached through the entire New Testament. This ambitious project took six years and prepared the ground for the work of reform that was to follow.”