Zwingli as the Father of the Hermeneutical Principle Fides quaerens intellectum

Abstract

The first two Zurich Disputations of 1523 mark the beginning of a reformed ecclesiology. Moreover, they mark the beginning of a new understanding of Christian truth. ‘Truth’ can never be possessed by individuals or a church. It is always to be found only in listening to the word of the God who speaks through the medium of the Scriptures, in community with other Christians. The reservation of better instruction with regard to the understanding of the ‘divine Word’ and thus of Christian truth, which can, in principle, be provided by every Christian, was groundbreaking both for Christianity and for society on the threshold of the modern era.