Carrie Euler. Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558. Zürcher Beiträge zur Reformationsgeschichte. Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2006. x + 356 pp. ISBN 978-3-290-17393-7.

Reviewed by David Scott Gehring (Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Published on H-German (June, 2009)
Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher

England and Zurich: A Convincing Case for a Shallow Channel

Scholars of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century will have a host of reasons to read this book. A study of intellectual exchange and processes of transmission, Carrie Euler's monograph aims to move beyond the historiographical tendencies of English insularity and Calvinist hegemony, looking to demonstrate "the need to restore Zurich's rightful place in the larger historical narratives of the English and Continental Reformations" (p. 270). Following the lead of such established historians as Diarmaid MacCulloch, Alec Ryrie, Bruce Gordon, and Philip Benedict, Euler documents more fully than ever before the close connections between England and Zurich during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I. The book is based on two large bodies of sources, international correspondence, and English translations of Zurich writings. Euler's detailed analysis goes a long way toward showing not just how close England was to her mainland European brethren, but also to establish Zurich's "unquestionable theological pedigree as the birthplace of Reformed Protestantism" (p. 15).

The first chapter surveys the creation and development of the Reformed tradition in Zurich. After Huldrych Zwingli's untimely death in 1531, Heinrich Bullinger preserved and extended his predecessor's legacy via his expansive network of correspondents and voluminous writings. During this period, Euler argues, the Zurich Reformed forged an identity of pastoral pragmatism and piety, coupled with a solid attack on Catholic "material piety" and Anabaptism, this while supporting church and state unity in the form of a godly magisterial authority.

Chapters 2 and 3 are extended treatments of the source bases. Utilizing some 950 letters, nicely catalogued in appendix 1, Euler shows how Bullinger's key English links were also conduits for Zurich theology. Although the level of correspondence rose and fell with political circumstances in England, this intellectual exchange is certainly the most valuable foundation on which the book is set. Particularly valuable to the flow of Reformed ideology were Englishmen like Richard Hilles and John Hooper, and the establishment of men like Johannes ab Ulmis and Peter Martyr Vermigli in English universities only helped to solidify the Reformed case. Euler maintains that the strongest link in this relationship, however, was the presence of six future English bishops in Zurich during the Marian exile, though the reader might wish to read more than three brief pages on this most important connection. The English translations of writings by Zurich Reformers, twenty-one in total and listed in appendix 2, exemplify the importation of Reformed theology into England. Euler describes not only the four key categories (pragmatic piety, "material piety," anti-Anabaptism, secular authority) into which these translated works fit, but she also examines the complexities of linguistic and cultural translation.

The remainder of the book considers three main categories in which Euler sees Reformed influence at work in England: images, ceremonies, and the Eucharist; Anabaptism, Protestant orthodoxy, and magisterial sovereignty; and--finally--Bullinger, the covenant, and marriage. Chapter 4, which covers the first of these categories, is the most convincing. Although Protestants of nearly all stripes decried the misuse of images and ceremonies (the author admits as much, specifically "that Continental Reformed theology came to England from multiple sources and via multiple networks" [p. 201]), the section on the Lord's Supper is persuasive in its treatment of the Forty-two Articles and the "evangelical establishment" led by Thomas Cranmer in England. Cranmer was not in direct contact with Bullinger on these points, but other members of the establishment were, and in charting the network of correspondence, Euler makes her case for the indirect influence and thematic affinity between Zurich and England. Chapters 5 and 6 demonstrate "that anti-Anabaptist rhetoric played a larger role in defining orthodoxy and magisterial sovereignty under Edward VI ... than has been recognized by previous historians" (p. 203) and that "Bullinger's The Christen state of Matrimonye was popular in England because of the author's thorough combination of theory and praxis, or theology and domestic conduct advice" respectively (p. 265). The shortest chapters in the book, these arguments rely on printed translations and tend towards vague associations and indirect evidence of reception in England. It is no doubt important that Euler makes the connection between anti-Anabaptism and anti-Catholicism, and likewise significant is the fact that Bullinger's work went through seven editions between 1541 and 1552; nevertheless, the author's admissions here and there on the lack of "direct" evidence and different cultural circumstances signal that the Zurich to England route did not provide a "complete and exact transplantation" (p. 264).

In its goals to show the sustained and significant ties between England and Zurich from 1531 to the accession of Queen Elizabeth, this book succeeds admirably. Euler's long study of particularly the correspondence is perhaps the first meaningful treatment of such a large body of letters as Bullinger's. Similarly impressive is her sensitivity to the culturally adaptive process of translating Reformation theology. These elements allow the author to strike a big blow against English particularism and the supposedly hegemonic "Calvinist consensus" for the Elizabethan period, though it is regrettable that Euler did not extend her study another twenty years or so by including the bulk of the Zurich Letters. Placing Zurich firmly on top of Mount Reformation as Euler does, however, may work unfairly to the detriment of contributions made by other Protestant communities and personalities. On Protestant doctrines of obedience to secular magistrates, for example, one might have wished to see a detailed treatment of William Tyndale's famous The Obedience of a Christen Man (1528) or perhaps a deeper analysis of Lutheran political thought; on ceremonialism and adiaphora Euler's case for Zurich theology is by all means interesting, but the Lutheran/Melanchthonian debates of the same period were more prominent. More often than not, Euler differentiates Zurich (Zwingli, Bullinger, and their associates) from and sets it above other Protestant groups, but might it rather be the case that different Protestant groups could all agree on key tenets? Although the author, to her credit, does at times hedge her pro-Zurich bets, throughout the text the reader gets a sense that her general argument is a bit strained. Her repeated quotation or paraphrase of Bullinger's remark before the Zurich city council in 1553 about the consonance of English and Zurich teaching and faith suggests an overreliance on a single piece of evidence. More often than perhaps desirable, the evidence offered for Zurich influence is indirect or simply thematic, a continual problem in the secondary literature on this field.[1] Indirect evidence and thematic parallels, though, should not detract from the merits of this fine, thoroughly researched study; in fact, they show that the ground is fertile for further research. In a provocative and original way, Euler challenges scholars of English history to look across the Channel and those of German and Swiss history to look beyond the imperial demesnes and Alpine narrows. With this study in hand, we can be confident that fruitful research lies ahead.

Note

[1]. See, for example, the discussion of this problem in Carrie Euler, "Zurich and Tudor Political Theology: A Connection Only Partially Substantiated," http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=14322.

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Citation: David Scott Gehring. Review of Euler, Carrie, Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558. H-German, H-Net Reviews. June, 2009.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24007

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