Lutheran Minister

Martin Luther

Martin Luther, leader od the Protestant Reformation, was born on November 10, 1489 and died 1546. His career starting point was his proclamation od the 95 theses that formed a passionate statement of the true nature of penitence, and a protest against the sale of indulgences at Wittenburg. He published his work that brought abouthis expulsion from the church. Luther attacked the corruptions of the church and abuses of its authority, and asserted the right of the layman to spiritual independence. He criticized the sacramental system, and set up the scriptures as the supreme authority in religion.

John Calvinist Minister

John Calvin
John Calvin was a French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation and was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism or Reformed theology. In Geneva, his ministry both attracted other Protestant refugees and over time made that city a major force in the spread of Reformed theology. He is renowned for his teachings and writings, in particular for his Institutes of the christian Religion.
John Calvin had been exiled from Geneva because he and his colleagues were accused of wanting to create a "new papacy." Thus, he went to Strasbourg during the time of the Ottoman wars and passed through the Cantons of Switzerland. While in Geneva, William Farel asked Calvin to help him with the cause of the Church. Calvin wrote of Farel's request, "I felt as if God from heaven had laid his mighty hand upon me to stop me in my course." Together with Farel, Calvin attempted to institute a number of changes to the city's governance and religious life. They drew up a catechism and a confession of faith, which they insisted all citizens must affirm. The city council refused to adopt Calvin and Farel's creed, and in January 1538 denied them the power to excommuicate, a power they saw as critical to their work. The pair responded with a blanket denial of the Lord's Supper to all Genevans at Easter services. For this the city council expelled them from the city. Farel travelled to Neuchâtel, Calvin to Strasbourg.

Upon his return, armed with the authority to craft the institutional form of the church, Calvin began his program of reform. He established four categories of offices based on biblical injunctions:

• Ministers of the Word were to preach, to administer the sacraments, and to exercise pastoral discipline, teaching and admonishing the people.
• Doctors held an office of theological scholarship and teaching for the edification of the people and the training of other ministers.
• Elders were 12 laymen whose task was to serve as a kind of moral police force, mostly issuing warnings, but referring offenders to the Consistory when necessary.
• Deacons oversaw institutional charity, including hospitals and anti-poverty programs.

Ulrich Zwingli Minister

Huldrych Zwingli

Huldrych (or Ulrich which was his birth name in memory of Saint Ulrich von Augsburg or ) ZwingliUlricus Zuinglius was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, and founder of theSwiss Reformed Churches. Independently of Martin Luther, Zwingli arrived at similar conclusions by studying the Scriptures from the point of view of a humanist scholar.
Zwingli's Reformation was supported by the magistrate and population of Zürich, and led to significant changes in civil life, and state matters in Zürich. The reformation was spread from Zürich to five other cantons of Switzerland, while the remaining five sternly held on to the Roman Catholic view of the faith. Zwingli was killed at Kappel am Albis, in a battle against the Roman Catholic cantons.

Just before winning his theological degree Zwingli became pastor at Glarus. Apart from studying the languages of theScripture, he also read Erasmus, which gave his thinking a humanistic perspective.

The use of Swiss mercenaries was widespread in Europe of the 16th century and this was something that Zwingli opposed, unless commissioned by the Pope. Nevertheless, Zwingli took on the job of chaplain on several occasions, as the youth of his parish went to Italy as mercenaries. Still, Zwingli's opposition to foreign military service and his growing reputation as a fine preacher and learned scholar led to his election in 1518 to priest in the Great Minister Church in Zürich. He had then been a priest in Einsiedln Abbey for two years.

Zwingli's willingness to leave Glarus greatly increased due to stronger pro-French sentiment there, given the fact that Zwingli at this period in his life was strongly on the side of the pope. Zwingli's literary production while still in Glarus made Swiss cardinal Mattias Schinner his friend, and rendered him an annual pension from Rome.

It was as a priest of the Great Minster church that Zwingli publicly started questioning the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. Zwingli always claimed to be ignorant of what Luther wrote, and that he took part in starting the Reformation in Switzerland independently of Luther. When a preacher of indulgences appeared in Zürich in 1519, Zwingli opposed him. This was two years after Luther had refuted the practice of indulgence with his 95 theses.

It was in 1520 that Zwingli renounced his papal pension. He then attacked the mercenary system, and convinced Zürich, alone of all the cantons, to refuse the alliance with France on May 5, 1521. On January 11, 1522, all foreign services and pensions were forbidden in Zürich.

While a wealth of information exists regarding the theology of Martin Luther, John Calvin and others, relatively little is available with relation to Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli was a contemporary of Martin Luther, and his renunciation of the Roman Catholic priesthood came only a few years after Luther's; these factors may explain Zwingli's comparative obscurity relative to Luther and Calvin as one of the driving forces behind the Reformation.

Another reason for Zwingli's failure to capture the public imagination may be his radical theology. Some commentators believe that history has overlooked Zwingli simply because it was written by men unsympathetic to his doctrinal views, who went out of their way to suppress them. They hold that "history is written by the victors"; the "other side of the story" is either forgotten, or suppressed. Needless to say, this view is prevalent principally among dyed-in-the-wool Zwinglians, and should perhaps not be taken at face value, particularly in the light of the extensive academic research conducted over the last 20 years or so into the sources of the Reformation.

Catholic Priest

Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI was elected Pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected Pope since Pope Clement XII (1730–40). He had served longer as a cardinal than any Pope since Benedict XIII (1724–30). He is the ninth German Pope, the eighth having been the Dutch-German Pope Adrian VI (1522–23) from Utrecht.
Pope Benedict XVI is the 265the and reigning Pope, the spiritual head of the Cathlic Church, and as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected on April 19, 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on April 24, 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on May 7, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI has both GErman and Vatican citizenship. he succeeded Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005. He is also the bishop of Rome.
Benedict XVI is a well-known Catholic theologian ans a prolific author, a defender od traditional Catholic doctrine and values.
During his Papacy, Benedict XVI has emphasized what he sees as a need for Europe to return to fundamental Christian values in response to increasing de-Christianisation and secularisation in many developed countries. Because of this, he claims relativism's denial of objective truth - and more particularly, the denial of moral truths - as the central problem of the 21st century. He teaches the importance for the Catholic Church and for humanity of contemplating God's salvific love and has reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."

Lay Person

Lay Person

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all lay persons collectively. This can mean either any person who is not a member of the ordained clergy or of any monastic order or, within such an order, a monastic who is not a priest (c.f., lay brother). Conversely, terms such as lay priest, lay clergy and lay nun were once used in both Christian and Buddhist cultures to indicate ordained persons who continued to live out in the wider community instead of retiring to a monastery. In recent centuries, the term is often used more generally, in the context of any specialized profession, to refer to those who are not members of that profession.

In Anglicanism, the term "laity" refers either to anyone who is not a priest or deacon, or to the third order of ministers in the Church. In the Anglican tradition, all baptized persons are considered to be called to minister in Christ's name. The three orders of ministry are Priests, Deacons, and Lay Persons.