SOURCE: "The Reformation in Switzerland," in The Reformation of the 16th Century: In Its Relation to Modern Thought and Knowledge, 1883. Reprint by The University of Michigan Press, 1962, pp. 225–61.

In the following excerpt from his important study of the Reformation, Beard analyzes the Reformation in Switzerland, comparing the ideas of Zwingli with those of Calvin.

The history of Swiss Protestantism is peculiar in the fact that it follows a double line of development. It boasts two names of the first rank, Zwingli and Calvin: it had two centres, Zürich and Geneva. And it is obvious to remark that one of these is German, the other French; that standing in close relation to the Rhineland, this to France, Italy, Savoy. The movement in Switzerland divides itself into two parts, chronologically as well as geographically. Zwingli was born on the 1st of January, 1484, and was therefore less than two months...