SOURCE: "The Influence of Mediaeval and Humanist Traditions upon Zwingli's View of Society," in Zwingli's Theocracy, University of Toronto Press, 1967, pp. 17–29.

In this excerpt from his book on Zwingli's ideas on theocracy, Walton explains the influence of humanist traditions on Zwingli's thought.

Even if the local traditions which zwingli accepted had not allowed the magistrate an important place in ecclesiastical affairs, the intellectual tradition which molded his thought would have led him to demand it. As it was, the ideas he brought to Zurich fitted the state of affairs in the city remarkably well. For example, his belief that the acquisition of secular authority and wealth had corrupted the clergy was a theme common both to the leading late scholastics and to the humanists of the northern Renaissance, especially Erasmus. Zwingli had come to this conclusion from his study of these sources and, above all, from his knowledge...