Though Luther and Zwingli agreed on most things,
their disagreement regarding the Eucharist lead to the
splintering of the protestant movement.
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Martin Luther, German monk and Ulrich Zwingli, Swiss
Erasmian humanist, were initially the two important
Protestant thinkers.
Both insisted on “sola scriptura” and attacked
indulgences, monasticism, clerical celibacy, and the Mass.
Both argued that only faith, and not faith combined with
good works, determined salvation, and that each
individual must interpret the Bible for himself.
Both argued that there were only two sacraments –
baptism and the Eucharist
The church is not a clerical, hierarchical institution with
the pope as its head but the community of believers, all
whom are equal in status before God whether commoner
or cleric.
Protestants rejected clerical celibacy and in fact promoted
the value of marriage.
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Catholics believe in the doctrine of
transubstantiation, the actual transformation of
the wine and wafer into the blood and body of
Christ.
Luther believed in the doctrine of the Real
Presence, which holds that Jesus is present in the
wine and wafer during the Eucharist but this
presence is not physical. Luther's concept is
known as the doctrine of consubstantiation.
Zwingli argued that the Eucharist was only a
memorial.
The Eucharist was a divisive issue among
Protestants.