Proto-Protestantism

Before Luther and Calvin, some men tried to reform the Church. They advocated a return to the Gospel, questioned the hierarchy of the Church and believed in the sole authority of the Bible, the main forerunners of the Protestant reformation were Pierre Waldo, John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.[2]

According to Edmund Hamer Broadbent in The Pilgrim Church, much of the Christian era, many Christian sects, cults and movements foreshadowed the teachings of what later became the Protestant movements.[3]

Movements considered today has having similar ideas as Protestantism before the Reformation are:

• Montanism: from the 2nd century Montanism, who held beliefs in new prophetic revelations. Parallels have been drawn between Montanism and modern-day movements such as Pentecostalism.[4]
• Byzantine Iconoclasm: Byzantine iconoclasts were a religious group that started in the 8th century that wanted to eliminate the veneration of icons, Byzantine iconoclasm was started by Leo III the Isaurian (685 – 741).[5] Protestant Iconoclasts looked back to the Byzantine iconoclasts to justify their assault on religious image.[6] Protestants in the reformation used the same Biblical and Patristic texts used by the Byzantines in the 8th and 9th centuries, to condemn religious images.[7]
• Claudius of Turin: Claudis of Turin (fl. 810–827) was the Bishop of Turin; because of his Iconoclasm, he is often seen as proto-Protestant.[8] His commentary on the Epistle to Galatians shows some of his views prefigure those expressed by both the Waldensians and Protestants centuries later.[9]
• Gottschalk of Orbais: Gottschalk was a 9th-century Saxon theologian who was condemned for heresy, due to his teachings on predestination and that Christ’s redemption was only for the elect.[10][11][12]
• Ratramnus: Ratramus was a theologian who died in 868ad, Ratramus believed that the Eucharist is merely symbolic, thus rejecting the real presence of the Eucharist, Ratramnus also believed in single predestination. The writings of Ratramus influenced Protestant theologians and contributed to the later reformation.[13]
• Tondrakians: Tondrakians criticized the Armenian church as rigidly structured, materialistic, they had their own priests, stressed free will and they pressed for reforms.[14]
• Berengar of Tours: Berengar of Tours (c.1005-1088), was a forerunner of the reformation, especially Zwinglianism. Berengar of Tours argued against transubstantiation, saying that it's against logic and scripture, Berengar taught that the body and blood were not "real" in the Eucharist.[15][16][17]
• Albigenses: the Albigenses were a religious group, that first appeared around the first half of the 11th century.[18] Despite holding to dualist ideas, the Albigenses wanted to return to a purer form of Christianity and used the New Testament as their main authority. The Albigenses also held anti clerical tendencies, denied the idea of a purgatory, the crucifix, invocation of the saints, prayers for the dead, and transubstantiation.[1] The later Protestant reformation had flourished in areas which were previously Cathar and Waldensian strongholds. The inclusion of the Cathars or Albigenses as a Protestant forerunner has been a matter of controversy, some people in the past attempting to justify the Albigenses as Protestants have even argued against them being dualist, however without much evidence.[1]
• Pataria: The Pataria were an 11th century group in northern Italy, that was against corruption in the church.[19]
• Tanchelm: Tanchelm was a 12th century preacher who rejected the structure of the Catholic church.[19]
• Peter Abelard: Peter Abelard was a Frenchman in around the year 1100, he sought to include human reason as one of the ways to understand the meaning of scripture. He was condemned as a heretic, and his books were burned.[20]Novelist and Abelard scholar George Moore referred to Abelard as the "first protestant" prior to Martin Luther.[21]
• Peter of Bruys: (1117 – c.1131) was a French reformer who fought against the Catholic church, he rejected infant baptism and religious images.[22]
• Henry of Lausanne: Henry of Lausanne preached in France and his followers were called Henricans, Henry condemned Catholic clergy for their wealth.[19]
• Arnold of Brescia: Arnold of Brescia attacked the Catholic bishops for their wealth, he was hanged in 1155.[19]
• Joachimites: Joachimite interprations prefigured developments in Protestant hermeneutics.[23]
• Waldensians: Waldensians were a 12th century movement often viewed as a precursor to the Reformation. The Waldensians did not baptize infants and they rejected the use of indulgences; the Waldensians also denied transubstantiation. The Waldensians wanted to follow Jesus in porverty and simplicity. The Waldensians later joined the Protestant reformation.[24][1]
• Fraticeli: the Fraticelli or Spiritual Franciscans were an extreme group of the Franciscans in the 12th century. The Fraticelli influenced later Protestant mystics.[25]
• Thomas Bradwardine: Thomas was an English man and a teacher at Oxford. Bradwardine believed in the doctrine of predestination, Thomas died in 1349.[26]
• Gregory of Rimini: Gregory of Rimini (1300 – November 1358) was an Italian theologian; his teachings influenced later Protestant Reformers. Rimini believed in the human inability to lead a moral life without divine grace, and in predestination.[27]
• Friends of God: Friends of God or Gottesfreunde were a 14th century Christian group in Germany, some of the leaders of the movement were executed for their criticsm of the Catholic church, the movement foreshadowed the Protestant reformation. The Gottesfreunde movement was a democratic lay movement that stressed piety, devotion and holiness.[28]
• Strigolniki: Striginolki were a 14th century movement in Russia that were against monasteries, the upper clergy and they perhaps were Iconoclastic.[29]
• Lollardy: Lollardy was a 14th century movement that stressed the importance of scripture, denied transubstantiation and rejected the system of the papacy. The movement was started by John Wycliffe. Lollard doctrine anticipated those found in the Protestant Reformation.[30] John Wycliffe made the first translation of the Bible into English and attacked the beliefs and practices of the church.[31]
• Hussites: Hussites were a 15th century group in Bohemia, founded by Jan Hus, who was influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe.[32][33]
• Johannes von Goch: Goch asserted that the bible is the supreme authority on doctrine and questioned monasticism.[34]
• Johann Ruchrat von Wesel: Johann attacked indulgences and rejected priesty celibacy and papal authority; he believed in predestination and in the church invisibile, and believed that the Scriptures are the only trustworthy authority.[35]
• John of Wessel: John of Wessel attacked indulgences and he held to the doctrine of justification by faith alone. John of Wessel also rejected the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.[36]
• Johannes Geiler von Kaysersverg: Born in 1445, Johannes was concerned for moral reform in Strasbourg, and preached about God's justice. His reforms laid groundwork for the later Protestant reform in Strasbourg.[37]
• Girolamo Savonarola: Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian preacher and reformer, he was born in 1452 and died in 1498. Historians believe that Girolamo Savonarola influenced Luther, and possibly also John Calvin.[38] Savonarola believed in divine grace, such as Protestants do. Savonarola declared, that good works are not a cause of predestination but result of predestination.[39]
• Johannes von Staupitz: Johannes was born in 1460 and served as Luther's superior in the Augustinian order, Staupitz stressed the doctrine of unconditional election.[40]

• Augustinian Calvinism
• Comparison of Catharism and Protestantism
• History of Christianity
• History of Protestantism
• Landmarkism
• Preachership
• Protestant Reformers#Notable precursors
• The Trail of Blood

• Barnett, S. J. (1999). "Where Was Your Church before Luther? Claims for the Antiquity of Protestantism Examined". Church History. Cambridge University Press. 68 (1): 14–41. doi:10.2307/3170108. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3170108.
• Stephen D. Bows: Reform before the Reformation : Vincenzo Querini and the religious Renaissance in Italy, Leiden [et al.], 2002.
• Walter Rügert: John Wyclif, Jan Hus, Martin Luther: Wegbereiter der Reformation Konstanz, 2017.
• E. H. Broadbent: The Pilgrim Church, Pickering & Inglis, 1937.