The lecture will examine early Protestant conceptions of Islam in the broader context of the late medieval and Renaissance thought.  First, it situates the topic within major late medieval and early modern ideas about Islam in the Latin Christendom.  Secondly, it summarizes briefly the position of Martin Luther.  Thirdly, it explores in some depth the approach of the “Reformed Reformers”, i.e. Ulrich Zwingli, Theodor Bibliander, Heinrich Bullinger, and John Calvin to Islam.  Finally, it offers some briefer reflections on the thorny issue of the Reformers’ perceptions of and responses to Islam, and their place in the history of Christian-Muslim relations.

About Professor Emidio Campi 

Professor Campi was educated at the Waldensian (reformed) Theological Faculty in Rome, at the University of Tübingen and at the Comenius Theological Faculty in Prague, where he completed doctoral studies in Theology and History. He holds doctoral degrees from both the Comenius Faculty and the University of Tübingen.

He has served as General Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation, based in Geneva, and as Pastor to the Waldensian Congregation in Florence. From 1989 until his retirement in 2009 he taught at the University of Zürich, latterly serving as Professor Ordinarius of Church History and Director of the Swiss Reformation Studies Institute in the University.

Professor Campi’s many scholarly publications include Michelangelo e Vittoria Colonna. Un dialogo artistico teologico ispirato da Bernardino Ochino, Torino: Claudiana, 1994; Peter Martyr Vermigli. Humanism, Republicanism, Reformation, Geneva: Droz, 2002 [ed. in collaboration with Frank James III and Peter Opitz]; Heinrich Bullinger und seine Zeit. Eine Vorlesungsreihe, Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 2004; The Architect of the Reformation. An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575), Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House 2004 [ed. with Bruce Gordon].

His current research projects include scholarly editions of the church ordinances of the major Swiss reformed cities, and continuing research on the Italian reformer Pietro Martire Vermigli. He is also preparing a history of the World Student Christian Federation. Professor Campi serves on many editorial boards in the fields of Reformation scholarship and church history more generally.

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