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1 Origins
The name Anabaptist is derived from the Greek term anabaptista, or one who baptizes over again. This name
was given them by their persecutors in reference to the
practice of re-baptizing converts who already had been
baptized as infants.[6] Anabaptists required that baptismal
candidates be able to make their own confessions of faith
In the following points Anabaptists who held to a literal
and so rejected baptism of infants. The early members
interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount resembled the
of this movement did not accept the name Anabaptist,
medieval dissenters:
claiming that since infant baptism was unscriptural and
null and void, the baptizing of believers was not a re They condemned oaths, and also the reference of
baptism but in fact their rst real baptism. Balthasar Hbdisputes between believers to law-courts in accormaier wrote:
dance with 1 Corinthians 6:111.
The believer must not bear arms or oer forcible
resistance to wrongdoers, nor wield the sword. No
Christian has the jus gladii (the right of the sword).
Matthew 5:39
Sinners or unfaithful ones are to be excommunicated, and excluded from the sacraments and from
intercourse with believers unless they repent, according to 1 Corinthians 5:913 and Matthew 18:15
seq. But no force is to be used towards them.
While most Anabaptists adhered to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, which precluded taking oaths, participating in military actions, and participating in civil government, some who practiced re-baptism
felt otherwise.[lower-alpha 2] They were thus technically Anabaptists, even though conservative Amish, Mennonites, 1.2 Zwickau prophets and the German
and Hutterites and some historians tend to consider them
Peasants War
as outside of true Anabaptism. Conrad Grebel wrote in a
letter to Thomas Mntzer in 1524:
Main articles: Thomas Mntzer, Zwickau prophets and
German Peasants War
True Christian believers are sheep among
wolves, sheep for the slaughter... Neither do
they use worldly sword or war, since all killing
has ceased with them...[8]:45
Storch and Mark Thomas Stbner preaching an apocalyptic, radical alternative to Lutheranism. Preaching such
as that done by the prophets helped to stir the feelings concerning the social crisis, which erupted in the
German Peasants War in southern Germany in 1525 as a
revolt against feudal oppression. Under the leadership of
Mntzer, it became a war against all constituted authorities and an attempt to establish by revolution an ideal
Christian commonwealth, with absolute equality and the
community of goods. Although the Zwickau prophets
were not Anabaptists (that is, they did not practice rebaptism), the prevalent social inequities and the preaching of men like this have been seen as laying the foundation for the Anabaptist movement. Although the social
ideals of the Anabaptist movement coincided closely with
those of the German Peasants War, studies have found a
very low percentage of later Anabaptists to have been active participants in the peasant uprising.[13]
1.3
Views on origins
ORIGINS
movement as radiating from the Swiss Brethren movement of Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock,
et al. They generally held that Anabaptism had its origins in Zrich, and that the Anabaptism of the Swiss
Brethren was transmitted to southern Germany, Austria,
the Netherlands, and northern Germany, where it developed into its various branches. The monogenesis theory
usually rejects the Mnsterites and other radicals from
the category of true Anabaptists.[14] In the monogenesis
view the time of origin is January 21, 1525, when Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock, and Blaurock in
turn baptized several others immediately. These baptisms
were the rst re-baptisms known in the movement[15]
and therefore remains the most popular date posited for
the establishment of Anabaptism.
1.3.2 Polygenesis
James M. Stayer, Werner O. Packull, and Klaus Deppermann disputed the idea of a single origin of Anabaptists
in a 1975 essay entitled From Monogenesis to Polygenesis, suggesting that February 24, 1527, at Schleitheim is
the proper date of the origin of Anabaptism. On this date
the Swiss Brethren wrote a declaration of belief called
the Schleitheim Confession.[16] The authors of the essay
noted the agreement among previous Anabaptist historians on polygenesis, even when disputing the date for a
single starting point: Hillerbrand and Bender (like Holl
and Troeltsch) were in agreement that there was a single
dispersion of Anabaptism..., which certainly ran through
Zurich. The only question was whether or not it went
back further to Saxony.[16]:83 After criticizing the standard polygenetic history, the authors found six groups
in early Anabaptism which could be collapsed into three
originating points of departure": South German Anabaptism, the Swiss Brethren, and the Melchiorites.[17]
According to their polygenesis theory, South German
Austrian Anabaptism was a diluted form of Rhineland
mysticism, Swiss Anabaptism arose out of Reformed
congregationalism", and Dutch Anabaptism was formed
by Social unrest and the apocalyptic visions of Melchior
Homan". As examples of how the Anabaptist movement was inuenced from sources other than the Swiss
Brethren movement, mention has been made of how
Pilgram Marpeck's Vermanung of 1542 was deeply inuenced by the Bekenntnisse of 1533 by Mnster theologian
Bernhard Rothmann. Melchior Homan inuenced the
Hutterites when they used his commentary on the Apocalypse shortly after he wrote it.
2.1
Switzerland
Pater showed how Andreas Karlstadt inuenced Swiss as 1522 it became evident that Zwingli was on a path of
Anabaptism in various areas, including his view of Scrip- reform preaching when he began to question or criticize
ture, doctrine of the church, and views on baptism.
such Catholic practices as tithes, the mass, and even infant baptism. Zwingli had gathered a group of reformminded men around him, with whom he studied classi1.3.3 Apostolic succession
cal literature and the scriptures. However, some of these
young men began to feel that Zwingli was not moving fast
Baptist successionists have, at times, pointed to 16th enough in his reform. The division between Zwingli and
century Anabaptists as part of an apostolic succes- his more radical disciples became apparent in an October,
sion of churches (church perpetuity) from the time 1523 disputation held in Zurich. When the discussion
of Christ.[18] This view is held by some Baptists, of the mass was about to be ended without making any
some Mennonites, and a number of true church actual change in practice, Conrad Grebel stood up and
movements.[lower-alpha 3]
asked what should be done about the mass?" Zwingli reThe opponents of the Baptist successionism theory sponded by saying the council would make that decision.
emphasize that these non-Catholic groups clearly dif- At this point, Simon Stumpf, a radical priest from Hongg,
fered from each other, that they held some heretical answered saying, The decision has already been made by
views,[lower-alpha 4] or that the groups had no connection the Spirit of God.[19]:79
with one another and had origins that were separate both This incident illustrated clearly that Zwingli and his more
in time and place.
radical disciples had dierent expectations. To Zwingli,
A dierent strain of successionism is the theory that the
Anabaptists are of Waldensian origin. Some hold the
idea that the Waldensians are part of the apostolic succession, while others simply believe they were an independent group out of whom the Anabaptists arose. Ludwig
Keller, Thomas M. Lindsay, H. C. Vedder, Delbert Grtz,
John T. Christian and Thieleman J. van Braght (author of
Martyrs Mirror) all held, in varying degrees, the position
that the Anabaptists were of Waldensian origin.
History
the reforms would only go as fast as the city Council allowed them. To the radicals, the council had no right
to make that decision, but rather the Bible was the nal
authority of church reform. Feeling frustrated, some of
them began to meet on their own for Bible study. As early
as 1523, William Reublin began to preach against infant
baptism in villages surrounding Zurich, encouraging parents to not baptize their children.
Seeking fellowship with other reform-minded people, the
radical group wrote letters to Martin Luther, Andreas
Karlstadt, and Thomas Mntzer. Felix Manz began to
publish some of Karlstadts writings in Zurich in late
1524. By this time the question of infant baptism had
become agitated and the Zurich council had instructed
Zwingli to meet weekly with those who rejected infant
baptism until the matter could be resolved.[20] Zwingli
broke o the meetings after two sessions, and Felix Manz
petitioned the Council to nd a solution, since he felt
Zwingli was too hard to work with. The council then
called a meeting for January 17, 1525.
2.1
Switzerland
Anabaptism in Switzerland began as an oshoot of the The Council ruled in this meeting that all who continchurch reforms instigated by Ulrich Zwingli. As early ued to refuse to baptize their infants should be expelled
2.2
Tyrol
HISTORY
Jacob Hutter was one of the early converts in South Tyrol, and later became a leader among the Hutterites, who
received their name from him. Hutter made several trips
between Moravia and Tyrol, and most of the Anabaptists in South Tyrol ended up emigrating to Moravia due
to the erce persecution unleashed by Ferdinand I. In
November 1535, Hutter was captured near Klausen and
taken to Innsbruck where he was burned at the stake
on February 25, 1536. By 1540 Anabaptism in South
Tyrol was beginning to die out, due largely to the emigration to Moravia of the converts because of incessant
persecution.[26]
2.4 Moravia
Although Moravian Anabaptism was a transplant from
other areas of Europe, Moravia soon became a center
for the growing movement, due largely to the greater
religious tolerance found there.[31][32] Hans Hut was an
early evangelist in the area, with one historian crediting him with baptizing more converts in two years than
all the other Anabaptist evangelists put together.[33] The
2.6
2.5
South Germany
South German Anabaptism had its roots in German mysticism. Andreas Karlstadt, who rst worked alongside
Martin Luther, is seen as a forerunner of South German
Anabaptism due to his reforming theology that rejected
many Catholic practices, including the rejection of infant baptism. However, Karlstadt is not known to have
been rebaptized, nor to have taught it. Hans Denck
and Hans Hut, both with German Mystical background
(in connection with Thomas Muntzer) both accepted rebaptism, but Denck eventually backed o from the idea
under pressure. Hans Hut is said to have brought more
people into early Anabaptism than all the other Anabaptist evangelists of his time put together. However, there
may have been confusion about what his baptism (at least
some of the times it was done by making the sign of
the Tau on the forehead) may have meant to the recipient. Some seem to have taken it as a sign by which
they would escape the apocalyptical revenge of the Turks
that Hut predicted. Hut even went so far as to predict
a 1528 coming of the kingdom of God. When the prediction failed, some of his converts became discouraged
and left the Anabaptist movement. The large congregation of Anabaptists at Augsburg fell apart (due in part
to persecution) and those who stayed with Anabaptist
ideas were absorbed into Swiss and Moravia Anabaptist congregations.[37]:35117[38] Pilgram Marpeck was another notable leader in early South German Anabaptism.
The burning of a 16th-century Dutch Anabaptist, Anneken Hendriks, who was charged by the Spanish Inquisition with heresy.
3 Types
Main article: Theology of Anabaptism
Dierent types exist among the Anabaptists, although the
categorizations tend to vary with the scholars viewpoint
on origins. Estep claims that in order to understand Anabaptism, one must distinguish between the Anabaptists,
inspirationists, and rationalists. He classes the likes of
Blaurock, Grebel, Balthasar Hubmaier, Manz, Marpeck,
and Simons as Anabaptists. He groups Mntzer, Storch,
et al. as inspirationists, and anti-trinitarians such as
Michael Servetus, Juan de Valds, Sebastian Castellio,
4 SPIRITUALITY
and Faustus Socinus as rationalists. Mark S. Ritchie follows this line of thought, saying, The Anabaptists were
one of several branches of 'Radical' reformers (i.e. reformers that went further than the mainstream Reformers) to arise out of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Two other branches were Spirituals or Inspirationists,
who believed that they had received direct revelation from
the Spirit, and rationalists or anti-Trinitarians, who rebelled against traditional Christian doctrine, like Michael
Servetus.
Those of the polygenesis viewpoint use Anabaptist to dene the larger movement, and include the inspirationists
and rationalists as true Anabaptists. James M. Stayer used
the term Anabaptist for those who rebaptized persons already baptized in infancy. Walter Klaassen was perhaps
the rst Mennonite scholar to dene Anabaptists that way
in his 1960 Oxford dissertation. This represents a rejection of the previous standard held by Mennonite scholars
such as Bender and Friedmann.
Another method of categorization acknowledges regional
variations, such as Swiss Brethren (Grebel, Manz), Dutch
and Frisian Anabaptism (Menno Simons, Dirk Philips),
and South German Anabaptism (Hbmaier, Marpeck).
Historians and sociologists have made further distinctions between radical Anabaptists, who were prepared to
use violence in their attempts to build a New Jerusalem,
and their pacist brethren, later broadly known as
Mennonites. Radical Anabaptist groups included the
Mnsterites, who occupied and held the German city of
Mnster in 15345, and the Batenburgers, who persisted
in various guises as late as the 1570s.
Spirituality
5.2
Similar groups
8 NOTES
Christian Anarchism
Church of the Brethren
Conservative Mennonites
Funkite
Hutterite
Mennonite
Peace churches
Peter Hoover
Protestant Reformation
Dirk Willems saves his pursuer. This act of mercy led to his recapture, after which he was burned at the stake. Luyken, Jan
(1685), Dirk Willems (picture).
Schleitheim Confession
Shunning
Simple living
Evangelistic zeal
Schwarzenau Brethren
Theology of Anabaptism
Radical Reformation
See also
Abecedarians
Amish
Apostolic Christian Church
The Brethren Church
Brethren in Christ
8 Notes
[1] Since the middle of the 20th century, the Germanspeaking world no longer uses the term Wiedertufer
(translation: Re-baptizers) considering it biased. The
term Tufer (translation: Baptizers) is now used,
which is considered more impartial. From the perspective of their persecutors, the Baptizers baptized for the
second time those who as infants had already been baptized. Since the denigrative term Anabaptist signies rebaptizing, it is considered a polemic term and therefore has
been dropped from use in modern German. However, in
the English-speaking world it is still in use in order to distinguish the Baptizers more clearly from the Baptists
who emerged later.
[2] For example, the Munsterites and Balthasar Hubmaier.
[3] A "true church" movement is a part of the Protestant or
Reformed group of Christianity that claims to represent
the true faith and order of New Testament Christianity.
Most only assert this in relation to their church doctrines,
polity, and practice (e.g., the ordinances), while a few
hold they are the only true Christians. Some examples
of Anabaptistic true church movements are the Landmark
Baptists and the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite.
The Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee), the StoneCampbell restoration movement, and others represent a
variation in which the true church apostatized and was
restored, in distinction to this idea of apostolic or church
succession. These groups trace their true church status
through means other than those generally accepted by Roman Catholicism or Orthodox Christianity, both of which
likewise claim to represent the true faith and order of New
Testament Christianity.
References
[1] Anabaptist, n., Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press), December 2012, retrieved 21 January 2013
[2] Anabaptism, n., Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford
University Press), December 2012, retrieved 21 January
2013
[23] Hoover, Peter (2008). The Mystery of the MarkAnabaptist Mission Work under the Fire of God. Mountain
Lake, Minnesota: Elmendorf Books. pp. 1466.
[24] Packull 1995, pp. 16975.
[25] Packull 1995, pp. 1815.
[26] Packull 1995, p. 280.
10
11 FURTHER READING
11 Further reading
10
Bibliography
11
12
External links
Anabaptism. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
Anabaptist History Complete Playlist (Parts 1-20)
history of the movement from the Bible to present.
(YouTube videos, 27 hours)
The Anabaptist Missionary
The Story of the Church: The Protestant Reformation: The Anabaptists and Other Radical Reformers. Ritchie Family Page. Archived from the original on 17 December 2005. Retrieved December 15,
2005.
The Anabaptist Story. The Reformed Reader.
Archived from the original on 15 December 2005.
Retrieved December 15, 2005.
What is an Anabaptist Christian?, 2nd ed., Palmer
Becker, Missio Dei no. 18, 2010.
The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists, by E. Belfort
Bax 1903
Anabaptist Mennonites
Antiquarian Anabaptist
Texts on Wikisource:
N. A. Weber (1913). "Anabaptists". Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company.
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare (1911).
"Anabaptists".
Encyclopdia Britannica
(11th ed.).
"Anabaptists". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
"Anabaptists". Encyclopaedia Britannica 1
(9th ed.). 1878.
Hannah Adams, Anabaptists, A Dictionary
of All Religions and Religious Denominations.
1784.
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