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Anabaptist
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Anabaptists (Greek a?a (again, twice) +ßapt??? (baptize), thus "re-baptizers") are Christians of the Radical Reformation. Various groups at various times have been called Anabaptist, but the term is most commonly used to refer to the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe. Today the descendants of the 16th century European movements (particularly the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, Brethren in Christ, and other respective German Baptist variants) are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist.
Believer's baptism is one of the defining characteristics of Anabaptist beliefs, but was considered heresy by the other major religious groups of the reformation period.
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Anabaptists (Greek a?a (again, twice) +ßapt??? (baptize), thus "re-baptizers") are Christians of the Radical Reformation. Various groups at various times have been called Anabaptist, but the term is most commonly used to refer to the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe. Today the descendants of the 16th century European movements (particularly the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, Brethren in Christ, and other respective German Baptist variants) are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist.
Believer's baptism is one of the defining characteristics of Anabaptist beliefs, but was considered heresy by the other major religious groups of the reformation period. As a result, Anabaptists were heavily persecuted during the 16th century and into the 17th.
Origins
Forerunners
Though opinion is that Anabaptists, by name, began with the Radical Reformers in the 16th century, certain people and groups may still legitimately be considered their forerunners. Petr Chelcický, 15th century Bohemian Reformer, taught most of the beliefs considered integral to Anabaptist theology. Medieval antecedents may include the Brethren of the Common Life, the Hussites, Dutch Sacramentists and some forms of monasticism. The Waldensians also represent a faith similar to the Anabaptists.
In the following points Anabaptists resembled the medieval dissenters:
- Some followed Menno Simons in teaching that Jesus did not take the flesh from his mother, but either brought his body from heaven or had one made for him by the Word. Some even said that he passed through his mother, as water through a pipe, into the world. In pictures and sculptures of the 15th century and earlier, we often find represented this idea, originated by Marcion in the 2nd century. The Anabaptists were accused of denying the Incarnation of Christ: a charge that Menno Simons repeatedly rejected.
- They condemned oaths, and also the reference of disputes between believers to law-courts.
- The believer must not bear arms or offer forcible resistance to wrongdoers, nor wield the sword. No Christian has the jus gladii (the right of the sword).
- Civil government (i.e., "Caesar") belongs to the world. The believer, who belongs to God's kingdom, must not fill any office, nor hold any rank under government, which is to be passively obeyed.
- 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 6:1–11 and Matt.18:15 seq. But no force is to be used towards them.
Bishop Longland in England condemned an Anabaptist for repeating one of its maxims "that alms should not be given before they did sweat in a man's hand." This was between 1518 and 1521.
Views
Research on the origins of the Anabaptists has been tainted both by the attempts of their enemies to slander them and the attempts of their supporters to vindicate them. It was long popular to simply lump all Anabaptists as Munsterites and radicals associated with the Zwickau Prophets, Jan Matthys, John of Leiden (also Jan Bockelson van Leiden, Jan of Leyden), and Thomas Müntzer. Those desiring to correct this error tended to over-correct and deny all connections between the larger Anabaptist movement and this most radical element.
The modern era of Anabaptist historiography arose with the work of Roman Catholic scholar Carl Adolf Cornelius' publication of Die Geschichte des Münsterischen Aufruhrs in 1855 (The history of the Münster riot). Baptist historian Albert Henry Newman (1852–1933), who Bender said occupied "first position in the field of American Anabaptist Historiography," made a major contribution with his A History of Anti-Pedobaptism. Though a number of theories exist concerning origins, the three main ideas are that,
- Anabaptists began in a single expression in Zürich and spread from there (Monogenesis),
- Anabaptists began through several independent movements (polygenesis), and
- Anabaptists are a continuation of New Testament Christianity (apostolic succession or church perpetuity).
Monogenesis
A number of scholars (e.g., Bender, Estep, Friedmann) have seen all the Anabaptists as rising out of the Swiss Brethren movement of Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, et al. The older view among Mennonite historians generally held that Anabaptism had its origins in Zürich, 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 Münsterites and other radicals from the category of true Anabaptists. In this view the time of origin is January 21, 1525, when Grebel baptized Georg Blaurock, and Blaurock baptized other followers. This remains the most popular single time posited for the establishment of Anabaptism. But in the last quarter of the 20th century, Deppermann, Packull, and others suggested that February 24, 1527 at Schleitheim is the proper date of the origin of Anabaptism. This correlates with the following polygenesis theory.
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". That article, emphasizing distinctive characteristics and distinct sources, has become a widely accepted treatment of the plural origins of Anabaptism. According to these authors, 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 Hoffman". Pilgram Marpeck's Vermanung of 1542 was deeply influenced by the Bekenntnisse of 1533 by Münster theologian Bernhard Rothmann. The Hutterites used Melchior Hoffman's commentary on the Apocalypse shortly after he wrote it. David Joris, a disciple of Hoffman, was the most important Anabaptist leader in the Netherlands before 1540. Grete Mecenseffy and Walter Klaassen established links between Thomas Müntzer and Hans Hut, and the work of Gottfried Seebaß and Werner Packull clearly showed the influence of Thomas Müntzer on the formation of South German Anabaptism. Steven Ozment's work linked Hans Denck and Hans Hut with Thomas Müntzer, Sebastian Franck, and others. Calvin Pater has shown that Andreas Karlstadt influenced Swiss Anabaptism in areas including his view of Scripture, doctrine of the church, and views on baptism.
Apostolic succession
It is believed by some that the 16th century Anabaptists were part of an apostolic succession of churches (or "church perpetuity") from the time of Christ.
The opponents of this theory emphasize that these non-Catholic groups clearly differed from each other, that they held some heretical views, are not successors of the Apostles, or that they had no connection with one another with origins that are separate both in time and place. This view is held by some Baptists, some Mennonites, and a number of "true church" movements. Somewhat related to this is the theory that the Anabaptists are of Waldensian origin. Some hold the idea that the Waldenses are part of the apostolic succession, while others simply believe they were an independent group out of whom the Anabaptists arose. Estep asserts "the Waldenses disappeared in Switzerland a century before the rise of the Anabaptist movement." Ludwig Keller, Thomas M. Lindsay, H. C. Vedder, Delbert Grätz, and Thieleman J. van Braght all held, in varying degrees, the position that the Anabaptists were of Waldensian origin.
The Spirituality of the Anabaptists
In Zurich, Switzerland, Felix Manz and Conrad Grebel spearheaded the radical reformation of the Anabaptists. They rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church and began rebaptizing adults who had followed Jesus, but had unlawfully been 'baptized' as infants. They are predecessors of the modern-day Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites, Puritans, Quakers, and Baptists. It was not unusual for them to dance, fall under the power of the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues.Franklin H. Little, The Origins of Sectarian Protestantism (New York: Beacons, 1964), 19. Felix Manz had special revelations where, once or twice in prison and elsewhere certain epistles of Paul were revealed to him as if he had them before his eyes.Horsch, "The Faith of the Swiss Brethren II," 15. See also George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1962), 145. Martin Bucer, a Zwinglian-type reformer, affirmed prophecy through the aid of the Holy Spirit and the subjective, inner call of the Holy Spirit to ministry.W. Peter Stephens, The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer (London: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 178,179,190.
The Anabaptists were more radical than Luther and Bucer. Despite Luther's conflict with the Anabaptists, he was in agreement with the Anabaptists on many issues, yet even he said of them, that they maintain an undue reliance upon the direct presence of the Holy Spirit, a testimony of the Anabaptists' direct experience with the Holy Spirit. John S. Oyer, Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1964), 234.
They insisted upon the "free course" of the Holy Spirit in worship, yet still maintained it all must be judged according to the Scriptures.John S. Oyer, Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1964), 86. One Swiss Anabaptist document (A.D. 1532-1534) is titled "Answer of Some Who Are Called (Ana)Baptists - Why They Do Not Attend the Churches". The reason for not attending the state churches is these institutions forbid the congregation to exercise spiritual gifts according to "the Christian order as taught in the gospel or the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 14." "When such believers come together, "Everyone of you (note every one) hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation," etc...When someone comes to church and constantly hears only one person speaking, and all the listeners are silent, neither speaking nor prophesying, who can or will regard or confess the same to be a spiritual congregation, or confess according to 1 Corinthians 14 that God is dwelling and operating in them through His Holy Spirit with His gifts, impelling them one after another in the abovementioned order of speaking and prophesying."Paul Peachey and Shem Peachey, trans., "Answer of Some Who Are Called (Ana)Baptists - Why They Do Not Attend the Churches," Mennonite Quarterly Review 45, no. 1 (1971): 10, 11.
Pilgram Marpeck was an Anabaptist leader in central Germany. He rebukes those who exclude the existence of divine miracles and signs. He says, "Nor does Scripture assert this exclusion...God has a free hand even in these last days." He speaks of those who had been raised from the dead: "Many of them have remained constant, enduring tortures inflicted by sword, rope, fire and water and suffering terrible, tyrannical, unheard-of deaths and martyrdoms, all of which they could easily have avoided by recantation. Moreover one also marvels when he sees how the faithful God (who, after all, overflows with goodness) raises from the dead several such brothers and sisters of Christ after they were hanged, drowned, or killed in other ways. Even today, they are found alive and we can hear their own testimony...Cannot everyone who sees, even the blind, say with a good conscience that such things are a powerful, unusual, and miraculous act of God? Those who would deny it must be hardened men."William Klassen and Walter Klassen, ed. and trans., The Writings of Pilgram Marpeck (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1978), 50. In Germany some Anabaptists, "excited by mass hysteria, experienced healings, glossolalia, contortions and other manifestations of a camp-meeting revival".George Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962), 443.
Menno Simons (A.D. 1496-1561) was a Catholic priest who joined the Anabaptist around 1535, and began the Mennonite movement. Regarding speaking in tongues, he says, "Although Peter was previously informed by a heavenly vision that he might go to the Gentiles and teach them the gospel, still he refused to baptize the pious, noble and Godly centurion and his associates so long as he did not see the Holy Spirit was descended upon them, so that they spoke with tongues and glorified God...Peter commanded that those only should be baptized who had received the Holy Ghost, who spoke with tongues and glorified God."
Jacob Hutter (A.D. ?-1536, founder of the Hutterite movement) claimed authority from miracles in his life. The Hutterite Chronicle contains several accounts of miraculous events. Among other Anabaptist examples of charismatic expression were the "prophetic processions" (at Zurich in 1525, at Munster in 1534 and at Amsterdam in 1535).Walter Klaassen, Anabaptism: Neither Catholic Nor Protestant (Waterloo, Ontario: Conrad Press, 1973), 63.
One man named Martin whom authorities led across a bridge to execution in 1531 prophesied, "this once yet the pious are led over this bridge, but no more hereafter." Just "a short time afterwards such a violent storm and flood came that the bridge was demolished".Martyrs' Mirror (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1950), 440.
John Bunyan (1628-1688), considered to be a landmark in Baptist history, received the entire book of "The Pilgrim's Progress", while "under the similitude of a dream".
The Hugenots (16th-18th Centuries) are considered to be Anabaptists by some and exhibited the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. Thus they were called, "The French Prophets." They affirmed, "God has no where in the Scriptures concluded Himself from dispensing again the extraordinary gifts of His Spirit unto men."Michael P. Hamilton, The Charismatic Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1975), 75. Even 3 year old children prophesied and preached in French, even though they had never spoken the language previously. One time, a 14 month old child exhorted them "to the Works of Repentance" in a loud voice.John Lacy, A Cry From the Desert (London: n.p., 1708), 15. They "fell on their backs, they shut their eyes, they heaved with the breast, they remained a while in trances, and coming out of them with twitching, they uttered all that came into their mouths."Hamilton, 75. John Venett, one of them, also was amazed that his mother could speak French, "because she never before attempted to speak a word in that language, nor has since to my knowledge , and I am certain she could not do it."Lacy, 14. Sir Richard Bulkey, a wealthy English nobleman, tells how he heard John Lacy, one of their leaders, "repeat long sentences in Latin, and another refugee speak in Hebrew, neither one of whom could speak a single word in these languages when not in spiritual ecstasy."Cutten, Speaking With Tongues: Historically and Psychologically Considered, 55. John Wesley defended the contemporary supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit to one doubter by referencing the example of the French Prophets, "Sir, your memory fails you again...It has been heard of more than once, no further off than the days of Dauphin."John Wesley, vol. 10 of The Works of John Wesley, 14 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, n.d.), 56.
Types
Different types exist among the Anabaptists, although the categorizations tend to vary with the scholar's 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 Müntzer, Storch, et al. as inspirationists, and anti-trinitarians such as Michael Servetus, Juan de Valdés, Sebastian Castellio, 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."
Most of the Anti-Trinitarian Anabaptists were modalistic monarchians and baptized in the shorter formula of the name of Jesus Christ. They also spoke in ecstatic languages and prophecies known as "speaking in tongues." Holiness was a very important doctrine to them.
Those of the polygenesis viewpoint use Anabaptist to define 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 first Mennonite scholar to define 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 (Hübmaier, 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 pacifist brethren, later broadly known as Mennonites. Radical Anabaptist groups included the Münsterites, who occupied and held the German city of Münster in 1534–5, and the Batenburgers, who persisted in various guises as late as the 1570s.
Zwickau prophets and the Peasants' War
On December 27, 1521, three "prophets", influenced by and in turn influencing Thomas Müntzer, appeared in Wittenberg from Zwickau: Thomas Dreschel, Nicolas Storch and Mark Thomas Stübner. The crisis came in the Peasants' War in southern Germany in 1525. In its origin a revolt against feudal oppression, it became, under the leadership of Müntzer, 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.
Münster Rebellion
A second and more determined attempt to establish a theocracy was made at Münster in Westphalia (1532–5), led by Bernhard Rothmann, Bernhard Knipperdolling, Jan Matthys and John of Leiden.
Persecutions and migrations
Much of the historic Roman Catholic and Protestant literature has represented the Anabaptists as groups who preached false doctrine and led people into apostasy. That negative historiography remained popular for about four centuries. The Roman Catholics and Protestants alike persecuted the Anabaptists, resorted to torture and other types of physical abuse, in attempts both to curb the growth of the movement and bring about the salvation of the heretics (through recantation). The Protestants under Zwingli were the first to persecute the Anabaptists. Felix Manz became the first martyr in 1527.
On May 20 1527, Roman Catholic authorities executed Michael Sattler. King Ferdinand declared drowning (called the third baptism) "the best antidote to Anabaptism". It has been said that a "16th century man who did not drink to excess, curse, or abuse his workmen or family could be suspected of being an Anabaptist and thus persecuted." Thousands died in Europe in the sixteenth century. The Tudor regime, even those that were Protestant (Edward VI of England and Elizabeth I of England) persecuted Anabaptists as they were deemed too radical and therefore a danger to religious stability. The persecution of Anabaptists was condoned by ancient laws of Theodosius I and Justinian I that were passed against the Donatists which decreed the death penalty for any who practiced rebaptism.
Thieleman J. van Braght's Martyrs Mirror describes the persecution and execution of thousands of Anabaptists, such as Dirk Willems, in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe between 1525 and 1660. Continuing persecution in Europe was largely responsible for the mass immigrations to North America by Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.
Today
Several existing denominational bodies may be legitimately regarded as the successors of the Continental Anabaptists—Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, Mennonites, and Bruderhof Communities. Some historical connections have been demonstrated for all of these spiritual descendants, though perhaps not as clearly as the noted institutionally lineal descendants. Although many see the more well-known Anabaptist groups (Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites) as ethnic groups, the Anabaptist bodies of today are no longer comprised mostly of descendants of the Continental Anabaptists. Total worldwide membership of the Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and related churches totals 1,297,716 (as of 2003) with about 60 percent in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
In addition, it may be argued that one of the historical Anabaptist doctrines, specifically that one must volitionally, consciously, and personally relate to God, is likewise found among much of Evangelical Protestantism, even though these churches may not be historically linked to the Anabaptists.
Anabaptism and the 21st century
In response to post-modernism, what some theologians are calling 'the end of Christendom', and the global ecological crisis, some churches and theologians draw upon Anabaptist traditions as a paradigm for Christian spirituality in the 21st century. This movement, sometimes referred to as 'neo-Anabaptism', includes theologians and communities who are from Christian denominations not part of the historic Peace Churches but who see in the 16th century radical reformers an authentic witness of early Christianity and of the life and teachings of Christ. Some such thinkers include Stanley Hauerwas, Nancey Murphy, Glen Stassen, Lee Camp, Marva J. Dawn, Richard B. Hays, Craig A. Carter, James William McClendon Jr., and Michael Cartwright.
Sojourners Magazine editor Jim Wallis has said that Mennonite theologian John H. Yoder "inspired a whole generation of Christians to follow the way of Jesus into social action and peacemaking." The neo-Anabaptist communities and theologians are also considered a nearly direct result of this legacy and communities are often identifiable by a desire to live as an prophetic alternative to a larger society through their commitment to Christs' Sermon on the Mount as normative for the Christian life when empowered by the Holy Spirit. Outworkings of this spirituality include simple yet joyful lifestyle, peace and justice making, the practice of nonviolence, communal living and the voluntary sharing of goods, particularly with those in need all as an outworking of seeking the kingdom of God.
Heritage
The Anabaptists were early promoters of a free church and freedom of religion (sometimes associated with separation of church and state). When it was introduced by the Anabaptists in the 15th and 16th centuries, religious freedom independent of the state was unthinkable to both clerical and governmental leaders. Religious liberty was equated with anarchy; Kropotkin traces the birth of anarchist thought in Europe to these early Anabaptist communities.
According to Estep,
Where men believe in the freedom of religion, supported by a guarantee of separation of church and state, they have entered into that heritage. Where men have caught the Anabaptist vision of discipleship, they have become worthy of that heritage. Where corporate discipleship submits itself to the New Testament pattern of the church, the heir has then entered full possession of his legacy.
Popular culture
- Voltaire's novel, Candide, features a character named James, who identifies himself as an Anabaptist and helps the eponymous protagonist and his teacher Pangloss but later drowns in Lisbon harbor.
- The novel Q, by the collective known as 'Luther Blissett' features an Anabaptist as the central character and is set in the 16th century, touching on key elements of Anabaptist history such as the siege of Munster.
See also
Footnotes and references
Bibliography
- A History of Anti-Pedobaptism, From the Rise of Pedobaptism to A. D. 1609, by Albert H. Newman, (, ISBN 1579785360)
- Anabaptist Bibliography 1520-1630, by Hans Hillerbrand, (, ISBN 0910345031)
- Anabaptists and the Sword, by James M. Stayer, (, ISBN 0872910814)
- An Introduction to Mennonite History, by Cornelius J. Dyck, (, ISBN 0836136209)
- Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and Hermeneutics of Pilgram Marpeck, by William Klassen, ()
- Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments During the Reformation, by Werner O. Packull, (, ISBN 0801850487)
- In Editha's Days. A Tale of Religious Liberty, by Mary E. Bamford LCCN 06006296 (republished as The Bible Makes Us Baptists, Larry Harrison, ed.), ()
- Mennonite Encyclopedia, Harold S. Bender, Cornelius J. Dyck, Dennis D. Martin, Henry C. Smith, et al., editors, (, ISBN 0836110188)
- Revelation & Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Muntzer, by Michael G. Baylor, (, ISBN 0934223165)
- The Anabaptist Story, by William R. Estep, (, ISBN 0802815944)
- The Anabaptist Vision, by Harold S. Bender, (, ISBN 0836113055)
- The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror, by Thieleman J. van Braght, (, ISBN 083611390X)
- The Encyclopedia of American Religions, by J. Gordon Melton, (, ISBN 0810369044)
- The German Peasants' War & Anabaptist Community of Goods, by James M. Stayer, (, ISBN 0773508422)
- The Pursuit of the Millennium, by Norman Cohn, (, ISBN 0195004566)
- The Reformers and their Stepchildren, by Leonard Verduin, (, ISBN 0801092841)
- The Anatomy of a Hybrid : a Study in Church-State Relationships by Leonard Verduin, (, ISBN 0802816150)
- The Tailor King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster, by Anthony Arthur, (, ISBN 0312205155)
- The Radical Reformation, by George Hunston Williams, Third Edition. Sixteen Century Journal Publishers, 1992.
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