Anabaptists (
Greek
ανα (again, twice) +
βαπτιζω (baptize), thus
"re-baptizers") are
Christians of the
Radical Reformation. This
article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century
Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the
Amish,
Hutterites,
and
Mennonites.
Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as
wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and participating in civil
government. They adhered to a literal interpretation of the
Sermon on the Mount and
Believer's baptism. The name
Anabaptist is derived from this, because
credobaptism was considered
heresy by all other major Christian denominations at
the time of the
reformation
period. As a result, Anabaptists were heavily persecuted during
the 16th century and into the 17th by both
Roman Catholics and
Protestants.
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 Chelčický, 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:
- They condemned oaths, and also the reference of disputes
between believers to law-courts in accordance with 1 Corinthians
6:1-11.
- 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 5:9-13 and
Matt.18:15 seq. But no force is to be used towards them.
- Only some Anabaptists 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. We often find this idea,
originated by Marcion in the 2nd century,
represented in pictures and sculptures of the 15th century and
earlier. The Anabaptists were accused of denying the Incarnation of Christ: a charge
that Menno Simons repeatedly rejected.
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 George 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. That day the anabaptists made a
declaration of belief called the
Schleitheim Confession. 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. The authors 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.” 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."
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 ("church perpetuity" or "
Baptist successionism") 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.
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.
Spirituality
Charismatic manifestations
Within the inspirationist wing of the Anabaptist movement, it was
not unusual for charismatic manifestations to appear, such as
dancing, falling under the power of the Holy Spirit, "prophetic
processions" (at Zurich in 1525, at Munster in 1534 and at
Amsterdam in 1535), and speaking in tongues. In Germany some
Anabaptists, "excited by mass hysteria, experienced healings,
glossolalia, contortions and other manifestations of a camp-meeting
revival". The Anabaptist congregations that later developed into
the Mennonite and Hutterite churches tended not to promote these
manifestations, but did not totally reject the miraculous.
Pilgram Marpeck, for example, wrote against
the exclusion of miracles: "Nor does Scripture assert this
exclusion...God has a free hand even in these last days." Referring
to some who had been raised from the dead, he wrote: "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". The
Hutterite Chronicle and The Martyr's Mirror record
several accounts of miraculous events, such as when a man named
Martin prophesied while being led across a bridge to his execution
in 1531: "...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".
Holy Spirit leadership
The Anabaptists insisted upon the "free course" of the Holy Spirit
in worship, yet still maintained it all must be judged according to
the Scriptures. The Swiss Anabaptist document titled "Answer of
Some Who Are Called (Ana-)Baptists - Why They Do Not Attend the
Churches". One reason given for not attending the state churches
was that these institutions forbade 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
above-mentioned order of speaking and prophesying".
History
1520s and 1530s
In the 1520s and 1530s Anabaptist preachers spread the movement
throughout central Europe, and authorities, either from a lack of
knowledge about the new sect, desire to maintain orthodox doctrine,
or a variety of other nuanced reasons, usually responded with
executions and banishment although a few leaders did exercise
moderation in dealing with the Anabaptists.
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 Rothman,
Bernhard Knipperdolling,
Jan Matthys and
John
of Leiden.
Persecutions and migrations
Dirk Willems saves his pursuer.
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. 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". 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
composed 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.
Groups deriving from the
Schwarzenau Brethren, often called
German Baptists, while not directly
descended from the 16th-century Anabaptists, are usually considered
Anabaptist because of an almost identical doctrine and
practice.
Puritans of England and their
Baptist branch arose independently, but were
influenced by the Anabaptist movement.
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.
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.
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
Further reading
- A History of Anti-Pedobaptism, From the Rise of Pedobaptism
to A. D. 1609, by Albert H. Newman, (
Google Books, ISBN 1579785360)
- Anabaptist Bibliography 1520–1630, by Hans
Hillerbrand, ( Google Books, ISBN 0910345031)
- Anabaptists and the Sword, by James M. Stayer, ( Google Books, ISBN 0872910814)
- An Introduction to Mennonite History, by Cornelius J.
Dyck, ( Google Books, ISBN 0836136209)
- Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and
Hermeneutics of Pilgram Marpeck, by William Klassen, (
Google Books)
- Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments During the
Reformation, by Werner O. Packull, ( Google Books, 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.), (
Google Books)
- Mennonite Encyclopedia, Harold S. Bender, Cornelius J.
Dyck, Dennis D. Martin, Henry C. Smith, et al., editors, ( Google Books, ISBN 0836110188)
- Revelation & Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas
Muntzer, by Michael G. Baylor, ( Google Books, ISBN 0934223165)
- The Anabaptist Story, by William R. Estep, ( Google Books, ISBN 0802815944)
- The Anabaptist Vision, by Harold S. Bender, ( Google Books, ISBN 0836113055)
- The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror, by Thieleman J.
van Braght, ( Google Books, ISBN 083611390X)
- The Encyclopedia of American Religions, by J. Gordon
Melton, ( Google Books, ISBN 0810369044)
- The German Peasants' War & Anabaptist Community of
Goods, by James M. Stayer, ( Google Books, ISBN 0773508422)
- The Pursuit of the Millennium, by Norman Cohn, (
Google Books, ISBN 0195004566)
- The Reformers and their Stepchildren, by Leonard
Verduin, ( Google Books, ISBN 0801092841)
- The Anatomy of a Hybrid : a Study in Church-State
Relationships by Leonard Verduin, ( Google Books, ISBN 0802816150)
- The Tailor King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist
Kingdom of Munster, by Anthony Arthur, ( Google Books, ISBN 0312205155)
- The Radical Reformation, by George Hunston Williams,
Third Edition. Sixteen Century Journal Publishers, 1992.
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