Anabaptism


Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in the 16th century. Anabaptists believe that baptism is valid only when candidates freely confess their faith in Christ and request to be baptized. This stance, commonly referred to as believer's baptism, is opposed to the baptism of infants, who are not able to make a conscious decision to be baptized.
The early Anabaptists formulated their beliefs in a confession of faith in 1527 called the Schleitheim Confession. Its author Michael Sattler was arrested and executed shortly afterward. Anabaptist groups varied widely in their specific beliefs, but the Schleitheim Confession represents foundational Anabaptist beliefs as well as any single document can.
Other Christian groups with different roots also practice believer's baptism, such as the Baptists, but these groups are not Anabaptist. The Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites are direct descendants of the early Anabaptist movement. The Schwarzenau Brethren, River Brethren, Bruderhof and the Apostolic Christian Church are Anabaptist denominations that developed after the Radical Reformation, following their example. Though all Anabaptists share the same core theological beliefs, there are differences in the way of life among them; Old Order Anabaptist groups include the Old Order Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, Old Order River Brethren and the Old Order German Baptist Brethren. In between the assimilated mainline denominations and Old Order groups are Conservative Anabaptist groups. Conservative Anabaptists, such as the Dunkard Brethren Church, Conservative Mennonites and Beachy Amish, have retained traditional religious practices and theology, while allowing for judicious use of modern conveniences and advanced technology.
Emphasizing an adherence to the beliefs of early Christianity, Anabaptists in general are distinguished by their keeping of practices that often include nonconformity to the world: "the love feast with feet washing, laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and the holy kiss, as well as turning the other cheek, no oaths, going the second mile, giving a cup of cold water, reconciliation, repeated forgiveness, humility, non-violence, and sharing possessions."
The name Anabaptist originated as an exonym meaning "one who baptizes again", referring to the practice of baptizing persons when they converted or declared their faith in Christ, when they had already been baptized as infants. Many called themselves "Radical Reformers". Anabaptists require that baptismal candidates be able to make a confession of faith that is freely chosen. They understand the New Testament order is to repent and then be baptized, and infants are unable to repent and turn away from sin to a life of following Jesus; thus infant baptism is invalid. The early members of this movement did not accept the name Anabaptist, claiming that infant baptism was not part of scripture and was therefore null and void. They said that baptizing self-confessed believers was their first true baptism:
Anabaptists were heavily persecuted by state churches, both Magisterial Protestants and Roman Catholics, beginning in the 16th century and continuing thereafter, largely because of their interpretation of scripture which put them at odds with official state church interpretations and local government control. Anabaptism was never established by any state and therefore never enjoyed any associated privileges. Most Anabaptists adhere to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7, which teaches against hate, killing, violence, taking oaths, participating in use of force or any military actions, and against participation in civil government. Anabaptists view themselves as primarily citizens of the kingdom of God, not of earthly nations. As committed followers of Jesus, they seek to pattern their life after his.
Some former groups who practiced rebaptism, now extinct, believed otherwise and complied with these requirements of civil society. They were thus technically Anabaptists, even though conservative Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, and many historians consider them outside Anabaptism. Conrad Grebel wrote in a letter to Thomas Müntzer in 1524: "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."

Lineage

Medieval forerunners

Anabaptists are considered to have begun with the Radical Reformation in the 16th century, but historians classify certain people and groups as their forerunners because of a similar approach to the interpretation and application of the Bible. For instance, Petr Chelčický, a 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.
Medieval dissenters and Anabaptists who held to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount share in common the following affirmations:
  • The believer must not swear oaths or refer disputes between believers to law-courts for resolution, in accordance with.
  • The believer must not bear arms or offer forcible resistance to wrongdoers, nor wield the sword. No Christian has the jus gladii.
  • Civil government belongs to the world. The believer belongs to God's kingdom so 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 some level of interaction with believers until they repent, according to and, but no force is to be used towards them.

    Zwickau prophets and the German Peasants' War

On December 27, 1521, three "prophets" from Zwickau appeared in Wittenberg who were influenced by Thomas MüntzerThomas Dreschel, Nicholas Storch, and Mark Thomas Stübner. They preached an apocalyptic, radical alternative to Lutheranism. Their preaching 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 Müntzer, it became a war against all constituted authorities and an attempt to establish by revolution an ideal Christian commonwealth, with absolute equality among persons and the community of goods. The Zwickau prophets were not Anabaptists ; nevertheless, the prevalent social inequities and the preaching of men such as these have been seen as laying the foundation for the Anabaptist movement. The social ideals of the Anabaptist movement coincided closely with those of leaders in the German Peasants' War. Studies have found a very low percentage of subsequent sectarians to have taken part in the peasant uprising.

Views on origins

Research on the origins of the Anabaptists has been tainted both by the attempts of their enemies to slander them and by the attempts of their supporters to vindicate them. It was long popular to classify all Anabaptists as Munsterites and radicals associated with the Zwickau prophets, Jan Matthys, John of Leiden, and Müntzer. Those desiring to correct this error tended to over-correct and deny all connections between the larger Anabaptist movement and the most radical elements.
The modern era of Anabaptist historiography arose with Roman Catholic scholar Carl Adolf Cornelius' publication of Die Geschichte des Münsterischen Aufruhrs in 1855. Baptist historian Albert Henry Newman, who Harold S. Bender said occupied "first position in the field of American Anabaptist historiography", made a major contribution with his A History of Anti-Pedobaptism.
Three main theories on origins of the Anabaptists are the following:
  • The movement began in a single expression in Zürich and spread from there ;
  • It developed through several independent movements ; and
  • It was a continuation of true New Testament Christianity.

    Monogenesis

Some scholars consider the Anabaptist movement to have developed from the Swiss Brethren movement. They generally argue 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 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 first "re-baptisms" known in the movement. This continues to be the most widely accepted date posited for the establishment of Anabaptism.

Polygenesis

,, 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. The authors of the essay note the agreement among previous Anabaptist historians on polygenesis, even when disputing the date for a single starting point: "Hillerbrand and Bender 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". 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 Hoffman". As examples of how the Anabaptist movement was influenced from sources other than the Swiss Brethren movement, mention has been made of how Pilgram Marpeck's Vermanung of 1542 was deeply influenced by the Bekenntnisse of 1533 by Münster theologian Bernhard Rothmann. Hoffman influenced the Hutterites when they used his commentary on the Apocalypse shortly after he wrote it.
Others who have written in support of polygenesis include and Walter Klaassen, who established links between Müntzer and Hans Hut. In another work, Gottfried Seebaß and Werner Packull show the influence of Müntzer on the formation of South German Anabaptism. Similarly, author Steven Ozment links Hut and Hans Denck with Müntzer, Sebastian Franck, and others. Author Calvin Pater shows how Andreas Karlstadt influenced Swiss Anabaptism in various areas, including his view of Scripture, doctrine of the church, and views on baptism.
Several historians, including Thor Hall, Kenneth Davis, and Robert Kreider, have also noted the influence of humanism on Radical Reformers in the three originating points of departure to account for how this brand of reform could develop independently from each other. Relatively recent research, begun in a more advanced and deliberate manner by Andrew P. Klager, also explores how the influence and a particular reading of the Church Fathers contributed to the development of distinctly Anabaptist beliefs and practices in separate regions of Europe in the early 16th century, including by Menno Simons in the Netherlands, Grebel in Switzerland, Müntzer in central Germany, Marpeck in the Tyrol, Peter Walpot in Moravia, and especially Balthasar Hubmaier in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Moravia.