Anabaptist

Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo "re-baptizers", German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. The term was coined by critics, who objected to the practice of performing baptism for adults whose previous baptism, as infants, the Anabaptists claimed was not valid. Various groups at various times have been called Anabaptist, but this article focuses primarily on the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe.

Miscellany

The first leaders of the movement in Zürich — Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, Balthasar Hübmaier — were men learned in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.

Related Topics:
Conrad Grebel - Felix Manz - George Blaurock - Balthasar Hübmaier

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In English history frequent reference is made to the Anabaptists during the 16th and 17th centuries, but there is no evidence that any considerable number of native Englishmen ever adopted the principles of the Münster sect. Many of the followers of Muentzer and Bockelson seem to have fled from persecution in Germany and the Netherlands to be subjected to a persecution scarcely less severe in England. The mildest measure adopted towards these refugees was banishment from the kingdom, and a large number suffered at the stake. It was easier to burn Anabaptists than to refute their arguments, and contemporary writers were struck with the intrepidity and number of their martyrs. Thus Stanislaus Hosius (1504-1579), a Polish cardinal and bishop of Warmie, wrote (Opera, Venice, 1573, p. 202):

Related Topics:
16th - 17th centuries - Germany - Persecution - Martyrs - Stanislaus Hosius

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"They are far readier than followers of Luther and Zwingli to meet death, and bear the harshest tortures for their faith. For they run to suffer punishments, no matter how horrible, as if to a banquet; so that if you take that as a test either of the truth of doctrine or of their certitude of grace, you would easily conclude that in no other sect is to be found a faith so true or grace so certain. But as Paul wrote: "Even if I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it avails me naught. But he has not charity who divides the unity… He cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church".

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Their Christology and negative attitude towards the state rather indicate, as in the case of John Wyclif, Jan Hus and the Fraticelli (Brethren), an affinity to the Cathars and other medieval sects. But this affiliation is hard to establish.

Related Topics:
Christology - John Wyclif - Jan Hus - Fraticelli - Brethren - Cathars

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The earliest Anabaptists of Zürich allowed that the Picardi or Waldensians had, in contrast with Rome and the Reformers, truth on their side, yet did not claim to be in their succession; nor can it be shown that their adult baptism derived from any of the older Baptist sects, which undoubtedly lingered in parts of Europe. Later on Hermann Schyn claimed descent for the peaceful Baptists from the Waldensians, who certainly, as the records of the Flemish inquisition, collected by P. Fredericq, prove, were widespread during the 15th century over north France and Flanders. It would appear from the way in which Anabaptism sprang up everywhere independently, as if more than one ancient sect took in and through it a new lease of life. Ritschl discerned in it the leaven of the Fraticelli or Franciscan Tertiaries.

Related Topics:
Picardi - Waldensians - Rome - Reformers - Inquisition - France - Ritschl - Franciscan Tertiaries

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In Moravia, if what Alexander Rost related be true, namely that they called themselves Apostolici, and went barefooted healing the sick, they must have at least absorbed into themselves a sect of whom we hear in the 12th century in the north of Europe as deferring baptism to the age of 30, and rejecting oaths, prayers for the dead, relics and invocation of saints.

Related Topics:
Moravia - Apostolici

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The Moravian Anabaptists, says Rost, went bare-footed, washed each other's feet (like the Fraticelli), had all goods in common, worked everyone at a handicraft, had a spiritual father who prayed with them every morning and taught them, dressed in black and had long graces before and after meals. Zeiler also in his German Itinerary (1618) describes their way of life. The Lord's Supper, or bread-breaking, was a commemoration of the Passion, held once a year. They sat at long tables, the elders read the words of institution and prayed, and passed a loaf round from which each broke off a bit and ate, the wine being handed round in flagons. Children in their colonies were separated from the parents, and lived in the school, each having his bed and blanket. They were taught reading, writing and summing, cleanliness, truthfulness and industry, and the girls married the men chosen for them.

Related Topics:
The Lord's Supper - Passion

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On April 12, 1549, certain London Anabaptists brought before a commission of bishops asserted:

Related Topics:
April 12 - 1549 - London

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"That a man regenerate could not sin; that though the outward man sinned, the inward man sinned not;

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that there was no Trinity of Persons; that Christ was only a holy prophet and not at all God;

Related Topics:
Trinity - Christ

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that all we had by Christ was that he taught us the way to heaven; that he took no flesh of the Virgin, and that the baptism of infants was not profitable."

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One of the most notable features of the early Anabaptists is that they regarded any true religious reform as involving social amelioration. The socialism of the 16th century was necessarily Christian and Anabaptist. Lutheranism was more attractive to grand-ducal patriots and well-to-do burghers than to the poor and oppressed and disinherited. The Lutherans and Zwinglians never converted the Anabaptists. In Austrian-controlled territories, the Jesuits had somewhat better success in persuading or coercing many Hutterites to rejoin the Catholic Church.

Related Topics:
Lutheranism - Jesuits - Hutterites - Catholic Church

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