Anabaptists • Key Concepts Flashcards
(25 cards)
Basic Tenets of Anabaptist Faith
Confessions of Faith: Schleitheim (1527) and From Anabaptist Seed (1999)—there is no single list
Shared Beliefs: Basic tenets of Anabaptism
- The word of God is the guide to belief and practice; which need to emerge from teachings in the Bible
- A faithful church practices baptism and communion the way the early Christians did. Strongly in favour of adult “believers” baptism; and against infant baptism. (No original sin.)
- Separation of church and state. Against excessive taxation.
- Maintain faith and spread the gospel even when faced with persecution and martyrdom. To the Hutterite community, suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian experience.
- Against the Sword (violence of all kinds), extending to personal relationships which are governed by patience, understanding, love, forgiveness and redemption. No such thing as a “just war.” Evangelical gospel of peace. BUT regular strappings of Hutterite children.
- Preference for being apart from the world. Abhorrence for worldliness.
- Excommunication, the Ban, shall be used as a form of discipline and shunning is encouraged.
- Faith is important. So are good works. Discipleship is not a choice between grace and good works but a life marked by both. How you live is as important as what you believe.
- Christ’s followers show love for their neighbours.
Key Points on Which the First Generation of Anabaptists Differed from Mainline Churches (Catholic and Protestant)
Note: They accepted the Apostle’s Creed with all other Christians
- Concept of church; specifically not a territorial church defined by infant baptism. A gathered congregation of believers who were baptized upon confession of faith. Adult baptism separated believers from the world.
- Church and state and religious liberty. The government had no right to interfere in spiritual and church matters. Separation of church and state. Anabaptists did not kill others for their religious beliefs.
- Salvation and the Christian life. Christians were redeemed by the grace of God through faith. Works of love and a Christian lifestyle had to follow faith (as in Catholicism). True Christians were recognizable by their actions.
- Non-resistance or pacifism, versus participation in “just wars.” Anabaptists rejected the sword and all violence. All human relationships were governed by patience, understanding, love, forgiveness and a desire for redemption (even in the enemy).
- Mission. Anabaptists encouraged each believer to share his or her faith, witnessing to the love of Jesus and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. They sought to illuminate the world around them and invite people to discipleship.
Spiritual descendants of the Anabaptists
• Mennonites
• Brethren in Christ
• Amish
• Hutterites
The Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition is a vibrant and important part of the Christian tradition. But it is only one part. Mennonites recognize that the body of Christ includes many other faithful believers. They do not presume that Mennonites have a monopoly on God’s truth.
“Just-war theory” (Augustine and Thomas Aquinas)
Augustine (354-430) was one of the most important leaders in church history. He lived during the transition from the early church to the era of Christendom.
Wishing to support Christian emperors, Augustine argued that under certain conditions Christians could and should serve in the army. According to Augustine, only certain wars are just—for example, a country’s effort to defend itself against aggressors. As long as a war is just, Christians could fight. This desire to limit war by saying that some types of war are immoral came to be called the “just-war theory.”
In the 1200s, the theologian Thomas Aquinas developed the theory more fully, and it remains a widespread idea today.
Many churches embrace the just-war theory, although many also admit that it is difficult to apply in real situations because people on both sides of a conflict always think that their nation’s cause is justified.
Anabaptists did not accept Augustine’s views on war, nor did they follow some of his other teachings.
Trying to agree about the Trinity
The present form of the Apostles’ Creed, recited in many churches today, probably did not exist before the sixth century. The core of the creed, however, is much older. Bishops and other church leaders wrestled for a long time with how to express their beliefs about God. Eventually they agreed on what they considered to be the belief of the apostles.
Formulating the church’s belief in the Trinity proved to be most difficult. From the writings of the New Testament, it was clear to Christians that Jesus was both human and divine. But how Jesus related to God and the Holy Spirit was less obvious.
Early church theologians, such as Tertullian, Origen, and Augustine, wrestled with this doctrine and eventually gave it the shape we have today: There is one God, but God is in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Exactly how the three persons are interrelated is a mystery.
Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic [universal] church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
What made the Protestant Reformation Possible?
Concerns about spiritual decay and moral corruption within Western European Christendom were not the only factors that made the Reformation possible. Feelings of national pride, economics, and humanism were also powerful factors shaping how people thought about the church.
The Ninety-five Theses
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a list of ninety-five statements to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, intended for discussion among his colleagues. The statements were written in the Latin language. Here are a few of them, translated into English
• Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ wishes that our entire life should be one of repentance.
• The pope’s indulgences don’t remove guilt from a sinful person.
• Indulgences are evil because they divert people from feeling sorry for their sins and from true salvation in Christ.
• The person who repents is forgiven by God without indulgences.
• The pope would do better to sell Saint Peter’s Church in Rome and give the money to the poor.
• If the pope has the power to release people from purgatory, why in the name of love doesn’t he do away with purgatory altogether?
Why doesn’t the pope build the church of Saint Peter with his own money?
Peace and forgiveness come to a person through faith in a gracious Christ.
Mutual Forgiveness: Mennonites and Lutherans
Martin Luther condemned the Anabaptists of his day. Anabaptists, in turn, were often highly critical of the Lutheran tradition. But in recent years Lutheran and Mennonite leaders have entered into dialogue and sought forgiveness for past wrongs. In 2009 Ishmael Noko, a Lutheran pastor from Zimbabwe who was also general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, addressed the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Paraguay. Noko apologized for Lutherans’ condemning and executing Anabaptists. That history, he said, “is a wound we [Lutherans] carry with us.” A few weeks later the council of the LWF formally expressed “deep regret and sorrow” for the persecution of Anabaptists by Lutherans in the sixteenth century. The council asked forgiveness from God and Mennonites. Mennonites responded by noting that “We need to address our own stereotypical treatment of Lutherans and our continuing sense of victimization. The goal is mutual forgiveness.”
Origin of Word “Protestant”
By the end of the 1520s, the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor still wielded much power. At the Second Diet of Speyer in April 1529, the Catholic majority ruled that in Lutheran lands, Catholics must be tolerated. However, in Catholic lands, liberty would not be extended to Lutherans. Nineteen territories, led by Prince Philip of Hesse, protested this arrangement. The protesters became known as Protestants.
The Last Supper: “This is my body” and “This is my blood”
Martin Luther vs Ulrich Zwingli
In an effort to unite the German and Swiss Protestants against their common Catholic enemies, Philip of Hesse invited Reformation leaders from the cities of Wittenberg, Strasbourg, Basel, and Zurich to come to his picturesque castle in Marburg and discuss issues that divided them.
Luther, Zwingli, and other Reformation leaders accepted the invitation. In October 1529, they met for what came to be called the Marburg Colloquy.
The main point of debate was the meaning of Christ’s words at the Last Supper as he blessed the bread and wine: “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” Luther argued that these words must be taken literally, meaning that Christ was bodily in the bread and wine (known as “real presence”). Zwingli maintained that Jesus’ words meant that the bread and wine were symbols representing the Lord’s body and blood. Zwingli agreed to accept Christ’s spiritual presence in communion but not his bodily presence. Luther remained unmoved. He drew a circle with chalk on the table and wrote, “This is my body.”
The debate did not result in handshakes. The Protestant reformers agreed to disagree, to the great disappointment of Prince Philip.
Beliefs of the Reformed Church
Ulrich Zwingli 1528
Zwingli, assisted by his colleagues, proposed many of the basic beliefs in the Reformed Church. These included the following:
• Christ is the head of the church;
• the Word of God is the final authority in the church;
• Christ alone is our righteousness; • the Bible does not teach the bodily presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper;
• there is no biblical foundation for the veneration of saints, for purgatory, or for holy images;
• marriage is open to all, including the clergy.
In the War of Cappel, Zwingli accompanied the Zurich forces as chaplain and was killed in battle, sword in hand. Luther was convinced that God punished Zwingli because Zwingli had not accepted the real presence of Christ in communion and had fought with the sword.
Many Anabaptist Leaders
Catholics had a pope, Lutherans had Martin Luther, and the Reformed had Zwingli. The Anabaptists, however, had no single outstanding outstanding leader.
Even Menno Simons, from whom Mennonites later got their name, was only one of many leaders in the Anabaptist movement. This made Anabaptism diverse, even fragmented, but it also exemplified the Anabaptists’ strong belief in the priesthood of all believers. In the church, according to the Anabaptists, all members possessed spiritual gifts.
Among the Swiss Anabaptists, early leaders included Conrad Grebel (ca. 1498-1526), who was the son of a wealthy Zurich city council member and who had attended universities in Vienna and Paris. Grebel performed the first baptism, but he did not live very long thereafter. Less than two years later, at age twenty-eight, he died of the plague while on the run as a wanted man.
Other early leaders included George Blaurock (ca. 1492-1529), who requested baptism of Grebel and whom we met in the introduction of this book.
Wilhelm Reublin was an effective Anabaptist leader at the beginning, but he later renounced Anabaptism and helped the authorities who had persecuted him and his friends.
Michael and Margaretha Sattler and Balthasar Hubmaier, all killed for their faith, also influenced Swiss Anabaptism. We shall meet them later.
“Into your hands, Lord” Felix Manz (ca. 1498-1527), who would be one of the first Anabaptist martyrs, was the son of a single mother. An intelligent young man, Manz studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in Zurich and later attended the University of Paris. When Zwingli began his reforming work, Manz was among those who supported him. Before long, however, Manz and his friends disagreed with Zwingli on the question of believers baptism versus infant baptism. Manz and Blaurock faced repeated arrest and imprisonment for their preaching and baptizing. Sometimes they escaped, and sometimes their captors set them free with a stern warning to stop their evangelism. Toward the end of 1526, the two leaders were again arrested and taken to Zurich. Since Blaurock was not a citizen of Zurich, the authorities flogged him and banished banished him from the city. Manz was charged with baptizing, setting up a separate church, and teaching that a Christian could not be a magistrate or use a sword. His sentence was death by drowning. Zwingli, his former teacher and friend, supported the verdict.
Baptism: Infant versus Adult (Believers’)
Why was the issue of baptism so important in sixteenth-century Europe?
At that time most people believed that baptism not only removed the guilt of sin from the infant but also made the baby a member of the church. To postpone baptism until later in life would divide society into Christians and non-Christians. For Zwingli and other mainstream Reformers, adult baptism would result in a large part of society remaining pagan. Zwingli was committed to a Christian society, a Christendom where everyone was automatically part of the church.
Anabaptists, on the other hand, believed that faith was to be received voluntarily. Baptism and church membership were only for those who repented of their sins and made a personal decision to follow Jesus (discipleship). Anabaptists believed that unbaptized children were safe in Christ and thus could wait until they were old enough and able to respond to God’s grace. When the radicals took the step of adult baptism, they became outlaws.
Ulrich Zwingli 1484-1531
Through Fire and Water pp 63-69
Luther was not the only Reformer. Quite independent of Luther, yet influenced by his writings, was Ulrich Zwingli, the leading reformer in Switzerland. Zwingli’s personality was not as colorful as Luther’s, but in Switzerland’s reform movement, his role was as important as Luther’s.
Zwingli rejected papal authority and many orthodox doctrines and, although he had strong local support in Zurich, his ideas met with fierce resistance in some regions.
He had significant differences with Luther, particularly over Christ’s words at the Last Supper “This is my body” and This is my blood.” Zwingli did not take these words literally, ie he did not believe in “the real presence” as Luther did.
Zwingli was killed in the civil war that resulted from his reforms.
Swiss religious reformer, the principal figure of the Swiss Reformation.
Seven convictions of Swiss Anabaptism
The Brotherly Union, or Schleitheim Confession
Michael Sattler, former Benedictine monk
The meeting took place secretly on Feb 24, 1527. The group discussed and debated issues of Christian faith and the nature of the church.
In the end they agreed on seven principles.
- Concerning baptism. Baptism is for all who have repented “and [who] believe truly that their sins are taken away through Christ.” This article goes on to reject infant baptism as “the greatest and first abomination of the pope.” Baptism is for those who request it without any pressure from others.
- Concerning the ban. Matthew 18 is the basis for dealing with a fellow member who slips into error or sin. Counsel begins in private, and only later does the erring member come before the congregation. If the person does not repent, the ban or excommunication from the church must follow.
- Concerning the Lord’s Supper. Those who wish to take part in communion “must beforehand be united in the body of Christ, that is, the congregation of God, whose head is Christ, and that by baptism.” The emphasis is on oneness with Christ and with one another. Only “children of God” may participate in the Lord’s Supper.
- Concerning separation. Separation from the world is part of following Jesus. Worldliness includes “popish and repopish” (Catholic and Protestant) works, idolatry, state church attendance, going to wine houses and taverns, and other “carnal” things. Christians must also separate themselves from “diabolical weapons of violence—such as sword, armor, … and all of their use to protect friends or against enemies—by virtue of the word of Christ: ‘You shall not resist evil.’”
- Concerning shepherds. The shepherds or pastors “take care of the body of Christ.” If a pastor is exiled or martyred, “at the same hour another shall be ordained to his place, so that the … little flock of God may not be destroyed.” The pastor’s role of preaching, teaching, and counseling is important in building the congregation.
- Concerning the sword. God established governments that use the sword, but they are “outside the perfection of Christ.” Governments use the sword to punish the wicked and to protect the good. Among Christians, however, violence has no place, even for self-defense. In renouncing the sword, Christians follow their Lord, who was “meek and lowly of heart.” Because Christians have renounced all violence, it is not fitting for them to serve as magistrates or hold government offices. Rulers are part of the kingdom of this world, whereas Christians live according to the rules of the kingdom of God, because their “citizenship … is in heaven.”
- Concerning the oath. Christians do not swear to validate the truth of their statements. Their life and speech ought to be simply yes and no, “for what is more than that comes from evil,” as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
Michael Sattler’s life as a Benedictine monk clearly influenced the Schleitheim articles. Anabaptist ideals of separation from the world and of the disciplined Christian community as a model of Jesus’ way had roots in the Benedictine stream of Catholicism.
Reformation or restoration
In their bold witness, Anabaptists were an irritant to Christendom’s church and state powers. No wonder they were feared and hated.
Luther, Zwingli, and other mainstream Reformers were reformers in the real sense of that word. They struggled to clean up but not replace Christendom. They revived Christian faith and introduced the principle of the priesthood of all believers. They removed abuses connected with the sale of indulgences. But they kept infant baptism and the close relationship between church and state.
For the Anabaptists, reforming the old church was not enough. Instead, they wanted to restore the church as it had existed in apostolic times. They believed that when Emperor Constantine in the fourth century elevated Christianity to a high place within the empire, the church began to decline spiritually and morally. This loss of faith and the abuses that crept in were due to the marriage of church and state, the wealth of the church, and church leaders struggling for power and influence.
The Anabaptist Vision
A three point vision (Harold Bender, based on Swiss Brethren)
The “Anabaptist Vision” is a classic summary of distinctive Anabaptist beliefs.
In 1943 Mennonite historian Harold S. Bender (1897-1962) offered this three-point vision, based largely on the convictions of the Swiss Brethren. Bender hoped that contemporary Mennonites would catch this vision and renew their own Anabaptist commitments today. The points are these:
1. Christianity as discipleship.
While Luther emphasized the inner experience of faith, the Anabaptists stressed both inner faith and the expression of faith in life. “The great word of the Anabaptists was not ‘faith’ as it was with the reformers, but ‘following’ [Christ] (Nachfolge Christi).”
2. Church as community.
Luther and Zwingli kept the medieval idea of a state church, with membership of the entire population from birth. The Anabaptists rejected infant baptism and formed a church of converted members who voluntarily joined the body of Christ.
3. Ethics as love and nonresistance.
Anabaptists followed Jesus in rejecting warfare, violence, and the taking of human life. Peace did not stop with refusing to go to war, but shaped all human relationships in the family and between individuals.
Menno Simons 1496-1561
Through Fire and Water pp 95-100
Menno Simons 1496 – 31 January 1561) was a Roman Catholic priest from the Friesland region of the Low Countries who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and became an influential Anabaptist religious leader. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and it is from his name that his followers became known as Mennonites. He died a martyr.
(Wikipedia)
Mennonites are named after Menno Simons
Menno’s leadership in northern Europe bore fruit. Rulers began to identify differences between the violent Anabaptists and the peaceful followers of Menno. In 1543 and 1544, Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, pressured Countess Anna of Oldenburg not to protect the Anabaptists in her region but to punish them harshly. When the countess ignored his directive, the Catholic Church excommunicated her because she protected people declared to be enemies of God and the emperor.
Under pressure, she then issued a decree that the Anabaptists were to leave her country, and that anyone who sheltered them would be punished. In this 1544 document, the term “Mennist” occurs for the first time. Countess Anna differentiated between the violent Anabaptists and the peaceful followers of Menno Simons, thus giving “Mennonites” their name. The name stuck, and eventually other Anabaptists adopted the name. Countess Anna never enforced the mandates strictly; until her death in 1562, she remained favorably inclined toward the Mennonites.
Menno Simons continued to travel, write, and teach. He and his family eventually settled in northern Germany, in an area between Hamburg and Lübeck, in the village of Wüstenfelde (today called Bad Oldesloe). In the house—dubbed the “Menno Hut,” which still stands today—Menno had his own printing press. His most important book was entitled Foundation-Book (1539), and in it he deals with Christian faith and life, supporting his teaching with numerous references to the Bible. All of Menno’s writings begin with 1 Corinthians 3:11: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” On this foundation Menno tried to build faithfully.
After his death in 1561, Mennonites honored him by erecting a small marker at his burial place. As a leader, Menno Simons was compassionate and respectful of members in the congregations, calling them “brothers” and “sisters” in his letters. He was not a serious or cranky elder, as some people imagine today. In some of his letters, Menno referred to himself humorously as “the one who is lame” and “the cripple who loves you.” Some scholars believe that Menno Simons suffered a stroke that left him disabled. Several pictures, painted after his death, portray him with a crutch.
Mennonite Regulations 1547 & 1554
In the second half of the sixteenth century, Mennonites held secret meetings in Emden, Wismar, Strasbourg, and other cities. At all of these meetings, they debated questions of how Christians were to live in the world. The meetings usually ended with participants agreeing on some common rules of faith and life, which they then submitted to congregations for further discussions.
For example, meetings in Emden and Wismar (1547, 1554) adopted the following regulations:
• Mennonites are not to marry outside the faith.
• Adultery is the only acceptable reason for divorce.
• Young people need to have the consent of their parents to marry.
• Although Mennonites may collect debts owed to them, they must not force debtors to pay them or use lawsuits to collect debts.
• Members must not carry weapons.
• Only those properly ordained by the elders of the congregation may preach.
• If someone is excommunicated from the church, other church members need to avoid or shun the person in certain ways, such as not eating with them or conducting business with them.
• If a married person is excommunicated, that person’s spouse also needs to shun the spouse by refusing to eat or sleep with the person. This rule emphasizes that church relationships are more important than family relationships.
The latter was challenged by Swaen, wife of Rutger. Menno supported Swaen but Elder Leenaert disagreed and Swaen was excommunicated. Menno was threatened with discipline.
Menno Simons the Reformer
Menno Simons’s place among the reformers of the sixteenth century is unique.
In some ways he cannot be compared with Martin Luther for the Lutherans, or with Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin for the Reformed tradition. Menno’s writings, for example, pale in comparison with the extent of Luther’s works—some sixty volumes. Menno’s Complete Writings, in contrast, amount to fewer than one thousand pages.
Menno’s task was more difficult than that of the other Reformers. The Magisterial Reformers had the support of powerful rulers, who even went to war to defend their cause and to force Protestantism on territories and countries. But Menno renounced all violence and state support. With other Anabaptists, he appealed to the hearts and minds of people to follow the humble Jesus.
As pastor of his persecuted followers, Menno organized congregations and defended the peaceful Anabaptists through his writings. He denounced the violence of Münster and brought Anabaptism back to its earlier beliefs and principles. Without his ministry, Dutch Anabaptism might not have survived.
Before he became an Anabaptist, Menno Simons said he enjoyed an easygoing life of drinking and playing cards. He gave it up when God called him to conversion and a life of leading and teaching Anabaptist congregations in northern Europe.
Hans Denk ca. 1500-1527
Too gentle for cruel times
Hans Denk (Denck), who seems to have led the Augsburg Martyrs’ Synod, was a shining light among the South German Anabaptists. While he accepted most Anabaptist teachings about baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the church, Denk believed that the inner reality of the Christian faith was more important than outward ceremonies and institutions, which he downplayed.
Some have described him as a “spiritualist” among the Anabaptists. He believed that there is a part of God within each individual, and that this “divine light” can respond to God’s call and grace.
With Luther and the Anabaptists, Denk held that each believer is redeemed by the grace of God, but he also insisted that faith needed to result in works of love. Denk’s motto was “No one can truly know Christ without following him in life, and no one can follow him without first knowing him.”
Denk’s reading of medieval mysticism influenced his religious life. He had closely studied a collection of writings known as German Theology, which Luther had republished in 1518. University educated, Denk became a teacher and scholar and is best known for his writings on love and the commandments of Christ. The love of God in Christ stood at the center of his faith. Denk’s love and tolerance extended to his opponents and enemies. An effective debater, he expressed sorrow for having offended others in heated discussions. One historian has noted that Denk was “one of the few personalities of the sixteenth century who never indulged in controversy except with a heavy heart; not a trace of abusiveness or unfairness is to be found in his writings.”
But Hans Denk was a hounded man. Driven out of Nuremberg and other cities, he had to leave his wife and children behind. However, the bright flame that burned within him could not be extinguished. Through teaching, counseling, preaching, debating, and writing, Denk laid a good foundation for Mennonite spirituality and Christian discipleship. Denk was one of the tolerant Anabaptists who wished to include all sincere believers, whatever their religious persuasion, in the church of Christ. His contemporaries knew him as “the famous Hans Denk” and as a highly talented young person.** Not yet thirty, Denk died, like Conrad Grebel, of the plague in November 1527.
Today some Mennonites consider him to be a model Anabaptist.
Jakob Hutter ca. 1500-1536
Hutterites become the communal branch of Anabaptism
Radical Reform Comes in South Germany and Moravia Chapter 6: See this chapter for background on Hutter
The tension between the two groups came to a head in 1528. That year King Ferdinand of Austria pressured the Liechtensteins to persecute the Anabaptists. The Liechtensteins refused. In fact, they threatened to go to war against King Ferdinand in the name of Anabaptism! At that point the nonresistant Anabaptists decided—and were soon ordered—to leave Nikolsburg. Wiedemann and a group of about two hundred adults and many children packed their possessions and left. Outside the gates, under the open sky, they deliberated about what to do next.
An old account describes what happened: “They took counsel together in the Lord because of their immediate need and distress and appointed servants for temporal affairs…. These men then spread out a cloak in front of the people, and each one laid his possessions on it with a willing heart—without being forced—so that the needy might be supported in accordance with the teaching of the prophets and apostles.” With this act of giving up all their material possessions, the people leaving Nikolsburg had begun a communal expression of Anabaptism. Individual members shared their resources completely, following the example of the first Christians as recorded in Acts 2:44-45.
Sharp disagreements emerged among the Anabaptists themselves. Suspicions arose about whether Wiedemann and other leaders had actually given up all their possessions. Jealousy and accusations threatened the survival of the Anabaptist commune.
Into this tense setting came a new Anabaptist leader named Jakob Hutter (ca. 1500-1536). Although he had little formal education, Hutter was a good organizer and preacher. We do not know when he became an Anabaptist or where he was baptized. He came from Tyrol, Austria, where he had learned hatmaking.
There is evidence that before his conversion to peaceful Anabaptism, he participated in peasant revolts. Following the failure of armed uprising in Tyrol, Hutter may have gathered around him surviving rebels from the Peasants’ War and organized a church at Welsberg. When authorities discovered and scattered that group in 1529, Jakob Hutter was among those who managed to escape. In 1532 officials issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant included the following details about him: “Jakob Hutter, … a person with a black beard, who wears a black woolen military coat, a blue doublet, white trousers, and a black hat.” Another source states that Hutter “is said to be carrying a gun.“ Whatever his involvement with the rebellious peasants before his conversion to Anabaptism, Hutter was a nonresistant Anabaptist when he joined Wiedemann’s group of communal Anabaptists.
Hutter labored faithfully in Moravia, teaching and organizing the communities, bringing stability, and ending the infighting.
Hutterites become the communal branch of Anabaptism
Hutter served his people for only two years, between 1533 and 1535. He was executed in 1536 and his wife two years later. Yet in this short time, his influence was so important that the communal wing of Anabaptism soon received the nickname Hutterites.
Hutterites shared basic Anabaptist convictions with the Swiss Brethren and Dutch Mennonites. But Hutterites also practiced “community of goods,” meaning that they shared their possessions and did not own private property. This Christian communism set the Hutterites apart from other Anabaptists—and continues to do so today.
In the 1870s, the Hutterites immigrated to the United States, and in the twentieth century most moved again—this time to Canada because of harassment in the United States. Today more than 50,000 Hutterites Hutterites continue the communal Anabaptist tradition as they live in 470 communal farms, known as Hutterite colonies, scattered across Western Canada and the United States. Families work together, live in colony apartments, and eat group meals prepared in large dining halls much like school cafeterias.
How different were the Anabaptists
By now you may have wondered about the differences between Anabaptist faith and the beliefs of other Christians. You might even ask whether there were compelling reasons for persecuting Anabaptists or compelling reasons for Anabaptists to accept suffering and death for what they believed.
As we have seen, Anabaptists accepted the Apostles’ Creed with all other Christians. Why then did other Christian groups and churches persecute Anabaptist believers? And why did Anabaptists think that their understanding of the gospel was distinct? Here are some of the main points on which Anabaptists differed from the beliefs and emphases of the mainline churches, both Catholic and Protestant:
1. Concept of church.
The Roman Catholic Church had long assumed that a territorial church to which all people automatically belonged was quite acceptable. Lutheran and Reformed leaders also accepted the concept of corpus christianum—the “Christian body” or “society” within a territory. Infant baptism was the means by which people became part of the territorial church. Moreover, according to these theologians, the true church exists where the Word of God is preached and where the sacraments are administered faithfully. Anabaptists broke with this view of the church. According to the Schleitheim Confession and other documents, Anabaptists thought of the church as a gathered congregation of believers who were baptized upon confession of faith. Adult baptism separated believers from the world and united them into Christian communities for the purpose of following Jesus and modeling the Christian faith in an unchristian society. This radical view of the church contradicted the traditional view.
2. Church and state and religious liberty.
Anabaptists believed the faith of Christians should be voluntary. This meant that governments had no right to interfere in spiritual or church matters. Anabaptists separated church and state, something that modern democratic governments later accepted. In the sixteenth century, this conviction made Anabaptists seem like rebels. There was little tolerance and religious liberty in the sixteenth century. Both Catholics and Protestants persecuted those who did not believe as they did. Many believed they were doing God a favor by persecuting “heretics.” It is true that most Anabaptists also believed that their faith was right and that others were wrong. However, nonresistant Anabaptists did not persecute and kill others for their faith. Some used the ban or other forms of discipline in their congregations, but they did not force people to join their church. They believed that faith was a gift of God and therefore was free. No state or church had the right to interfere by force in a person’s religious life. With their suffering for what they believed, Anabaptists paved the way for later tolerance in religious matters.
3. Salvation and the Christian life.
Anabaptists accepted Luther’s view that Christians are redeemed by the grace of God through faith. Contrary to the German reformer, however, Anabaptists stressed that works of love and a Christian lifestyle had to follow faith. In this they agreed with Catholicism, which emphasized the importance of good works in the lives of believers. Luther tended to separate works from faith, whereas in Anabaptism faith and discipleship were closely linked. Time and again Anabaptists maintained that true Christians are recognizable by their actions.
4. Nonresistance or pacifism.
Catholic and Protestant Christians were not pacifists. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and other church leaders had taught that Christians could participate in “just wars.” The peaceful Anabaptists rejected the sword and all violence. For them, Jesus’ teaching and example were the norm of faith and conduct. It must be stressed, however, that the Anabaptist peace position extends to all areas of life, not just to war. Nonresistance “is not simply a matter of refusing to bear arms in wartime, although that is certainly included. Rather, it is a totally new life orientation in which all human relationships are governed by patience, understanding, love, forgiveness, and a desire for the redemption, even of the enemy.”
5. Mission.
The Catholic and Protestant churches certainly believed in evangelism and mission. But they relied more on the institutional church and even on governments to promote their religion. Anabaptists encouraged each believer to share his or her faith, witnessing to the love of Jesus and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Luther believed that “heretics” could believe what they wished. But as soon as they publicized their faith, they had to be stopped. Yet Anabaptists could not remain silent. They sought to illuminate the world around them and invite people to discipleship. These convictions shaped the first generations of Anabaptists, who lived as outlaws and refugees. As time passed, Mennonites became more settled and began to think about not only surviving but also about passing on faith to their children and developing stable traditions to guide congregational life. Such concerns shaped Mennonite life in the 1600s and 1700s as they established new communities in Eastern Europe and North America. These new environments would test their faith, leading them to ask what it means to be an Anabaptist follower of Jesus in a new context.
Were there compelling reasons for persecuting Anabaptists or compelling reasons for Anabaptists to accept suffering and death for what they believed?
Anabaptist Women
… worked side by side with men in proclaiming the gospel, baptizing new believers, and teaching congregations the way of Christian discipleship. Like Jakob Hutter’s wife, their names are often unknown to us today.
Unfortunately, this has concealed their witness. Yet their work was well-known in the 1500s—so well-known, in fact, that authorities persecuted these women leaders as ferociously as they persecuted the men. According to the Martyrs Mirror, about one-third of all Anabaptist martyrs were women.
Many of these women were married and had children. Yet family ties did not prevent them from working as missionaries and accepting the punishment that other Anabaptist leaders received. In southern Germany and Austria, particularly in the Tyrol region, about 40 percent of Anabaptist martyrs between 1527 and 1529 were women.
Women in Austria contributed significantly to spreading and strengthening Anabaptism. For example, administrators in Salzburg captured Ursula Binder in 1527 and punished her for promoting Anabaptist teachings. In the village of Wells, two sisters spread Anabaptist ideas and sold Anabaptists books as Hans Hut had done. In the city of Strasbourg, a woman named Margarette Pruess took great risks in distributing Anabaptist books.
Veronika Gross and Anna Salminger were prominent Anabaptist evangelists in the city of Augsburg. In 1528 authorities broke up an Easter worship service and arrested many of those present. It is clear from the court records that women had been leaders in this Anabaptist congregation and that the authorities believed that Gross, Salminger, and other women were largely responsible for spreading Anabaptism in Augsburg. The magistrates expelled Gross from the city when she refused to recant.
Helene of Freyberg was a courageous noble-woman
While most Anabaptist men and women came from among the common people, there were also noble men and women who joined the Anabaptist ranks. Helene of Freyberg was one of the most prestigious women among this group.
Her home was the ancestral castle of Münichau near Kitzbühel, Austria. Kitzbühel, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, was an important center of Anabaptism.
Helene was married and the mother of three sons. In 1528 she came in contact with Anabaptists and accepted their faith. From then on, she sheltered many Anabaptist preachers in her castle and became active in house fellowships. The authorities in Innsbruck soon learned of her activities and threatened her, stating that “if she does not recant [her faith], she has to be brought before the judges.”
Sometime around 1530 she fled, leaving her husband and sons behind. From then on, Helene’s life was that of an exile and missionary. In 1538 her husband died, after which her sons supported her and intervened on her behalf before the authorities. She befriended many Anabaptist leaders and corresponded with them.
Although it is unclear if Helene ever preached publicly, she was very active as an Anabaptist teacher and leader. One of her greatest contribution was providing shelter for Anabaptists, establishing house churches, and mediating between Anabaptist and Reformation leaders. We do not know where or how Helene died.
