Who Were the Anabaptists?

Last night we had a Thursday evening gathering exploring the roots and routes of Anabaptism. I suggested doing this because, from time to time, I've slipped into conversation something about an Anabaptist perspective without really saying how why Anabaptism is important to me or indeed what Anabaptism really is or who the Anabaptists were and are still.

This evening was the first of three (also on 22/02/07 - 'Anabaptist Lives' - and 01/03/07 - 'Why I Am an Anabaptist'), and I thought I'd put here on the site a QuickTime and a Powerpoint of the Keynote slides I used last night. The QuickTime is an interactive movie, so you need to click on the slides to make them progress. Obviously these are only bullet points and I narrated much more detail for each slide than is presented. I'll try and put some indicators below.

Most of the photos are public domain. Martin Luther photo from www.luther-der-film.de ('Luther', the film, starring Joseph Fiennes).

Notes

Luther's 95 Theses

On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther wrote to Cardinal Albert, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting the sale of indulgences in his episcopal territories and inviting him to a disputation on the matter. He enclosed the 95 Theses, a copy of which, according to tradition, he nailed the same day to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel, a papal commissioner for indulgences: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs"; and he insisted that since pardons were God's alone to grant, those who claimed indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.

The 95 Theses were quickly translated into German, printed, and widely copied, making the controversy one of the first in history to be fanned by the printing press. Within two weeks, the theses had spread throughout Germany; within two months throughout Europe. In contrast, the response of the papacy was painstakingly slow.

Cardinal Albert of Hohenzollern, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, with the consent of Pope Leo X, was using part of the indulgence income to pay his bribery debts, and did not reply to Luther’s letter; instead, he had the theses checked for heresy and forwarded to Rome.

Leo responded over the next three years, “with great care as is proper”, by deploying a series of papal theologians and envoys against Luther. Perhaps he hoped the matter would die down of its own accord, because in 1518 he dismissed Luther as "a drunken German" who "when sober will change his mind".

Zwingli in Zürich

The invention of the printing press just a few decades earlier transformed Europe and books, pamphlets, tracts and Bibles were more readily available than ever before. Valuable texts were printed in large quantities and quickly distributed.

Ulrich (or Huldrych) Zwingli was to become the protestant Reformer in Zürich, Switzerland. He was a scholar and, having got hold of a Greek New Testament for the first time, he found what he read within utterly irresistible. He was a charismatic personality and soon found influence within the Zürich City Council. He used his position to convince the City to break with the Roman Catholic church and embark on the path of reformation.

He soon gathered a group young men to study the Greek classics, with a view to tutoring them in reading the New Testament for themselves and so training them as leaders in his work of reformation. Among them was the young radicals Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz. They objected to Zwingli's application of his reading of the New Testament, dissappointed that he was not willing to break with the city council when they were not prepared to follow through the pass of reformation by, in particular, not abolishing the mass. Grebel saw this as an issue of obeying God rather than men, and, with others, could not conscientiously continue in that which they had condemned as unscriptural. These young radicals felt betrayed by Zwingli, while Zwingli believed they were irresponsible.

Birth of Anabaptism

Notes to follow

Persecution

Full notes to follow.

Woodcut: Mattheus Mair, d. 1592 - Refused to recant so ordered to be executed by drowning. ‘Now when the executioner had thrust brother Mattheus into the water, he drew him out again three or four times, and each time asked him whether he would recant. But he always said,"No," as long as he was able to speak; hence he was drowned, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of July, through the power of God steadfastly persevering in the faith.’

Anabaptist martyrdom is recorded in astonishing detail in the Martyrs Mirror (Read the full text of Martyrs Mirror and view the 104 illustrations online).

Anabaptism Elsewhere

Münster Rebellion

The disaster is the darkest moment of Anabaptist history. Many choose to gloss over it or sideline it as a marginal non-authentic Anabaptist disaster, but the more healthy are able to look the disaster square in the face, recognise it as the horror that it was and recognise it as the key turning point in 16th century Anabaptism and the important rôle the aftermath had in determining key hallmarks of Anabaptist ethics.

The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a theocracy in the German city of Münster. The city became an Anabaptist center from 1534 to 1535, and fell under Anabaptist rule for 18 months — from February 1534, when the city hall was seized and Bernhard Knipperdolling installed as mayor, until its fall in June 1535. After capturing the city vigorous preparations were made, not only to hold what had been gained, but to proceed from Münster toward the conquest of the world.

After obstinate resistance the town was taken by the besiegers on June 24 1535, and in January 1536 Bockelson and some of his more prominent followers, after being tortured, were executed in the marketplace. Their dead bodies were exhibited in cages, which hung from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church; the cages still hang there, though the bones were removed later.

Image: Cages of the leaders of the Münster Rebellion at the steeple of St. Lambert's Church.

Hallmarks

"God's commandment does not consist in the letter, but in the power which the Spirit gives." Hans Hut

"He who does not have the Spirit and presumes to find it in Scripture, looks for light and finds darkness ..." Hans Denck

"By the Spirit, Word, actions, and example of Christ, all must be judged until the Last Judgment." Menno Simons

"Baptism in the Spirit and fire is to make alive and whole again the confessing sinner with the fire of the divine Word by the Spirit of God."

"Baptism in water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ... is nothing other than a public confession and testimony of internal faith and commitment." Balthasar Hubmaier

"The Lord's Supper is a sign of the obligation to brotherly love just as water baptism is a symbol of the vow of faith. The water concerns God, the Supper our neighbor." Balthasar Hubmaier

"The bread and wine are nothing but memorial symbols of Christ's suffering and death." Balthasar Hubmaier

"[The Supper is] a public sign ... of the love in which one brother obligates himself to another ... that just as they now break and eat the bread with each other and share and drink the cup, likewise they wish now to sacrifice and shed their body and blood for one another." Balthasar Hubmaier

"We also confess a washing of the feet of the saints ... as a sign of true humiliation; but yet more particularly as a sign to remind us of the true washing -- the washing and purification of the soul in the blood of Christ." Dordrecht Confession, 1632

Pacifism & Gentleness

In the end, the difficult issue of violence was settled according to the principle of discipleship. Reborn disciples will follow Jesus. They will speak the truth and live the truth. They have renounced claims to earthly possessions. They will not return evil for evil, but will respond to evil with good.

Woodcut: Dirk Willems, d. 1569 - When Dirk Willems fled from the palace where he was being held and ran over ice on a pond, the guard chasing him fell in. When the others with the guard did not help him, Dirk went back and pulled him to safety. The guard then seized Dirk and took him back to captivity. He was executed by fire.