(See also "Schleitheim Confession")

A movement beginning on 21 January 1525 in the house of Felix Manz by men who believed that the Christian Church of the New Testament was not dictated by the secular government, i.e. separation of Church and State. Called Anabaptists by their opponents because they "re-baptized" believers, holding that baptism followed confession of personal faith in Christ, not something one does to infants to keep them saved. Their goal was the restitution of apostolic Christianity, a return to churches of true believers.

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Felix-Manz, history, Schleitheim-Confession[/tags]

The persecution of the Anabaptists forced them to flee to the north. Many of them found refuge on the lands of some exceptionally tolerant princes in Moravia. There they founded a long-lasting form of economic community called the Bruderhof, a Christian commune. In part they aimed to follow the pattern of the early apostolic community. But they sought community for practical reasons too — as a means of group survival under persecution. Their communities attempted to show that in the kingdom of God brotherhood comes before self. Consolidated under the leadership of Jakob Hutter, who died in 1536, these groups came to be known as "Hutterites".

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, Bruderhof, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Hutterites, Jakob-Hutter[/tags]

When many tormented Anabaptists from the heavily persecuted fledgling movement fled to Germany and Austria, they found their prospects no greater there. In 1529 the imperial Diet of Speyer proclaimed Anabaptism a heresy and every court in Christendom was obliged to condemn the heretics to death. During the Reformation years between four and five thousand Anabaptists were executed by fire, water and sword.

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Diet-of-Speyer, history, Reformation[/tags]

(died 1563)

When the Anabaptists spread eastwards toward Moravia, they found refuge on the lands of some exceptionally tolerant princes. There they founded a very long-lasting form of economic community called the Burderhof. Consolidated under the leadership of Jakob Hutter these groups came to be known as "Hutterites."

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Hutterites, Jakob-Hutter[/tags]

At the house of Felix Manz in Zurich on 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz met with fellows of like faith despite opposition from the town council. They had been commanded to stop holding Bible classes and had been warned by the council that all babies were to be baptized within eight days of birth or face banishment from the territory.

When George Blaurock, a former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the apostolic fashion — upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ, Grebel baptized him on the spot and Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others. Thus, Anabaptism was born. Today the direct descendants of the Anabaptists are the Mennonites and the Hutterites.

Persecution forced the Anabaptists north. Many of them found refuge on the lands of some exceptionally tolerant princes in Moravia. There they founded a long-lasting form of

Today the direct descendants of the Anabaptists are the Mennonites and the Hutterites. Only one section of the Mennonites today, the Old Order Amish, hold tenaciously to the old ways. What unites the various types of Mennonites is not a style of dress or a mode of transportation, but a shared set of beliefs and values. Many of these beliefs are now accepted by other Christians. So the distant relatives of the Anabaptists today include the Baptists, the Quakers and, in one sense, the Congregationalists.

[tags]Anabaptists, Baptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Congregationalists, history, Hutterites, Mennonites, Quakers[/tags]

Catholic and Lutheran fears of the Anabaptist radicals deepened suddenly in the mid-1530's with the bizarre Munster rebellion. Munster was an episcopal city in Wesphalia near the Netherlands. In 1532 the Reformation spread rapidly throughout the city. A conservative Lutheran group was at first strong there. But then new immigrants, who were apostles of a strange figure called Jan Matthijs, led to fanaticism among those in power. Many looked for the creation of the Lord's earthly kingdom in Munster. Church historians call such views chiliasm, meaning belief in a thousand year earthly kingdom of Christ.

When the bishop of the region massed his troops to besiege the city, these Anabaptists uncharacteristically defended themselves by arms. As the siege progressed, the more extreme leaders gained control of the city. In the summer of 1534 a former innkeeper, Jan of Leiden, seized the powers of government and ruled as an absolute

When, in 1527, the Anabaptists met in the first "synod" of the Protestant Reformation at Schleitheirm on today's Swiss-German border, near Schaffhousen, the leading figure at this meeting was the former Benedictine monk, Michael Sattler. Four months later he was burned at the stake in nearby Rottenburg-am-Neckar.

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Michael-Sattler, Reformation[/tags]

In the early 1500's, surviving as bands of outlaws in Switzerland, Moravia and the Netherlands, the Anabaptist groups had little opportunity to coordinate their evangelistic efforts or to give united expression to their beliefs. On one important occasion, however, in 1527 they did attempt to agree upon a common basis of fellowship at Schleitheim on today's Swiss-German border, near Schaffhausen. There the Anabaptists met in the first "synod" of the Protestant Reformation. The "Brotherly Union" adopted at Schleithein proved to be a highly significant document. We call it the Schleitheim Confession. During the next decade, most Anabaptists in all parts of Europe came to agree with the beliefs it laid down.

First among these convictions was what the Anabaptists called "discipleship". The Christian's relationship with Jesus Christ must go beyond inner experience and acceptance of doctrines. It must involve a daily walk with God, in which Christ's teaching and

(c. 1496-1561)

In the aftermath of the suppression of the Anabaptists at Munster, the dispirited Anabaptists of the lower-Rhine area gained new heart through the ministry of Menno Simons. Although always in great personal danger, Menno, a former priest, traveled widely to visit the scattered Anabaptists groups of northern Europe and inspire them with his nighttime preaching. Menno was unswerving in commanding pacifism. As a result, his name in time came to stand for the movement's repudiation of violence. Although Menno was not the founder of the movement, most of the twentieth-century descendants of the Anabaptists are called "Mennonite."

[tags]Anabaptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Menno-Simons[/tags]

The Anabaptists were the first to insist upon the separation of church and state. Christians, they claimed, were a "free, unforced, uncompelled people." Faith is a free gift of God, and civil authorities exceed their competence when they "Champion the Word of God with a fist." The church is distinct from society, even if society claims to be Christian.

The Reformation unintentionally shattered traditional Christendom. It prayed and preached and fought for the true faith until no single church remained, only what we now call "denominations." But in the place of a solid, unified Christendom, strong national princes still arose to perpetuate the alliance of church and state in their realms for the supposed good of their subjects.

Yet, over the ocean, the "new order" for Christianity in the American colonies threw the churches into another arena. After the first generation of settlers a wide variety of national