Comparative Confessions
Radical Christianity
Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites: the left wing of the Reformation
The Anabaptist movement, also called the Radical Reformation after George H. Williams (1962), or the left wing of the Reformation, arose at Zurich in 1525 in direct reaction to Zwingli’s reforming work. Its adherents wished to go further than Zwingli was prepared to concede.
The origins of the movement
The night of 21 January 1525
On the night of 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and Georg Blaurock met at Zurich with a small company. Blaurock asked Grebel to baptise him as an adult, as a confessor, upon his own faith. The act is the founding moment of Anabaptism: the first adult baptism of the modern period, and a challenge directed at once against the Church and against the civil magistrate.
The execution of Felix Manz (1527)
Felix Manz was drowned in the Limmat on 5 January 1527 by order of the Zurich council, and therefore with Zwingli’s indirect assent. The irony is severe: the authority that condemned the Anabaptists for repeating baptism executed them by water. Manz is the first Protestant martyr put to death by Protestants. Thomas Müntzer, leader of the socially revolutionary wing of the Radical Reformation, was beheaded after the defeat of the peasants at Frankenhausen in 1525.
| Figure | Dates | Contribution | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conrad Grebel | 1498-1526 | Co-founder at Zurich; the first baptisms | Died of plague, 1526 |
| Felix Manz | 1498-1527 | Co-founder; translation of the New Testament from Greek | Drowned at Zurich, 5 January 1527; the first martyr |
| Georg Blaurock | 1492-1529 | The first to be baptised; missionary in the Tyrol | Burned at Klausen, Tyrol |
| Michael Sattler | ca. 1490-1527 | Author of the Schleitheim Articles (1527) | Burned at Rottenburg am Neckar |
| Menno Simons | 1496-1561 | Organiser of the Dutch Anabaptists; the Mennonites | Died a natural death; the movement’s chief organiser |
| Thomas Müntzer | 1489-1525 | The revolutionary wing; the Peasants’ War; apocalyptic theology | Beheaded after Frankenhausen, 27 May 1525 |
The Schleitheim Confession (1527)
The first Anabaptist confessional document was drafted at Schleitheim, in the canton of Schaffhausen, by Michael Sattler, a few months before his execution. It defines the movement in seven articles, over against both magisterial camps, Lutheran and Zwinglian alike.
| Article | Content |
|---|---|
| 1. Baptism | Administered only to those who confess repentance and newness of life; infant baptism is rejected |
| 2. The ban | Ecclesiastical exclusion of the fallen, to be pronounced before the breaking of bread |
| 3. Breaking of bread | A memorial meal for members of the community; a radicalised Zwinglian memorialism |
| 4. Separation | Complete separation from the world and its ungodliness (2 Cor 6:17) |
| 5. Pastors | Chosen by the congregation, not appointed by the magistrate, and supported by it |
| 6. The sword | Refusal of all violence: no military service, and no magistracy that passes capital sentence |
| 7. The oath | Refusal of all oaths, on Matt 5:34-37: let your yes be yes |
Anabaptist theology is not a systematic summa but a lived, communal and often martyrological theology. Its major themes are discipleship, community, separation, non-violence and eschatology.
Principal themes
Scripture. Luther and Calvin hold sola Scriptura while granting tradition a secondary value. The Anabaptists go further, rejecting ecclesiastical tradition and civil tutelage alike.
The Church. Luther and Calvin retain a church of the multitude with visible and invisible dimensions. The Anabaptists know only the voluntary community of the baptised: small, holy and separate.
The state. Luther develops the doctrine of the two kingdoms and Calvin that of a Christian magistracy, both presupposing cooperation. The Anabaptists posit radical separation: the Christian holds no public office.
Discipleship (Nachfolge). Christianity is not intellectual assent but concrete following of Christ, including in suffering; martyrdom is understood as a second baptism.
Community. The assembly is the Body of Christ in the most literal communal sense, extending to community of goods among the Hutterites.
Non-violence (Wehrlosigkeit). Total refusal of violence, grounded in the Sermon on the Mount.
Eschatology. The movement lives in expectation: the community is the eschatological people of God within a hostile world.
Baptism as confession
Anabaptist baptismal theology is the heart of its ecclesiology. Baptism is not an initiation rite for the newborn but a public confession of faith, a commitment to the community and to a life of discipleship. This covenant between believer and congregation is reciprocal: the community in turn assumes responsibility for the baptised in discipleship, discipline and support.
The Anabaptist churches today
| Body | Origin | Adherents | Distinctives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mennonites | Menno Simons, 1530s | ca. 2.1 million | A wide spectrum from liberal in the Netherlands and Germany to conservative in Canada and Paraguay. The Mennonite Central Committee is the principal humanitarian body of Anabaptist origin. |
| Hutterites | Jakob Hutter, 1529 | ca. 50,000 | Full community of goods in Bruderhöfe. North America and Australia. |
| Amish | Jakob Ammann, 1693 | ca. 350,000 | A separation from the Mennonites. Radical refusal of modern technology; strict practice of shunning (Meidung). |
| Church of the Brethren | Alexander Mack, 1708 | ca. 110,000 | Anabaptist and Pietist in descent; a historic peace church in North America. |
| Baptists | Smyth and Williams, 1609 | ca. 100 million | Related to Anabaptism only through credobaptism, with a distinct confessional trajectory and predominantly non-pacifist. |
The Anabaptist legacy
An influence disproportionate to its numbers
Though the Anabaptist churches remain numerically modest, their central convictions have marked the whole Protestant world. Believers’ baptism now predominates in the contexts of most rapid growth, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The separation of church and state is enshrined in the First Amendment. Christian pacifism remains a serious challenge addressed to every tradition. And the vision of a voluntary community has shaped the modern conception of the believers’ church.
Yoder and Anabaptist ethics
John Howard Yoder (1927-1997), a Mennonite theologian, advanced an influential thesis in The Politics of Jesus (1972): the Sermon on the Mount constitutes a direct political ethic and not merely a spiritual rule. Jesus’ refusal of violence, at Gethsemane and at the cross, is political and normative for the Church. The work has shaped ecumenical debate on Christian social ethics well beyond the Anabaptist world.
Primary sources
- The Schleitheim Confession (1527).
- Simons, Menno. The Complete Writings. Scottdale: Herald Press, 1956.
Studies
- Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation. 3rd ed. Kirksville: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1992.
- Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.
- Stayer, James M. Anabaptists and the Sword. Lawrence: Coronado Press, 1972.
- Snyder, C. Arnold. Anabaptist History and Theology. Kitchener: Pandora Press, 1995.
Quiz — Radical Christianity
Who was Felix Manz, and why does he matter?
- A Lutheran martyr under Charles V
- Co-founder of Anabaptism at Zurich in 1525 and the first Protestant martyr executed by Protestants, drowned in the Limmat on 5 January 1527
- The author of the Schleitheim Confession
- The founder of the Mennonites in the Netherlands