API tools faq
paste
Advertisement
jonstond2

The Radical Reformation (Renaissance and Reformation)

jonstond2
Jul 12th, 2017
608
0
Never
Add comment
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 85.26 KB | None | 0 0
raw download clone embed print report
  1. Introduction
  2. The reformation of the 16th century challenged the core of traditional Christian theological concepts. Within the myriad small and large changes, one alteration soon came to symbolize and define the newness of the moment: the insistence on the Bible’s availability to and approachability by the individual reader. Since one of the major unintended consequences of such an allowance saw the turning of individual reading into individual interpretation, the Reformation soon splintered into a plethora of competing ideologies, doctrines, and beliefs. Behind the “mainstream” Lutherans, Calvinists, and Zwinglians stood a legion of more radical prophets whose often millenarian, sometime violent, sometime irenic stands propelled their adherents to action and placed them in the crosshairs of both Catholic and Protestant reaction. Popular dissatisfaction with the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church and with the progress and aims of the magisterial-driven Reformations of mainstream Protestant denominations gave voice to these emerging theological strands whose interpretations of the Bible differed quite markedly from standard and accepted models and offered new, often socially revolutionary conclusions. These voices eventually included such disparate groups as the Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites, Spirituals in general, and the Müntzerites, among others, in Continental Europe, and Puritans, Quakers, and Dissenters in England (the English Dissenter groups are collectively dealt with in the separate bibliography “English Reformation”). Called collectively “The Radical Reformation,” after a term coined by George Huntston Williams, these sects displayed a marked variety of religious and social approaches and altered the religious history of Europe and the rest of the world.
  3. General Overviews
  4. In history textbooks and in Reformation research the Anabaptists and their successors and offshoots such as Mennonites and Hutterites are usually grouped under a general tag of Radical Reformation. Though strict irenism and notions of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion might seem anything but radical today, it must be remembered that in the 16th century such concepts were perceived to be as revolutionary and as much a challenge to accepted norms, both Catholic and mainstream Protestant, as Thomas Müntzer and the German Peasants’ War. Dissent itself, even dissent from the original dissenters such as Luther and Calvin, was seen as inimical to the preservation of Christian (however defined) society and necessitated a reaction of the strongest magnitude. For a fine, now classic introduction to the concept of the Radical Reformation, which includes the story of the Anabaptists, no book serves better than the one that originated the term, namely Williams 2000. Rupp 1969 likewise focuses on early radical leaders, as does Goertz and Klaassen 1982. Cohn 1970 is an example of a historic work treating the Anabaptists and Müntzerites not as a singularity but rather as a part of a long tradition of radical movements. So does Verduin 2001. Seebass 2002 provides the ideological and theological bridge between Müntzer, the German Peasants’ War, and the Anabaptists. Goertz 2002 is a collection of essays on modes of 16th-century religious dissent while Diekmannshenke 1994 provides an interesting analysis of the language of dissent and resistance utilized by early-16th-century reformers.
  5. Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
  6. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  7. A fascinating history of radical and millenarian religious movements that challenged established Christian spiritual norms from the 10th century onward. Includes a discussion of the Anabaptists and their ilk. Sees the history of radicalism and millennialism of the 16th and 17th centuies as part of a long tradition of Christian dissent.
  8. Find this resource:
  9. Diekmannshenke, Hans-Joachim. Die Schlagwörter der Radikalen der Reformationszeit (1520–1536): Spuren utopischen Bewußtseins. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994.
  10. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  11. A linguistic and religious analysis of the meanings and expectations of the many catchphrases used by the radical German reformers in the early 16th century.
  12. Find this resource:
  13. Goertz, Hans-Jürgen, ed. Radikalität und Dissent im 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2002.
  14. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  15. A collection of essays produced by a joint venture of the German Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte and the American Society for Reformation Research. The essays in the third and fourth sections are of particular importance as they deal with the modality of radical dissent. What is also of interest is that the essays in this volume underline deep differences in continental and Anglo-Saxon Reformation research interests.
  16. Find this resource:
  17. Goertz, Hans-Jürgen, and Walter Klaassen eds. Profiles of Radical Reformers: Biographical Sketches from Thomas Müntzer to Paracelsus. Scottdale, PA, and Kitchener, Canada: Herald, 1982.
  18. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19. A well informed biographical collection on twenty-one radical reformers, most of them Anabaptists, that points to the theological genius of the Age of Reformation (as well as to its inherent dangers) in its attempts to reshape European society through new spiritual visions. The non-Anabaptist radicals are present as well, represented by the likes of Thomas Müntzer and Michael Servetus.
  20. Find this resource:
  21. Rupp, Gordon E. Patterns of Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969.
  22. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  23. An older book but still eminently readable that focuses on a few of the poignant marginal and radical figures of the early Reformation.
  24. Find this resource:
  25. Seebass, Gottfried. Müntzers Erbe: Werk, Leben und Theologie des Hans Hut. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verl.-Haus, 2002.
  26. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  27. Draws a connection between the social ideology and theology of the Thuringian revolutionary and Hans Hut, the later a major figure in the Anabaptist movement, thus setting the thesis that the Anabaptists were a continuation of Müntzer’s radical program.
  28. Find this resource:
  29. Verduin, Leonard. The Reformers and Their Stepchildren. Dissent and Nonconformity 14. Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 2001.
  30. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  31. Traces the progression of religious dissent and its persecution from the time of the Reformation onward. Another work that sees the Anabaptist movement as a continuation of earlier strands of spiritual radicalism.
  32. Find this resource:
  33. Williams, George Huntston. The Radical Reformation. 3d ed. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2000.
  34. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  35. A classic book from the scholar who coined the term “Radical Reformation.” The encyclopedic work covers all major radical sects, including the Anabaptists and their offshoots, discusses their origins, their theological stands, and their proliferation in Germany and Europe.
  36. Find this resource:
  37. Source Materials
  38. The challenge to the mainstream Reform of the Christian Church first originated in oral sermons, confessions, and disputations. Only gradually did those who were identified with dissent, and especially with dissent toward the dissenters, began to utilize the printed word as their weapon. And a weapon it did become: hostile observers were quick to note the spread of Anabaptist literature and propaganda, and radical preachers were just as quick to turn from the pulpit to the printing press to get their message across, especially in an ultimately failed attempt to collate their disparate theologies into some sort of a standard whole (the various attempts to create a unified Anabaptist confession here serve as an example). But as the reaction, Catholic and Protestant, intensified, and the state apparatus became involved different sorts of documents began to haunt the history of the Anabaptists and their ilk: letters from prison, sentences, death warrants, and accounts of executions. Historians have been very interested in these sources and several premier attempts have been made to organize and collect them. Quellen zur Geschichte der (Wieder)Täufer (Bossert, et al. 1930–2007) and Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer in der Schweiz (Muralt and Schmid 1952–2008) are the best, dealing respectively with Germany/Austria and Switzerland. Mellink and Zijlstra 1994 and Gregory 2002 belong to another good series, the Documenta Anabaptistica, which mostly concerns itself with the Dutch Anabaptist experience. Harder 1985 attempts to pinpoint the sources of the beginnings of Swiss Anabaptism, and rightfully concentrates on the persona of the reformer Conrad Grabel and his letters and disputations with Zwingli. For a more geographically-spread scope of radical ideologies, Baylor 1991 serves a quick introduction to the most salient production of the main Anabaptist players. Séguenny 2008 is more general still. Williams 1996 is an early scholarly attempt at classifying Anabaptists according to the statements made by their leaders. Fast and Rothkegel 2007 presents a newly discovered collection of sources dealing with the prominent Anabaptist circle of Pilgram Marpeck. Finally van Braght 1977 provides an English translation of a major 1660 martyrological tract. For additional sources specifically dealing with the Anabaptist takeover of Münster in 1534, see Münster. Some specifically Müntzerite, Hutterite, and Mennonite sources are included in the eponymous headings.
  39. Baylor, Michael G., ed. The Radical Reformation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
  40. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  41. Offers a collection of seminal texts of the Radical Reformation written by prominent sectarian leaders (Müntzer, Karlstadt, Grebel, Hut, et al.) that underscore both the commonalities of their core beliefs and the vast diffusion of their practices. Covers many radical movements, including the Anabaptists, both in and outside of Germany.
  42. Find this resource:
  43. Bossert, Gustav, Sr., et al., eds. Quellen zur Geschichte der (Wieder)Täufer. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1930–2007.
  44. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  45. This important series of source collections has been published under the auspices of the German Verein für Reformationsgeschichte since 1930. It consists of seventeen volumes. The subject is mostly divided geographically, though some of the major Anabaptist leaders, like Denck and Hubmeier, get their own volumes.
  46. Find this resource:
  47. Fast, Heinold, and Martin Rothkegel, ed. Briefe und Schriften oberdeutscher Täufer 1527–1555: das “Kunstbuch” des Jörg Probst Rotenfelder gen. Maler (Bürgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 464). Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, 2007.
  48. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  49. A contemporary collection of Anabaptist letters, confessions of faith, and accounts of interrogation, many written by Pilgram Marpeck, and collected in a “Kunstbuch” by Jörg Maler in the middle of the 16th century. A good insight into the theological standing and aspirations of the existing Anabaptist community in and around Bern.
  50. Find this resource:
  51. Gregory, Brad S., ed. Documenta Anabaptistica. Vol 8, The Forgotten Writings of the Mennonite Martyrs. Kerkhistorische Bijdragen 18. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
  52. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  53. Primary sources, including letters to and from the condemned, dealing with seven Dutch Anabaptist (Mennonite) martyrs executed between 1569 and 1592.
  54. Find this resource:
  55. Harder, Leland, ed. The Sources of Swiss Anabaptism: The Grebel Letters and Related Documents. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1985.
  56. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  57. A volume in the Classics of the Radical Reformation series, this annotated and edited analysis offers a selection of sources associated with the important reformer Conrad Grebel and his circle. A collection of nearly two hundred letters and other documents chronicles the rise of the Anabaptist community in Switzerland and their theological separation from the mainstream Reformation.
  58. Find this resource:
  59. Mellink, Albert Frederik, and Samme Zijlstra, eds. Documenta Anabaptistica. Vol 7, Friesland (1551–1601), Groningen (1538–1601). Kerkhistorische Bijdragen 17. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994.
  60. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  61. An interesting collection of Anabaptist-related documents from the mid-to-late 16th-century Netherlands, including sentences, edicts, and letters from jail, that underscores the legal differences with which various Dutch provinces approached the spread of religious dissent.
  62. Find this resource:
  63. Muralt, Leonhard von, and Walter Schmid, eds. Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer in der Schweiz. Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1952–2008.
  64. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  65. A source collection similar to the larger Quellen zur Geschichte der (Wieder)Täufer focuses, in four volumes, on the Anabaptist movement in the cantons of Switzerland.
  66. Find this resource:
  67. Séguenny, André, ed. Bibliotheca dissidentium: répertoire des non-conformistes religieux des seizième et dix-septième siècles. Baden-Baden, Germany: Koerner, 2008.
  68. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  69. One of more than two dozen (27 as of 2010) volumes from a series which specializes in printing short tracts of 16th century dissenters. Some of the latest volumes have concentrated on Polish, Russian, and Hungarian sources.
  70. Find this resource:
  71. van Braght, Thieleman (Jansz). The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians, Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith, and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus, Their Saviour, from the Time of Christ to the Year A.D. 1660. Translated by Sohm, Joseph F. Amsterdam: In Compagnie, 1685.
  72. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  73. An English translation of a major 1660 martyrological tract that includes hundreds of documents, letters from prison, and over four thousand accounts of deaths and executions. Heavy but poignant.
  74. Find this resource:
  75. Williams, George H, ed. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers. Library of Christian Classics. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996.
  76. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  77. A collection of important contributions from some of the leading Anabaptist leaders of the 16th and 17th centuries. The introduction, written by Professor Williams, constitutes an early scholarly attempt to typologically classify disparate Anabaptist strands.
  78. Find this resource:
  79. The German Peasants’ War
  80. The German Peasants’ War left an indelible mark on the emerging story of the Reformation in Germany, and, like the events in Münster ten years later, polarized the radical and mainstream currents against one another. Thomas Müntzer and his supporters became social and political, as well as theological rebels, and though not successful themselves, had considerable impact on the progression of the radicalizing trends, including some versions of Anabaptism, that followed. The bloody and chaotic events of 1525 have long been a favorite genre of historical research that saw them from a variety of perspectives, some theological and some ideological and social. Scott and Scribner 1991 illuminates the topic by providing important source materials from the personalities and institutions involved in the conflict. Franz 1977 underlines the classic scholarly approach which saw the peasant uprising strongly motivated in their actions by theological considerations. A more recent approach to the German Peasants’ War that includes the social context of the actors and their stated goals is Blickle 1985 and the theory that the uprising was the work of a cross-section of the common public, and not just of peasants. This Blickle thesis is developed and explained further in the subsequent Blickle 1992, Blickle 1998, and Blickle 2002.
  81. Blickle, Peter, ed. Der Deutsche Bauernkrieg von 1525. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1985.
  82. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  83. A cogent summary of Blickle’s thesis that sees the German Peasants’ War as a multiclass revolution composed of both the urban and agricultural segments of society, moved to action by religious propaganda and a radical social program.
  84. Find this resource:
  85. Blickle, Peter. Communal Reformation: The Quest for Salvation in Sixteenth-Century Germany. Translated by Thomas Dunlap. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1992.
  86. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  87. Serves as the continuation of the Blickle thesis that upholds the German Peasants’ War as a quixotic “revolution of the common man” driven to a bloody climax by a deepening sense of community and eschatology among the masses and their religious leaders.
  88. Find this resource:
  89. Blickle, Peter. The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants’ War from a New Perspective. Translated by Thomas H. Brady Jr. and H. C. Erik Midelfort. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
  90. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  91. A reinterpretation of the sources and events that challenges earlier notions of the German Peasants’ War as a strictly peasant event. The Blickle thesis argues that the uprisings occurred as much in the towns as out in the countryside and thus answered to social, as well as spiritual, concerns.
  92. Find this resource:
  93. Blickle, Peter. Der Bauernkrieg: Die Revolution des Gemeinen Mannes. 2d ed. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2002.
  94. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  95. Sees the events of the Peasants’ War as a broad class uprising comprising not only the agricultural (the peasants) but also the urban segments of the society, to whose timely social concerns was added an unhealthy dose of radical religious ideology.
  96. Find this resource:
  97. Franz, Günther. Der deutsche Bauernkrieg. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1977.
  98. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  99. A newer edition of a classic 1939 study that saw the radical preachers’ doctrine of “divine law” as an all-important catalyst for the uprising.
  100. Find this resource:
  101. Scott, Tom, and Bob Scribner, eds. The German Peasants’ War: A History in Documents. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1991.
  102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103. A collection of important documents from the time of the German Peasants’ War that explains the complex issues involved from the perspective of the individuals and institutions that played major roles in the events.
  104. Find this resource:
  105. Thomas Müntzer
  106. The fiery social and theological revolutionary Thomas Müntzer has received considerable literary attention, in his times and in ours. Seen mostly as a radicalizing monster full of spiritual error by his more mainstream theologian contemporaries, he has become somewhat more of an enigma in modern times, often portrayed as a social revolutionary ahead of his days or a failed champion of the common man. Either way, his impact on the Reformation in Germany in general and Radical Reformation in particular is beyond dispute, as explained by Bräuer 1989. The life and times of this “first Protestant theocrat” are further analyzed by Gritsch 1989. While both Scott 1989 and Cattepoel 2007 see him as a millenarian, End-of-Days mystic, Goertz and Matheson 1993, on the other hand, sees Müntzer as nothing but a political revolutionary. Quilisch 1999 again tries to minimize the revolutionary component and portrays Müntzer as an important political player in an urban setting. Müntzer’s social background and his intellectual context is the focus for Friesen 1990. Finally, Schwarz 1977 connects Müntzer’s revolutionary theology to that of the earlier Hussites.
  107. Bräuer, Siegfried. Der Theologe Thomas Müntzer: Untersuchungen zu seiner Entwicklung und Lehre. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989.
  108. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  109. Provides a good foundation of Müntzer’s social and political theology as it pertained to the catastrophe of the German Peasants’ War.
  110. Find this resource:
  111. Cattepoel, Jan. Thomas Müntzer: Ein Mystiker als Terrorist. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2007.
  112. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  113. Most accounts of Müntzer’s involvement in the German Peasants’ War see him committed to the ideas of social change. This one does not. As a millenarian mystic Müntzer expected the imminent coming of the End of Days and was therefore not overly concerned with the social dimensions of the war.
  114. Find this resource:
  115. Friesen, Abraham. Thomas Muentzer, a Destroyer of the Godless: The Making of a Sixteenth-Century Religious Revolutionary. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
  116. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  117. Explores the sources of Müntzer’s intellectual milieu, and paints the radical reformer as a product of his radical times.
  118. Find this resource:
  119. Goertz, Hans-Jürgen, and Peter Matheson, eds. Thomas Müntzer: Apocalyptic, Mystic, and Revolutionary. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993.
  120. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  121. This English translation of a series of original German essays sees little change or development in Müntzer’s theological position. Rather, it approaches it from the standpoint of continuity of thought that could always be described as revolutionary.
  122. Find this resource:
  123. Gritsch, Eric W. Thomas Müntzer: A Tragedy of Errors. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989.
  124. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  125. A straightforward and sympathetic account of the life and times of “the first Protestant theocrat” that attempts to untangle the theoretical knots that Protestant, Catholic, and Marxist historiographies have created in portraying this enigmatic figure.
  126. Find this resource:
  127. Quilisch, Tobias. Das Widerstandsrecht und die Idee des religiösen Bundes bei Thomas Müntzer: Ein Beitrag zur politischen Theologie. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1999.
  128. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  129. This reexamination of Müntzer’s life and political impact shows the radical reformer as not only a fiery preacher and theological revolutionary but also as a keen political player in Thuringia and in Muehlhausen.
  130. Find this resource:
  131. Schwarz, Reinhard. Die apokalyptische Theologie Thomas Müntzers und der Taboriten. Beiträge zur historichen Theologie 55. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr, 1977.
  132. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  133. Draws a theological and ideological connection between earlier mystical and heretical movements, such as the 15th-century Hussites and their Taborite offshoots, and the radical Thuringian reformer.
  134. Find this resource:
  135. Scott, Tom. Thomas Müntzer: Theology and Revolution in the German Reformation. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989.
  136. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  137. A sympathetic portrayal that sees Müntzer as a violently anticlerical German mystic whose ideas, personality, and goals are often lost in the haze of incomplete and often contradictory source materials.
  138. Find this resource:
  139. Works
  140. Müntzer did not necessarily write much, but his literary output has seen a copious amount of in-print analysis. Held 2004 presents the whole panoply of Müntzer’s writings, plus its critical analysis. Similarly Müntzer 1988 shows the full scope of the reformer’s development from a radical to a revolutionary. Müntzer 1982 takes the year 1523 as the most formative time for the development of the radical reformer’s eschatological concepts, while Müntzer 1973 establishes Die Fürstenpredigt as the most important of the Thuringian reformer’s documents. Finally Müntzer 1990 concentrates on his lesser known liturgical texts and letters.
  141. Held, Wieland, ed. Thomas-Müntzer-Ausgabe: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Vol. 3, Quellen zu Thomas Müntzer. Leipzig: Verlag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004.
  142. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  143. A recent attempt that serves both as a critical analysis and a collection of Müntzer’s most important religious and political writings
  144. Find this resource:
  145. Müntzer, Thomas. Die Fürstenpredigt: Theologisch-politische Schriften. Edited by Günther Franz. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam, 1973.
  146. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  147. An in-depth analysis of the political and eschatological components of Müntzer’s “Sermon to the Saxon princes,” perhaps his most complete theological statement that, following the second chapter of the Book of Daniel, interprets then-current German events in strict biblical fashion. Perhaps the most total and formative of Müntzer’s writings.
  148. Find this resource:
  149. Müntzer, Thomas. Theologische Schriften aus dem Jahr 1523. Edited by Siegfried Brauer and Wolfgang Ullmann. Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1982.
  150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  151. Müntzer’s writings from the year 1523 onward show the main phases of the development of his revolutionary theology.
  152. Find this resource:
  153. Müntzer, Thomas. The Collected Works of Thomas Müntzer. Edited by Peter Matheson. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988.
  154. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  155. An English-language version of Müntzer’s complete writings shows the full panoply of theological and political concepts that turned the Thuringian reformer into a religious and social revolutionary.
  156. Find this resource:
  157. Müntzer, Thomas. Schriften, Liturgische Texte, Briefe. Edited by Rudolf Bentzinger and Siegfried Hoyer. Berlin: Union-Verlag, 1990.
  158. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  159. A scholarly compilation of Müntzer’s literary remains concentrates on his less-known liturgical texts and letters.
  160. Find this resource:
  161. Anabaptists
  162. The most prominent nonconformists, offspring of the Reformation’s radicalizing trends, were the Anabaptists—their name stemming from their penchant for discounting pedobaptism in favor of credobaptism—or adult baptism of believers as opposed to infant baptism. Basing their teachings on a literal reading of the Sermon on the Mount, the Anabaptists, perhaps the most diffuse of the dissenting sects, and their ilk fell at both ends of the Reformation’s theological and social-action spectrum, ranging from devout pacifism to millenarian-inspired violence. From their origins at a social gathering in 1521 when their earliest identifiable member, Conrad Grabel, was rebaptized, the Anabaptists played a prominent role in the unfolding, often violent spectacle of the Reformation, sometimes as perpetrators of the Reformation’s most violent excesses, and more often as their victims. As such they have always intrigued both their contemporaries and future generations of scholars and historians, and assured the existence of many general histories of their movement. The most pressing question from the perspective of historiographic research these treatments seek to untangle regards the origins of the Anabaptists themselves. Though most historians accept that the Anabaptist movement developed per se in the 16th century, it is mostly seen as a continuation of earlier traditions and also as an integral part of the Radical Reformation. Of equal importance is the question of whether the Anabaptists evolved from a single spiritual expression, in Zurich for instance, and spread from there (what histories often call the monogenesis hypothesis) or whether they developed from several sources (the polygenesis tradition). Goertz 1980 and Roth and Stayer 2007 are standard, readable introductions. Driedger, et al. 2009 reflects the current interdisciplinary state of research into various contextual questions dealing with the history and meaning of the Anabaptist movement. Balke 2000 defines Anabaptism in terms of its difference with Calvin. Hillerbrand 1991 provides a comprehensive effort of compiling Anabaptist primary and secondary publications. Snyder and Huebert-Hecht 1996 offers a trailblazing window into the existence and concerns of Anabaptist women. Bender 1944 is a defining article that articulates the earliest version of the monogenesis hypothesis. Weaver 2005, on the other hand, makes a strong statement for the polygenesis approach. Finally Waite 2007 discusses the parallels in the Catholic establishment’s instruments of persecution against both Anabaptists and later the witches.
  163. Balke, Willem. Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals. Translated by Willem Heyner. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2000.
  164. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  165. Analyzes some of the salient and lasting differences between Calvin and his Anabaptist rivals. There is no question Calvin reserved some of his most vitriolic pronouncements for the Anabaptists. This account provides the story of their theological differences.
  166. Find this resource:
  167. Bender, Harold S. “Anabaptist Vision.” Church History 13.1 (1944): 3–24.
  168. DOI: 10.2307/3161001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  169. A classic article promoting the monogenesis school of Anabaptist origins and seeing the movement and their theology as an unbroken line stemming from Switzerland, through southern Germany, Austria, and Holland. Distinguishes the Anabaptists proper by their pacifism and separates them from the more radical sects and elements, such as those who took over Münster in 1534.
  170. Find this resource:
  171. Driedger, Michael D., Anselm Schubert, and Astrid von Schlachta, eds. Grenzen des Täufertums: neue Forschungen; Beiträge der Konferenz in Göttingen vom 23.–27.08.2006/Boundaries of Anabaptism. Heidelberg, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2009.
  172. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  173. This work, based on research presented at a 2006 academic conference in Göttingen, reflects the current state of multidisciplinary Anabaptist scholarship in Europe and North America.
  174. Find this resource:
  175. Goertz, Hans-Jürgen. Die Täufer: Geschichte und Deutung. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1980.
  176. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  177. In many ways a classic of German Reformation research, this work presents a synoptic view by a specialist on the history and religious and social meaning of the Anabaptist movement.
  178. Find this resource:
  179. Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. Anabaptist Bibliography: 1520–1630. St. Louis: Center for Reformation Research, 1991.
  180. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  181. A comprehensive and successful effort of compiling nearly all primary and secondary publications on the Reformation Anabaptists done by one of the experts in the field.
  182. Find this resource:
  183. Roth, John D., and James Stayer, ed. A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521–1700. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  184. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  185. A part of Brill’s Companions to Christian Tradition series, this concise introduction (Volume 6 in the series) to Spiritualism and Anabaptism traces the roots of both dissenting movements, their interactions with mainstream religious community, and their general histories from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
  186. Find this resource:
  187. Snyder, Arnold C., and Linda A. Huebert-Hecht, eds. Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-Century Reforming Pioneers. Studies in Women and Religion. Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1996.
  188. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  189. Based on court documents, testimonies, hymns, poems, and songs, this important contribution to both gender and Reformation studies adds the voices of Anabaptist women to our history of the Radical Reformation.
  190. Find this resource:
  191. Waite, Gary K. Eradicating the Devil’s Minions: Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe, 1525–1600. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 2007.
  192. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  193. An interesting study of the parallel fate of Anabaptists and witches. Waite sees the witch/heretic persecution, especially by the Catholic Tridentine authorities, as two sides of the same coin and hypothesizes that having established organized institutions of coercion in their persecution of Anabaptists, the state authorities later simply refocused their apparatus toward the persecution of witches.
  194. Find this resource:
  195. Weaver, J. Denny. Becoming Anabaptist: The Origin and Significance of Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. 2d ed. Scottdale, PA: Herald 2005.
  196. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  197. A work advocating the polygenesis model of Anabaptist beginning also sees the movement as a polyglot amalgamation of multiple spiritual strands rather than as an expression of a single prevailing theological interpretation.
  198. Find this resource:
  199. Anabaptist Theology
  200. Theology defines one’s religious worldview and informs the relationship between the self, the cosmos, and the godhead. The debate over whether the Anabaptists rightfully comprised a single strand or included diffuse approaches has been heavily informed by scholarly attempts to define their theology. Once again two schools of thought predominate, one concentrating on the similarities, and the other emphasizing the differences in the theological visions of various Anabaptist leaders. Were all Anabaptists pacifists? Was pacifism an innate part of core Anabaptist beliefs or did it develop over time as a response to outside pressure? What was their spiritual approach toward concepts relating to state and church, rituals, sacraments? Koop 2006 is a good introduction to the principal tenets of Anabaptist theology as presented by some of their leaders. Rempel 1993 concentrates on Anabaptist approaches to the Eucharist. Biesecker-Mast 2006 sees Anabaptist insistence on pacifism as a component of their theological separation from civic society. Stayer 2002 sees it as a response to their own persecution. Redekop 2001 wants to reshape the entire Anabaptist concept of yielding and nonviolence as a power play. Klaassen 2001 and Snyder 1997 argue again for the distinctiveness of 16th-century Anabaptist thought from other confessions whereas Stayer 1994 sees connections between certain aspects of Anabaptist theology and other radical movements. Littell 2001, on the other hand, presents a case for nonuniformity within the Anabaptist thought itself.
  201. Biesecker-Mast, Gerald. Separation and the Sword in Anabaptist Persuasion: Radical Confessional Rhetoric from Schleitheim to Dordrecht. Telford, PA: Cascadia, 2006.
  202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203. A “close-reading” of Anabaptist texts that attempts to establish, through rhetorical criticism, the place of pacifistic polemic within Anabaptist literary history. Eventually the author proposes irenism as a necessary component of the Anabaptist language of “separation” where the community saw itself as separate and distinct from civic society.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Klaassen, Walter. Anabaptism: Neither Catholic nor Protestant. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2001.
  206. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  207. A major work that emphasizes the distinctiveness of Anabaptist theology and thought in the 16th century from both the Catholic and mainstream Protestant ideology.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Koop, Karl, ed. Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition, 1527–1660. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2006.
  210. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211. Presents a selection of early Anabaptists’ confessions of faith that underline the theological and social dimensions and assumptions of the movement.
  212. Find this resource:
  213. Littell, Franklin H. The Anabaptist View of the Church. Dissent and Nonconformity 11. Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 2001.
  214. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  215. An analysis of the deep, meaningful, and often contentious relationship between the Anabaptist spiritualists and the notions of an established church. The author sees primarily a diffusion of many sources and beliefs instead of a single unity of approach, and distinguishes between radicals and reformers as he explains their attempts to define, or redefine, the relationship between the elect and the ecclesiastical institution.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Redekop, Benjamin W., and Calvin W. Redekop, eds. Power, Authority, and the Anabaptist Tradition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
  218. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  219. A collection of essays on the use of earthly or secular power, authority, and dominion by Anabaptist and Mennonite groups from the moment of the Anabaptist “rebellion” against clerical authority in the 16th century to the 19th-century Mennonite communities. The authors analyze the Anabaptist/Mennonite concept of Gelessenheit (yielding) and how it was used to mask and reinforce existing networks of power and authority within the communities themselves.
  220. Find this resource:
  221. Rempel, John D. The Lord’s Supper in Anabaptism: A Study in the Christology of Balthasar Hubmaier, Pilgrim Marpack, and Dirk Philips. Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1993.
  222. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  223. A comprehensive work that traces the distinctive history of the Anabaptist portrayal and understanding of the Eucharist through the writings of the movement’s most important heralds. Also shows how these theologies were altered in the later Mennonite tradition.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Snyder, Arnold. Anabaptist History and Theology. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 1997.
  226. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  227. A synoptic presentation of Anabaptist ideology and theology that establishes the main points of difference and contention between the Anabaptist, Catholic, and other Protestant ideologies.
  228. Find this resource:
  229. Stayer, James N. Anabaptists and the Sword. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2002.
  230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231. The book describes perhaps the most salient point of Anabaptist theological ethics—their deep pacifism and denial of the sword in the area of religion—to be a final destination of their long spiritual trek rather than their starting point—and implies that their irenism was achieved by political and social trial and error and mostly as a self-fashioning response to their own overt persecution.
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Stayer, James N. The German Peasant’s War and the Anabaptist Community of Goods. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994.
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235. A collection of essays that find connection and continuity between the social demands of the rebels during the 1525 uprising and the later theological and social stance of the Anabaptists on the issue of the community of goods.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Münster
  238. The famous, or infamous, events of 1534–1535 that took place in the Westphalian city of Münster developed a historiography and a scholarly fascination all their own. From contemporary accounts stressing the apocalyptic, through psychological and theological attempts to handle and explain the events, eventually through political exercises treating the year-long Anabaptist takeover as either foreshadowing and commenting on totalitarianism (the dawn of the Nazi era) or of a misguided triumph of an oppressed common man (during the Communist era), historians and other scholars have struggled mightily with the strange yet enthralling rise and fall of the Anabaptist Earthly Jerusalem. Schupp 2002 looks at the fascination those famous events had on contemporary and modern psyches, both common and historical. Bernet 2007 sees the Anabaptist catastrophe at Münster as only one of many attempts, by various inspired sects, to create a “Heavenly Jerusalem” on Earth. Schubert 1919 offers an early-20th-century attempt at an analysis of the Münsterite Anabaptist idea of “community of goods,” made of course in the light of the Bolshevik Revolution. Brendler 1966 writes about the events from a strict Marxist perspective. Arthur 1999 provides an eminently readable and exciting account of the action for both scholars and general readers. Kirchhoff 1979 offers a scholarly account of the events. Kirchhoff 1973 is a deeper, more analytical portrayal of the social context of the takeover. So is Klötzer 1992. Haude 2000 concentrates on the reception the Münster events had in neighboring Catholic and Protestant lands.
  239. Arthur, Anthony. The Tailor King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster. New York: St. Martin’s, 1999.
  240. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  241. A detailed recounting of the Anabaptist takeover of Münster in 1534/35. An engaging, colorful monograph written with the general reader in mind that vividly portrays all the key events and personalities that came to dominate the storyline of the brief Anabaptist surge into a position of political and spiritual power and dominance.
  242. Find this resource:
  243. Bernet, Claus. “Gebaute Apokalypse”: Die Utopie des Himmlischen Jerusalem in der Frühen Neuzeit. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz: Abteilung für Abendländische Religiongeschichte. Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern, 2007.
  244. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  245. This fascinating book distinguishes between the medieval notions of “Heavenly Jerusalem” found in the Book of Revelations as an allegorical portrayal, and the utopian notions of building such a realm found in early modern European religious context. The account portrays several attempts to recreate “Heavenly Jerusalem” on Earth, beginning with the famous Anabaptist takeover of Münster and continuing through Pietist communities of the 18th century.
  246. Find this resource:
  247. Brendler, Gerhard. Das Täuferreich zu Münster, 1534–35 Berlin: Dt. D. Verl. Sciences, 1966.
  248. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  249. A Marxist interpretation of the events transpiring in Münster in 1534–1535. Concentrates on the class/social and proto-Communistic aspects of the Anabaptist “Kingdom of Christ.”
  250. Find this resource:
  251. Haude, Sigrun. In the Shadow of ‘Savage Wolves’: Anabaptist Münster and the German Reformation during the 1530’s. Boston: Humanities Press, 2000.
  252. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  253. A carefully researched analysis of the reception events in Münster received in the surrounding Protestant and Catholic lands, especially Protestant Strasbourg and Catholic Cologne. Obviously the events in Münster, as watched by the Catholic and Protestant contemporaries, were often portrayed in an apocalyptic context.
  254. Find this resource:
  255. Kirchhoff, Karl Heinz. Die Täufer in Münster 1534/35: Untersuchungen zum Umfang und zur Sozialstruktur der Bewegung. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1973.
  256. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  257. An important study relating to the sociology behind Münster Anabaptism and its takeover of the Westphalian city in 1534–1535. The study concentrates on the individuals involved, their social networks and the political and the theological contexts of the events.
  258. Find this resource:
  259. Kirchhoff, Karl Heinz. Utopia 1534/35. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1979.
  260. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  261. The basic study of the creation and destruction of the Anabaptist “Kingdom of Christ” done by an expert in the field. One of the classics.
  262. Find this resource:
  263. Klötzer, Ralf. Die Täuferherrschaft von Münster: Stadtreformation und Welterneuerung. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1992.
  264. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  265. Writings on the social context of Münster Anabaptism, concentrating on the social structures developed by the movement in the face of constant and overt opposition. Sees the Anabaptist takeover of Münster as an extreme instance of an urban Reformation.
  266. Find this resource:
  267. Schubert, Hans von. Der Kommunismus der Wiedertäufer in Münster und seine Quellen. Heidelberg, Germany: Np, 1919.
  268. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  269. This classic early 20th-century study of the community of goods practiced by the Anabaptists of Münster during their take-over of the Westphalian city in 1534–1535 attempts to dispute straight Marxist interpretations of these events by tracing the proto-communistic ideas exhibited by the Münsterite Anabaptists through a long bibliographic and philosophical traditions of the Old Testament and Platonic literature.
  270. Find this resource:
  271. Schupp, Katja. Zwischen Faszination und Abscheu: das Täuferreich von Münster: zur Rezeption in Geschichtswissenschaft, Literatur, Publizistik und populärer Darstellung vom Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zum Dritten Reich. Münster, Germany: Lit, 2002.
  272. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  273. An interesting monograph that represents an analysis of the four-hundred-year fascination scholars, artists, and ordinary people had with the events transpiring in Münster in 1534–1535.
  274. Find this resource:
  275. Source Materials
  276. The apocalyptic, almost fantastical story of Münster has its own sources, written by both apologists and detractors of the Anabaptist agenda. For a presentation of the millenarian claims of the Anabaptist leaders, especially of Bernhard Rothmann, see Stupperich 1970. Van Dülmen 1974 covers more personalities and more documents from the event’s protagonists. Stupperich 1983 presents the case against the Anabaptists, written by their Protestant detractors. Finally, Kerssenbrock 2007 offers a translation of Kerssenbrock’s most famous anti-Anabaptist contemporary treatise.
  277. Kerssenbrock, Hermann von. Narrative of the Anabaptist Madness: The Overthrow of Münster, the Famous Metropolis of Westphalia. Translated by Christopher S. Mackay. Studies in the History of Christian Tradition 13. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. A translation of the major contemporary account of the events transpiring during the Anabaptist takeover of Münster in 1534–1535. Herman von Kerssenbrock’s lurid prose, available only in manuscript format until the end of the 19th century, became quite influential in shaping early scholarly theories relating to the Münster catastrophe.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Stupperich, Rudolf, ed. Die Schriften der münsterischen Täufer und ihrer Gegner. Vol. 1, Die Schriften Bernhard Rothmanns. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1970.
  282. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. A comprehensive source edition concentrating on the writings of Anabaptist apologetics and their detractors. This first volume in the series focuses on one of the chief Anabaptist preachers in Münster and includes all of Bernhard Rothmann’s extant works.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Stupperich, Rudolf, ed. Die Schriften der münsterischen Täufer und ihrer Gegner. Vol. 3, Schriften von evangelischer Seite gegen die Täufer. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1983.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. A comprehensive source edition focused on the writings of Anabaptist apologetics and their detractors. The third volume of the series presents an extensive sample of contemporary Protestant writings against the Anabaptists.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. van Dülmen, Richard, ed. Das Täuferreich zu Münster 1534–1535. Berichte und Dokumente. Munich: Dt. Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1974.
  290. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. A solid exposition of personalities and events relating to the Anabaptist takeover of Münster, based chiefly on the writings and documents of the chief protagonists.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Regional Studies
  294. The questions regarding Anabaptist beginnings have a geographical component: Did Anabaptism as a sect begin in a single place, like Switzerland, or did several Anabaptist groups come into being in several places more or less simultaneously, inspired by itinerant preachers who themselves were only slowly evolving their ideas toward a more Anabaptist foundation? As important are the questions pertaining to how, once Anabaptism settled itself—however uncomfortably—in a particular region, did the local social, cultural, and political contexts affect the movement’s continuous survival and development. Several local variations of Anabaptism have caught the scholar’s attention, with the usual classifications delineating, besides Germany proper, Southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
  295. Southern Germany and Austria
  296. The proponents of the polygenesis theory of Anabaptist development often point to the disparate and original nature of the South German/Austrian branch of Anabaptism. Snyder 2001 delineates the movement’s very mystical and millenarian composition while Packull 2008 connects it more with radical events and theology of the German Peasants’ War than with any Swiss influence.
  297. Packull, Werner O. Mysticism and the Early South German–Austrian Anabaptist Movement 1525–1531. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. A major proponent of the polygenesis hypothesis, Packull’s now-classic revision of his original 1974 Ph.D. dissertation connects South German and Austrian Anabaptism, and especially its millenarian and mystical strands, more with Thomas Müntzer and like-minded radicals than with Swiss Anabaptism. Of interest is the book’s assertion, later explored by other authors, of early South German Anabaptism as a transitional identity between a revolutionary social movement and a religious brotherhood.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Snyder, Arnold, ed. Sources of South German/Austrian Anabaptism. Translated by Walter Klaassen, Frank Friesen, and Werner O. Packull. Classics of the Radical Reformation 10. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2001.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Covering a plethora of source materials from hymns and biblical exegesis to confessions and testimonials, Snyder portrays and emphasizes the often ignored mystical and spiritual elements in the composition of South German Anabaptism that included a profound theological fascination with the End of Days.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Switzerland
  306. Long considered the birthplace of Anabaptism, Switzerland has enjoyed a fair share of scholarly attention. The monogenesis theory had Anabaptism arising out of disputes and disputations with Zwingli and his circle and then spreading throughout Germany and central Europe because of persecution and forced exile. Some of the earliest identifiably Anabaptist leaders stem from the cantons, many prominent in Zurich. Yoder 2004 shows the theological disparity between mainstream reformers and the new emerging Anabaptist leaders and their formative theology. Strübind 2003 likewise dwells on emergent Anabaptist theology and its shaping by the particular religious situation found in Zurich. Dellsperger and Lavater 2007 concentrates on the history of Bernese Anabaptism. Leu 2007 does the same with the history of Anabaptism in Zurich. Schraepler 1957 analyzes the legal standing of Anabaptism in southern Germany and includes parts of Switzerland.
  307. Dellsperger, Rudolf, and Hans Rudolf Lavater, eds. Die Wahrheit ist untödlich: Berner Täufer in Geschichte und Gegenwart; Beiträge eines Vortragszyklus an der Universität Bern im Winter 2006/2007. Zurich: Schweizerischer Verein für Täufergeschichte, 2007.
  308. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  309. A collection of essays and papers from a Swiss scholarly conference that serves as a general introduction to the history and theology of Bernese Anabaptism through the centuries and that emphasizes the importance of the interaction between Anabaptist/Mennonite and Reformed communities.
  310. Find this resource:
  311. Leu, Urs B. Die Zürcher Täufer: 1525–1700. Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 2007.
  312. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  313. A popular treatment of the history of the Zurich Anabaptists from the moment of their inception, through their theological disagreements with Zwingli and Bullinger, their persecution, to their expulsion in the late 17th century.
  314. Find this resource:
  315. Schraepler, Horst Werner. Die rechtliche Behandlung der Täufer in der deutschen Schweiz, Südwestdeutschland und Hessen: 1525–1618. Tübingen, Germany: Fabian, 1957.
  316. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  317. The only detailed study of the legal treatment of Anabaptist dissenters in southwestern Germany.
  318. Find this resource:
  319. Strübind, Andrea. Eifriger als Zwingli: die frühe Täuferbewegung in der Schweiz. Berlin: Duncker & Humbolt, 2003.
  320. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  321. A vigorous defense of the theological priorities of early Zurich Anabaptism, this study focuses on the theological beginnings of the movement and the development of its spiritual positions.
  322. Find this resource:
  323. Yoder, John Howard. Anabaptism and Reformation in Switzerland: An Historical and Theological Analysis of the Dialogues between Anabaptists and Reformers. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2004.
  324. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  325. This English translation of Yoder’s seminal German-language original Täufertum und Reformation im Gespräch: dogmengeschuchtliche Untersuchung der frühen Gespräche zwischen schweizerischen Täufern und Reformatoren (Zurich: EVZ-Verlag, 1968) traces the development of early Anabaptist theology out of interactions, discussions, disagreements, and disputations with the circle of reformers organized around Zwingli. The account provides the best study of the theological issues between the mainstream reformers and the Swiss Anabaptists.
  326. Find this resource:
  327. Netherlands
  328. The influence of Anabaptism in the Netherlands intensified considerably in the second quarter of the 16th century as refugees from the southern persecutions and from the Münster disaster poured into the provinces. Turning quickly into a major Anabaptist center, the Netherlands thus produced some of the most important Anabaptist scholars and leaders, like David Jorvis and Menno Simons. The Netherlands is also famous as the birthplace of the Mennonite offshoot of Anabaptism. Horst 1986 is a meaningful work that analyzes religious dissent and its reception in the Netherlands, with the Anabaptists serving as prominent representatives of such dissent. Krahn 1968 provides a good, fully formed history of Dutch Anabaptism in general. Keeney 1968 traces the development of their thought and theology through several formative decades. Verheyden 2008 uses the example of Anabaptist struggle and misfortunes in Flanders as a source and inspiration for their nonviolent social theology that later became the hallmark of Mennonite communities.
  329. Horst, Irwin Buchwalter, ed. The Dutch Dissenters: A Critical Companion to Their History and Ideas, with a Bibliographical Survey of Recent Research Pertaining to the Early Reformation in the Netherlands. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1986.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. A discussion of Reformation-era religious dissent and its reception in the Netherlands, concentrating on the literary production of the dissenters themselves, their apologists, and their detractors. Included are parts dealing with the Anabaptist traditions.
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Keeney, William Echard. The Development of Dutch Anabaptist Thought and Practice from 1539–1564. Nieuwkoop, The Netherlands: de Graff, 1968.
  334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. An account of changes within the composition and ideology of the Dutch Anabaptist groups during the formative and eventful decades of the middle 16th century.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Krahn, Cornelius. Dutch Anabaptism: Origin, Spread, Life and Thought (1450–1600). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968.
  338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  339. A major introduction to the beginnings and development of Dutch Anabaptism that takes into account the movement’s social, political, and of course theological dimensions.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Verheyden, A. L. E. Anabaptism in Flanders 1530–1650: A Century of Struggle. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. A work that argues nonviolence became the representative quality of Flemish Anabaptism during over a century of intense Spanish persecution, and, once the survivors were forced to relocate, became the distinguishing feature of the later Polish-Prussian line of Mennonite communities.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Anabaptist Leaders
  346. The Anabaptists were a movement with many heads, as the later splintering into Mennonite and Hutterite offshoot communities attests. Each city and each region seemed to have its own leaders, its own chief carriers of the message. In such an environment it would be often difficult to pinpoint the most important personalities, especially when many such personalities would make themselves known to us only through the pages of their detractors, or from state prison and execution rolls. Still, a number of major personas did emerge, and either through their fiery preaching, their commitment to steadfast principles, their millennialism, or simply through their organizational and survival skills have managed to carve for themselves a place in Anabaptist history. It was their life, their death, and their example that assured the continuity and existence of the Anabaptists in those trying and formative years of the 16th and 17th centuries. A few major leaders such as the radicals Augustin Bader, Hans Hut, and Melchior Hoffman, as well as the moderates like David Joris and Michael Sattler, appear here collectively. Others, whose bibliographic corpus, arguably, is more developed, like Balthasar Hubmeier, or, more recently Pilgram Marpeck, are found under their own heading. Michael Sattler’s importance in being one of the first Anabaptist leaders and organizers who attempted to create a homogeneous theological foundation for the fledgling movement is covered by Snyder 1984, while Yoder 1973 provides both an analysis and a sample of his writings in translation. Likewise for David Joris, Waite 1994 is a standard biography that compares Joris’s influence among Dutch Anabaptists to that of Menno Simons, with Waite 1990 giving a sample of his writings. For the radicals Hut, Hoffmann, and Bader: Seebass 2002, Deppermann 1987, and Schubert 2008, respectively, provide well researched statements on their lives, times, and theologies.
  347. Deppermann, Klaus. Melchior Hofmann: Social Unrest and Apocalyptic Visions in the Age of the Reformation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1987.
  348. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  349. The best study of the apocalyptic Anabaptist leader Melchior Hofmann analyzes the mystical and spiritual dimensions of his theology and apportions to him and his prophetic visions some shared responsibility for the events that unfolded in Münster in 1534/5.
  350. Find this resource:
  351. Schubert, Anselm. Täufertum und Kabbalah: Augustin Bader und die Grenzen der Radikalen Reformation. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2008.
  352. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  353. An interesting study of the apocalyptic Anabaptist leader Augustin Bader of Augsburg and his theological attempt to test the spiritual limits of radical Reformation by a profound reexamination of the certainties of Christian religion.
  354. Find this resource:
  355. Seebass, Gottfried. Müntzers Erbe: Werk, leben, und Theologie des Hans Hut. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2002.
  356. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  357. An exhaustive study of the Anababtist Hut who, the work argues, derived much of his thought and radical theology from Thomas Müntzer to become, in the words of Professor Seebass, effectively “Müntzer’s heir.” This work, like others, connects the beginnings of south German Anabaptism with the radical social and religious mysticism of Müntzer and the German Peasants’ War.
  358. Find this resource:
  359. Snyder, Arnold C. The Life and Thought of Michael Sattler. Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History. Waterloo, Canada, and Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing Network, 1984.
  360. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  361. The life, theology, and work of the early Anabaptist leader and the chief author of the Schleitheim articles, the first major attempt to create a set-piece confession of Anabaptist faith that included agreement on concepts such as Christian love, obedience, and people of God.
  362. Find this resource:
  363. Waite, Gary K. David Joris and Dutch Anabaptism, 1524–1543. Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1990.
  364. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  365. An examination of the effects the preacher David Joris (b. 1501–d. 1556) had on the development and theology of Dutch Anabaptism. Waite, an expert in the field, bemoans the current lack of recognition of Joris as a major historical figure in the world of early Anabaptism and presents him as a major contributor to the development of Anabaptist thought and a challenger to the primacy of Menno Simmons.
  366. Find this resource:
  367. Waite, Gary K., ed. The Anabaptist Writings of David Joris, 1535–1543. Classics of the Radical Reformation 7. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1994.
  368. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  369. A collection of the writings of the important Dutch Anabaptist leader David Joris (b. 1501–d. 1556) whose ideas of nonviolence and spirituality affected the development of later Anabaptist strands and communities.
  370. Find this resource:
  371. Yoder, John Howard. The Legacy of Michael Sattler. Classics of Radical Reformation. Waterloo, Canada: Herald, 1973.
  372. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  373. The work presents writings and interpretations of Michael Sattler, an important leader of first-generation Anabaptists and a driving force behind the creation of the Schleitheim Confession, one of the first major statements of Anabaptist beliefs and theology.
  374. Find this resource:
  375. Balthasar Hubmaier
  376. A moderate pacifist (meaning that a state has the right to use “the sword” in a just way) Hubmaier (b. c. 1480–d. 1528) was one of the first major Anabaptist leaders and martyrs in southern Germany. His disputations with Zwingli concerning infant versus adult baptism became legendary. Bergsten 1978 provides a basic study of his life and theology. The earlier Bergsten 1961 is a more insightful presentation of Hubmaier’s theological evolution from a Catholic priest, through his association with Zwingli, to his final Anabaptist stand. Mabry 1994 is an exposition of Hubmaier’s views on the meaning and composition of “The Church,” while Mabry 1998 analyzes the reformer’s conception of “Faith.” Westin and Bergsten 1962 and Pipkin and Yoder 1989 both give English translations of some of Hubmaier’s most important tracts.
  377. Bergsten, Torsten. Balthasar Hubmaier: Seine Stellung zu Reformation und Täufertum, 1521–1528. Kassel, Germany: J. G. Oncken Verlag, 1961.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. An explanation of the theological and spiritual beliefs of the noted Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmeier and his influence on the early Anabaptist movement in Germany.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Bergsten, Torsten. Balthasar Hubmaier: Anabaptist Theologian and Martyr. Edited by W. R. Estep Jr. Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1978.
  382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383. A basic study of the influential German Anabaptist leader, presenting both his theology and his importance to the movement.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Mabry, Eddie L. Balthasar Hubmaier’s Doctrine of the Church. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994.
  386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. A representation of Balthasar Hubmeier’s postulates on the meaning and make-up of the Christian Church as a collection of “saints,” written by an expert on the life and theology of this particular Anabaptist leader.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Mabry, Eddie L. Balthasar Hubmaier’s Understanding of Faith. Lanham, MD.: University Press of America, 1998.
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. Since Balthasar Hubmeier, the noted Anabaptist preacher, did not include faith as a definitive subject of his written work, this book attempts to cull his ideas about belief from a variety of extant sources. The end result offers Hubmeier’s understanding of faith as an interesting mix of belief born out of human will and as a gift from God.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Pipkin, H. Wayne, and John H. Yoder. Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1989.
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Part of the Classics of Radical Reformation series. Offers a translation of the complete writings of the Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmeier. Hubmeier’s belief that true Chrsitianity was represented by Christian love and obedience, adult baptism, and the commemoration of the Eucharist became the theological cornerstone of many Anabaptist strands.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Westin, Gunnar, and Torsten Bergsten, eds. Balthasar Hubmaier. Schriften. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1962.
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. A German-language edition of the writings of the important early Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmaier.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Pilgram Marpeck
  402. Over the last century Pilgram Marpeck (b. c. 1495–d. 1556) has steadily climbed his way through scholarly discourse to a position of high importance in the Anabaptist and Mennonite pantheon of early religious leaders. That is perhaps because more of his writings have been recently discovered (the famous Kunstbuch, located by Heinold Fast, comes immediately to mind) than of any other early Anabaptist. He is now perceived as one of the chief rationalizers of Anabaptist irenism, as well as a proponent of separation of church and state and of freedom of religion. For modern scholarly biographies that analyze Marpeck’s life and his social context, see Boyd 1992 and Klaassen and Klassen 2008. Klassen 1968 and Klaassen and Klassen 1978 are an earlier presentation of his writings, with Packull, et al. 1999 providing a more recent update.
  403. Boyd, Stephen B. Pilgram Marpeck: His Life and Social Theology. Mainz, Germany: von Zabern, 1992.
  404. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  405. A general work of biography that attempts to posit Marpeck, an early important Anabaptist leader, at the confluence of politics and radical theology. The persona of Marpeck, a city councilman and a burgher before turning to more religious pursuits, is used to illuminate the interaction of social action and theology that gave Anabaptism some of its early converts.
  406. Find this resource:
  407. Klassen, William. Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and Hermeneutics of Pilgram Marpeck. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1968.
  408. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  409. An older account of the writings of the Anabaptist leader Pilgram Marpeck. Though added to and surpassed in recent decades by newer and more extended scholarship, this work still provides the basics of his life and beliefs.
  410. Find this resource:
  411. Klaassen, Walter, and William Klassen. The Writings of Pilgram Marpeck. Classics of Radical Reformation 1. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1978.
  412. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  413. Part of the Classics of Radical Reformation series, this volume offers an earlier edition of the best known writings of Pilgram Marpeck, the noted Anabaptist leader and writer.
  414. Find this resource:
  415. Klaassen, Walter, and William Klassen. Marpeck: A Life of Dissent and Conformity. Waterloo, Ontario: Herald Press, 2008.
  416. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  417. A comprehensive new biography of the early Anabaptist leader and the forerunner of the Mennonite tradition. The Kla(a)ssens, like other authors, do a good job of placing Marpeck within the confines of his times and explain his life and religious work as a focus of interactions between his economic and social setting.
  418. Find this resource:
  419. Packull, Werner O., Walter Klaassen, and John D. Rempel. Later Writings by Pilgram Marpeck and His Circle. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 1999.
  420. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  421. A collection of, as the name suggests, late writings of the Anabaptist leader Pilgram Marpeck and his coauthors. The first of a planned three-volume exegesis of Marpeck’s later production, this one includes “The Exposé,” “A Dialogue,” and “Marpeck’s Response to Caspar Schwenkfeld.”
  422. Find this resource:
  423. Hutterites
  424. Like their spiritual brethren the Mennonites, the Hutterites—named after one of their early leaders, Jakob Hutter—stem from earlier Anabaptist stock. Associated most closely with nonviolence and ultra-pacifism, the Hutterites migrated from the Tyrol, through Moravia (with which they are most closely associated) to eventually settle in the United States and Canada. The sect became well known for its communal living and its strict interpretation of the Bible. There is also no question that it was due to the skills and acumen of the Hutterite leaders that the sect survived and in some places actually flourished. Gross 1968 therefore discusses the so-called golden age of Hutterite communities in Moravia under Bishop Walpot, while Harrison 1997 describes the life and times of Bishop Andreas Ehrenpreis, who prevented the collapse of communities at the time of the Thirty Years’ War. For a bibliography of all things Hutterite, including an amazing collection of east European sources, see Krisztinkovich and Erb 1998. Hutterite histories have been covered by Packull 1995, and, even in more detail, by Thoma 2008. Schlachta 2003 is a type of revisionist history, challenging a number of commonly held preconceptions about Hutterite communities. It should also be noted that music was of great importance to Hutterite communities, as well as for the Mennonites and other Anabaptists. Lieseberg 1991 analyzes and comments on the performance and meaning of religious hymns for the dissenting groups, especially those commemorating martyrs. Martens 2002 is more specific, and focuses its analysis only on the Hutterite musical production.
  425. Gross, Leonard. The Golden Years of the Hutterites: The Witness and Thought of the Communal Moravian Anabaptists during the Walpot Era, 1565–1578. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1968.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. Analyzes the fourteen-year period that Bishop Peter Walpot exercised ecclesiastical authority as vorsteher (bishop) over his Moravian brethren from the standpoint of internal developments within the Hutterite community as well as its interactions with Catholic and Protestant groups.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Harrison, Wes. Andreas Ehrenpreis and Hutterite Faith and Practice. Kitchener, Canada, and Scottdale, PA: Pandora, 1997.
  430. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  431. The story of Andreas Ehrenpreis, the Hutterite bishop from 1639 to 1662. The tumultuous years of his leadership saw the Brethren strain under continuous persecution, central European wars, and eventually their expulsion from Moravia, but still maintain their beliefs and identity.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Krisztinkovich, Maria, and Peter C. Erb, eds. An Annotated Hutterite Bibliography. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 1998.
  434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435. A massive compilation of more than three thousand individual titles dealing with all aspects of the history of the Hutterite movement. Especially strong on eastern European entries.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Lieseberg, Ursula. Studien zum Märtyrerlied der Täufer im 16. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt am Main and New York: Peter Lang, 1991.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. An important and interesting study of Anabaptist, Hutterite, and Mennonite religious hymnals about their martyred brethren. While discussing the trade aspects of the works, and the composition and performance of the songs, Lieseberg also analyzes the importance of preserving the memory of their fallen brethren by the communities, as well as the effects the persecutions had on the sects themselves.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Martens, Helen. Hutterite Songs. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2002.
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. An examination of the four-hundred-year tradition of Hutterite religious hymnals and songs, their composition, meaning, performance, and importance to the community.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Packull, Werner. Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments during the Reformation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. The work analyzes the role of the “community of all goods” in Hutterite theology and history and traces the social and spiritual ideals of the group from its ideological beginnings in Zwingli’s Zurich to the establishment of communitarian groups in Central Europe.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Schlachta, Astrid von. Hutterische Konfession und Tradition (1578–1619): Etabliertes Leben zwischen Ordnung und Ambivalenz. Mainz, Germany: Philip von Zabern, 2003.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. An analysis of the Moravian Brethren’s history made from the perspective of the “Confessionalization” paradigm of Wolfgang Reinhard and Hans Schilling that perceives the Hutterite communities as not necessarily steadfast in all their ascribed beliefs and filled instead with little quirks, fallacies, and failures. The work at once shatters the homogeneous image Hutterites themselves subscribed to and humanizes the movement at the same time.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Thoma, Wilhelm. “Die Geschichte der Hutterer: Von den Anfängen der Täuferbewegung bis zur Gegenwart.” Master’s thesis, University of Vienna, 2008.
  454. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. A detailed master’s thesis at the University of Vienna that traces the long history of the Hutterite tradition from Jacob Hutter in Moravia all the way to the modern Hutterite communities in Canada and the United States.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Source Materials
  458. The Hutterite communities governed themselves according to principles and articles put together and often published by their leaders. Such works, together with martyrological studies, which in themselves were very important to the continuation and survival of this often-persecuted sect, form the basis of our modern scholarly understanding of the Brethren’s life and theology. Here Riedemann 1902 offers important religious concepts presented by one of the early leaders of the movement, Peter Riedemann (1506–1556). Riedemann 1999 is a convenient English translation of the same. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren (Anonymous 1987 presents the Hutterite version of their own early history, replete with meaningful martyrological references. Ehrenpreis and Felbinger 1979 offer salient documents from two leading voices in the community’s development (Andreas Ehrenpreis and Claus Fulbinger). Hutter 1979 is a collection of important letters from the sect’s founder (Jacob Hutter, c.1500–1536).
  459. Anonymous. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1987.
  460. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  461. The Hutterite account, part martyrology and part history, written in a year-by-year chronicle fashion, of the group’s early Anabaptist beginnings, the persecutions they suffered, and the migrations they were forced to undertake.
  462. Find this resource:
  463. Ehrenpreis, Andreas, and Claus Felbinger. Brotherly Community: The Highest Command of Love; Two Anabaptist Documents of 1650 and 1560. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1979.
  464. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  465. Translations of two salient Hutterite articles of faith: Ehrenpreis’s 1650 “An Epistle on Brotherly Community as the Highest Command of Love,” and Felbinger’s 1560 “Confession of Faith Addressed to the Council of Landshut.” Both documents pinpoint some of the most important aspects of Hutterite identity, namely the community of goods, and the importance of adult “believer” baptism.
  466. Find this resource:
  467. Hutter, Jacob. Brotherly Faithfulness: Epistles from a Time of Persecution. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1979.
  468. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  469. A collection of letters, translated from the original German, from the 16th-century founder of the Hutterite Brethren, giving witness to the community’s strength and survival under the stress of incessant persecution.
  470. Find this resource:
  471. Riedemann, Peter. Rechenschaft unsrer Religion, Lehre und Glaubens. Von den Brüdern, die man die Huterischen nennt. Verlag der Huterischen Brüder-Gemeine, 1902.
  472. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  473. An early-20th-century edition of the key theological document of the Hutterite Anabaptists written by Peter Riedemann (b. 1506–d. 1566) that became a general statement of the group’s theology.
  474. Find this resource:
  475. Riedemann, Peter. Peter Riedemann’s Hutterite Confession of Faith: Translation of the 1565 German Edition of Confession of Our Religion, Teaching, and Faith, by the Brothers Who Are Known as the Hutterites. Translated and edited by Friesen, John J. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1999.
  476. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  477. A translation of one of the most important Hutterite theological documents, comprising a general confession of Hutterite beliefs, written by one of their major 16th-century leaders.
  478. Find this resource:
  479. Peter Riedemann
  480. Often called the “second founder” of the Hutterite movement, Pieter Riedemann (b. c. 1506–d. 1556) was an early influential figure in the spread and proliferation of the Hutterite movement, chiefly due to his formative literary, and musical, production. Religious hymns, of course, have great importance to the Hutterite community, as explained by Lieseberg 1998, who lists and analyzes the genre work of Peter Riedemann himself. For more about Riedemann’s life and theology, see the very insightful Packull 2007. Chudaska 2003 is a more complex explanation for the formation of distinctive Hutterite theology and Peter Riedemann’s role in its creation.
  481. Chudaska, Andrea. Peter Riedemann: konfessionsbildendes Täufertum im 16. Jahrhundert. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2003.
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. A part of the Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte series, this work analyzes the theological career of one of the most important leaders of the Hutterites, and presents an account of the formation of distinctive Hutterite theology under the direction of the man often called “the second founder” of the movement. Chudaska’s analysis concentrates both on the individual and on his religious and social context, showing how the ongoing Reformation affected the development of Hutterite spirituality.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Lieseberg, Ursula. Die Lieder des Peter Riedemann: Studien Zum Liedgut Der Taufer Im 16. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt am Main and New York: Peter Lang, 1998.
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. An examination of Peter Riedemann’s social thought and theology present in the previously unknown forty-six religious hymns of his composition. These hymns, like his writings, have become a core of Hutterite tradition and have accompanied the Brethren on all their journeys from Moravia onward.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Packull, Werner. Peter Riedemann: Shaper of the Hutterite Tradition. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2007.
  490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491. An insightful reading and analysis of both Peter Riedemann the man and Peter Riedemann the theologian, with particular attention paid to the establishment of his legacy as a sage “second founder” of the movement.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Mennonites
  494. Early followers of David Joris and then of Menno Simons, the Mennonites coalesced into an identifiable theological group in the first half of the 16th century in the Netherlands. Originally made up of Swiss Anabaptist émigrés and fugitives the Mennonites adopted the practices of absolute nonviolence, religious toleration, adult baptism, and an objection to the forced integration of the newly born with the church and community practiced within both the Catholic and mainstream Protestant populations. Their history has been marked by constant motion, escape, and emigration as one state after another turned its apparatus of oppression against them. Bender and Smith 1955 is an encyclopedic mid-20th-century work on all things Mennonite that presented them as a single homogeneous faction. Driedger 2002 is a sign of new scholarship that challenges such a notion.
  495. Bender, Harold S., and Henry Smith, eds. The Mennonite Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work on the Anabaptist-Mennonite Movement. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren Publishing, 1955.
  496. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  497. The Encyclopedia expresses both the theory of monogenesis and the notion of a theologically cohesive Anabaptist mainstream, from which were separated sects with different theologies (such as the Münsterite Anabaptists, for instance). Recent historiography has challenged this perspective.
  498. Find this resource:
  499. Driedger, Michael D. Obedient Heretics: Mennonite Identities in Lutheran Hamburg and Altona during the Confessional Age. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002.
  500. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  501. Espousing the perspective that dissent and diversity prevented the Mennonite community from ever establishing a single homogeneous theological doctrine, this account of the group’s arrival and establishment in Hamburg challenges the notion of Mennonites as perennial outsiders and stresses the success of their integration into the organs of the state and community.
  502. Find this resource:
  503. Resources
  504. The Mennonites have remained a live, vibrant community to this very day and thus have become a source of consistent scholarly research. Those seeking to study the matter further can take advantage of a number of Mennonite-centered resources available both in print and on the Internet. The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online provides general articles on a wide array of Mennonite life, personalities, and history, while the Journal of Mennonite Studies makes a more academic claim.
  505. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. A repository of a variety of general-scope articles on all things Mennonite, including their history and their modern-day communities. Especially good for sound-bite references on historical Mennonite personalities.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Journal of Mennonite Studies.
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. An annual scholarly interdisciplinary journal that concentrates on the history and issues of Canadian Mennonites but which also covers the histories of Mennonite movements elsewhere.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Source Materials
  514. The principal Mennonite founder and leader Menno Simons was also one of the movement’s most prolific writers. Verheus 1989 provides a competent large-scale compilation of his output. Wenger 1986 is an older, but equally good, English-language translation of Simons’s theological production.
  515. Verheus, S. L., ed. Menno Simons. Opera omnia theologica of alle de godtgeleerde wercken. Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw, 1989.
  516. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  517. A reprint of the original 1681 publication, this is a comprehensive compilation of the best-known and most-quoted works of the Anabaptist leader Menno Simons.
  518. Find this resource:
  519. Wenger, John C., ed. Complete Writings of Menno Simons: Circa 1496–1561. Translated by Leonard Verduin. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1986.
  520. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  521. An English translation of the extant writings of the Mennonite leader, including a selection of his previously unavailable tracts and hymns.
  522. Find this resource:
  523. Menno Simons
  524. Menno Simons (1496–1561), the principal leader of a brand of Anabaptism eventually named after him, stabilized and reorganized the north German and Dutch Anabaptists following the catastrophic events of the tragedy in Münster. He traveled and wrote prolifically. See Horst 1962 for a fine bibliography of his works. For a solid biography, there’s Bornhäuser 1973. Isaak 2006 presents a more radical and millenarian side of Simons, while Voolstra 1997 is basically a complete reimagining of the reformer that challenges many accepted formulas.
  525. Bornhäuser, Christoph. Leben und Lehre Menno Simons’: ein Kampf um das Fundament des Glaubens (etwa 1496–1561). Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany: Neukirchener, 1973.
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. One of best and most comprehensive biographies available on the life and work of this seminal Anabaptist leader.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Horst, Irvin Buckwalter. A Bibliography of Menno Simons ca. 1496–1561, Dutch Reformer: With a Census of Known Copies. Nieuwkoop, The Netherlands: de Graaf, 1962.
  530. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  531. A bibliographic compilation of all the editions of the works of Menno Simons, the Anabaptist leader, from the 16th to the 20th century, including annotations and contextual analysis, and including an index with many secondary sources.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Isaak, Helmut. Menno Simons and the New Jerusalem. Kitchener, Canada: Pandora, 2006.
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535. An account of the development of Menno Simons’s theological positions from the perspective of his interactions, similarities and differences with the greatly influential Melchior Hoffman. The stress is on both reformers millenarian pursuit of the creation of an “Earthly Jerusalem,” where the just would rule over the unjust.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Voolstra, Sjouke. Menno Simons: His Image and Message. North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 1997.
  538. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  539. A revisionist reinterpretation of the life and work of the legendary Anabaptist leader. The portrayal presented here challenges the standard image of Simons, portraying him rather as a stern and uncompromising apostle whose religious instructions, but not whose memory, was eventually rejected by his own community, and whose famous pacifism developed rather out of political need and necessity than from any statement of principle.
  540. Find this resource:
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement
Public Pastes
Advertisement
We use cookies for various purposes including analytics. By continuing to use Pastebin, you agree to our use of cookies as described in the Cookies Policy.  OK, I Understand
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!