DOCSLIB.ORG

211 N9/D Ho, 231J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
211 N9/D Ho, 231J 211 N9/d Ho, 231J THE ANABAPTIST PURITY OF LIFE ETHIC DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Timothy Wayne Dalzell, B.A., M.A. Denton, Texas May, 19 85 Copyright by Timothy Wayne Dalzell 1985 Dalzell, Timothy Wayne, The Anabaptist Purity of Life Ethic. Doctor of Philosophy (History), May, 1985, 328 pp., biblio- graphy, 404 titles. This dissertation establishes that the Evangelical Ana- baptists lived a noticeably distinctive Christian life when compared with their peers, accounts for their committed pur- suit of holiness, and describes the outcome of that commit- ment. The sources used include the arranged archival source material in the Tauferakten, confessions, tracts, letters, debates, martyrologies, miscellaneous writings of the Ana- baptists, and subsequent scholarship on the subject. The first two chapters describe the character of the Anabaptists and their contemporaries. The Anabaptists emerge as charac- terized by living by a distinctive purity of life ethic. Ap- proval of this kind of life was not unanimous, for Anabaptists drew responses ranging from admiration, respect, and imitation to disparagement, persecution, and capital punishment. Ana- baptists cited their critics' way of life as an indictment against them, arguing that their ungodly conduct proved the inadequacy of their faith. The next three chapters discuss the bases upon which Anabaptists established their pursuit of holiness. Anabaptists began with strong statements about the Bible. Scripture was their supreme authority, and it was inerrant and thereby trustworthy• Since the Bible could be interpreted by the believer, there was no excuse for failing to live by its directives. Although Anabaptists taught that mankind was totally depraved, that did not prevent their quest for a godly life, because Christ's work on the cross renewed the believer's spiritual life and the subsequent in- dwelling of the Holy Spirit enabled the believer to imitate Christ's life. These supernatural provisions, Anabaptists believed, were to be facilitated within the context of the church which they described as being a voluntary entity com- posed of believers only. Believers joined that assembly by demonstrating by adult baptism that they were leaving the old life for a new one which would necessitate the support and aid of the entire assembly. This church life could only be pursued in an environment in which the state did not in- terfere. The last two chapters describe the life that Ana- baptists achieved. Anabaptists taught that the human race was obliged to determine which of the two powers vying for their allegiance they would embrace--God or Satan. Those who chose to be a child of God were aliens whose conduct was offensive to the world. Armed with a distinctly Christian way of life and an apocalyptic message, Anabaptists volun- tarily aided their brothers and sought to evangelize their world while enduring severe persecution and hoping for ul- timate justice in Christ's return to Earth to set up His kingdom. The Anabaptists' interpretation of life suggests an answer to the ultimate questions that have been investi- gated over the centuries. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii INTRODUCTION 1 PART I: DEFINING THE ISSUE Chapter 1 SOCIETY'S ASSESSMENT OF ANABAPTISM'S MORALITY . 17 Positive statements Negative statements 2 ANABAPTISM'S ASSESSMENT OF SOCIETY'S MORALITY . 48 Correct doctrine but inconsistent practice Sola gratia, sola fide, and license PART 2: ESTABLISHING THE BASES 3 BIBLIOLOGY: BASIS FOR ANABAPTISM 7 5 Authority of the Bible Inerrancy of the Bible Hermeneutics and the Bible Practice of the Bible 4 SOTERIOLOGY: BASIS FOR A NEW WAY OF LIFE .... 112 Nature of Man Person of Christ Work of Christ Nature of Faith Person of the Holy Spirit Work of the Holy Spirit 5 ECCLESIOLOGY: BASIS FOR STABILITY 149 Nature of baptism Purpose of baptism Nature of the Church Purpose of the Church Church discipline PART 3: DESCRIBING THE LIFE Chapter 6 DISCIPLESHIP: LIFE IN THE CHURCH 206 Kingdom theology Nature of discipleship Community life 7 MARTYRDOM: LIFE OUTSIDE THE CHURCH 246 Theology of martyrdom Theology of history Philosophy of life SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY 301 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A.R.G. = Archiv fur Reformationsqeschichte C.W.M.S. = Simons, Menno. The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, c.1496-1561. Trans- lated by Leonard Verduin and edited by John C. Wenger with biography by Harold S. Bender. Scottdale, Penn.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1956. M.E. = Mennonite Encyclopedia. 4 vols. Scott- dale, Penn.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1955-59. M.Q.R. = Mennonite Quarterly Review Ouellen Hesse = Franz, Giinther, ed. Urkundliche Quellen zur hessischen Reformationsqeschichte, Vierter Band, Wiedertauferakten, 1527- 1626. Marburg: Veroffentl. der Hist. Komm. fur Hesse und Waldeck, 1951. Quellen II = Schornbaum, Karl, ed. Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertaufer, II Band, Markgraftum Brandenberq, Bayern I. Leipzig: M. Heinsius Nachfolger, 1934. Quellen IV = Krebs, Manfred, ed. Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer, IV Band, Baden und Pfaltz. Gutersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1951. Quellen VI = Muralt, Leonard von and Schmidt, Walter, eds. Ouellen zur Geschichte der Taufer in der Schweiz, I Band, Zurich. Zurich: S. Hirzel Verlag, 1952. Quellen VII = Krebs, Manfred and Rott, Jean, eds. Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer, VII Band, Elsas; I Teil, Stadt Strassburq, 1522- 32. Gutersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1959. Quellen IX = Hiibmaier, Balthasar. Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer, IX Band, Balthasar Hiibmaier Schriften. Edited by Gunnar Westin and Torsten Bergsten. Gutersloh: Gerd Mohn, 19 6 2. vii Vlll S.A.W. = Williams, George Huntston and Mergal, Angel M. , eds. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers. Philadelphia: The Westmin- ster Press, 1957. INTRODUCTION One of the recurrent questions that historians, philos- ophers, and theologians have debated is the multi-faceted controversy concerning the relationship of Christianity and society. This debate has focused on so many aspects of the relationship that confusion and frustration are as much a part of this controversy as is its persistence. Currently the perplexity continues in the form of such complex questions as should the government grant tuition tax credits to parents sending their children to private schools? Should voluntary prayer be allowed back in public schools? Should the Christian community challenge the Supreme Court decisions on abortion, birth control for teenagers, the teaching of evolution, and the like? Yet whether this struggle is examined in its contemporary di- lemmas, or whether it is studied at any increment of the previous centuries in which Christianity has existed, one thing emerges as a common denominator of all the develop- ments through which this controversy has evolved: there has been no definitive Christian answer for or conclusion reached on the controversy surrounding the relationship of Christianity and civilization. 1 2 While there has been no definitive answer for or con- clusion reached in this debate, there are a number of trends that thought on this subject has taken.1 However, the results of most attempts to reduce the extensive quanti- ties of data to a manageable number of trends often evoke accusations of oversimplification or of missing the point entirely. Even so, in order to reach the focal point of this project expeditiously, only the perimeters of the issue are to be noted. Throughout Christian history, efforts have been made to accommodate Christianity to society in order to synthe- size them or to establish a compatibility between the two. These attempts have frequently been the subjects of attacks as persistent as the efforts to harmonize have been. The protests against the integration of Christianity and society have generally focused on the extent to which the synthe- sizers compromised the essence of Christianity in order to effect the accommodation; i.e., the standard protest has not been a tangential anti-society solution in which Christianity and society are described as being fundamen- tally antithetical entities, but it has been a reaction against the extent to which Christianity has been compro- mised in order to accommodate it to society. Thus, there appeared, on the one hand, synthesizers who sought to ^Medievalist Etienne Gilson has provided a fine anal- ysis in Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938), as has theologian and philos- opher H. Richard Niebuhr in Christ and Culture (New York: Harper S. Row, Publishers, 1951). 3 harmonize Christianity and society and, on the other hand, protesters who viewed the two as essentially irreconcilable. Both extremes frequent the pages of the history of the church to the extent that a third approach is often not given careful consideration. The "middle ground" between the two extremes recog- nizes that there are great differences between Christian- ity and society as the protesters suggest, but like the syn- thesizers, it attempts to preserve a relationship between Christianity and society without creating conflict or caus- ing either to lose its distinctiveness from or relevance to the other. Roland H. Bainton, summarizing this position, succinctly argues that "if there is no accommodation [to society], Christianity is unintelligible and cannot spread. If there is too much accommodation it will spread, but it will no longer be Christianity."2 The struggle to establish this kind of delicate balance is precisely what contributed significantly to the wide diversity among the reforming groups of the sixteenth century Reformation movement. It is not the purpose of this work to restate or even revise the various schools of interpretation concerning the "middle ground" position of the Reformation. Rather, the task here is to focus on one small segment of this central, mediating group, to isolate it, and to analyze 2Roland H. Bainton, "The Enduring Witness: The Mennon- ites," Mennonite Life 9(1954):89. its reasoning in the light of one of its distinctives, i.e., its purity of life ethic.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Anabaptist Religious Literature and Hymnody
    CHAPTER TEN ANABAPTIST RELIGIOUS LITERATURE AND HYMNODY John D. Rempel Introduction This study will concern itself with devotional texts that have left a lasting mark on Anabaptism and its descendent movements. All of them were written by adherents of these movements. Modern schol- arship has identified an ever widening diversity in the character and literature of Anabaptism, and so, even within the broad criterion of texts that have had enduring influence further selection needs to be made on the following grounds. To begin with, I sought to represent the diverse expressions of Anabaptism theologically, geographically, and chronologically. My goal was to highlight continuities, discontinuities, and commonalities. In addition, I wanted to draw attention to neglected but formative writers and writings. In the third place, I wanted to give the numerous but little known texts on worship a place within the literature of Anabaptism as a whole. Riedemann’s hymns and Clock’s prayers are illustrative of both points two and three. And finally, I thought it important to show how different authors come to terms with the unstable relationship in much of Anabaptism between inner and outer, Spirit and matter. The consequence of this approach was that a figure of the stature of Michael Sattler is represented only in Golden Apples in Silver Bowls, a compendium of the later Swiss Brethren tradition, leaving the Ausbund to represent that strand’s earlier religiosity. Similarly, Dirk Philips does not have his own entry but his mindset is represented in part by Menno Simons and Thielman van Braght. By the same token, a word needs to be said about including two figures whose ecclesiology—in different ways—is marginal to the movement as a whole, Balthasar Hubmaier and Hans Denck.
    [Show full text]
  • An Anabaptist Ecological Anthropology
    ARTICLE The Kinship of Creation: An Anabaptist Ecological Anthropology Nathanael L. Inglis Introduction There is a growing consensus today that the earth is facing an ecological crisis, and that human action is one of the primary causes.1 However, there is more to this crisis than just the practical concerns of overconsumption, population growth, polluted air and water, the destruction of ecosystems, and the extinction of species. What humanity faces is a more fundamental crisis of self-understanding. In this essay I will critically compare and evaluate assumptions about the human-world relationship inherent in two contemporary theological anthropologies that rely on very different metaphors. Both anthropologies attempt to correct the dominion-based ‘imperialistic anthropology’ that continues to enable the ecological crisis. In “Pacifism, Nonviolence, and the Peaceful Reign of God,” Walter Klaassen identifies two largely unquestioned assumptions in Western industrial culture that order people’s relationship to the world and to one another, which he sees as obstacles to solving the crisis. The first is the “passionate belief in the absolute right to private possessions,” and the second is “the conviction of the unimpeded right to pursue wealth.”2 These two beliefs are made possible by and reinforced with “a trick of the mind devised by Western philosophy in which human beings are set over against 1 Will Steffen, Paul J. Crutzen, et al., “The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature?” Ambio 36, no. 8 (December 2007): 614-21. Steffen, Crutzen, and other environmental scientists identify human activity as such a significant factor in the transformation of ecosystems and climate today that they suggest our current geologic age should be called the ‘anthropocene’.
    [Show full text]
  • Friday, December, 12, 2014, at 6:30 P.M. Tel: (717) 393-9745; F
    LANCASTER MENNONITE HISTORICAL SOCIETY ’S BENEFIT AUCTION OF RARE , OUT -OF -PRINT , AND USED BOOKS FRIDAY , DECEMBER , 12, 2014, AT 6:30 P.M. TEL : (717) 393-9745; FAX : (717) 393-8751; EMAIL : [email protected] WEBSITE : http://www.lmhs.org/ The Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society will conduct an auction on December 12, 2014, at 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one-half mile east of the intersection of Routes 30 and 462. The auction not only specializes in local and denominational history and genealogy of southeastern Pennsylvania, but also includes theological works and other types of material of interest to the nationwide constituency. Please refer to the last page of the catalog for book auction procedures. Individual catalogs are available from the Society for $8.00 ($4.00 for Society members) + $3.00 postage and handling. Persons who wish to be added to the mailing list for 2015 may do so by sending $28.00, ($18.00 for Society members) with name and address to the Society. Higher rates apply for subscribers outside of the United States. All subscriptions expire at the end of the calendar year Auction dates for 2015 are: January 9, March 13, May 8, July 10, September. 11, and November 13. The catalog is also available for free on our web site at www.lmhs.org/auction.html . 1. Peterson, E., The Message: The Prophets, 2000. 585pp (dj, vgc); Swindoll, C., Moses, a Msan of Selfless Dedication, 1999. xi, [i], 376pp (dj, ill covers, bib refs, vgc); Harris, A., The Psalms Outlined: An Outline Analysis Covering Each Song of the Psalter, 1952, c1925.
    [Show full text]
  • Cathedrals, Churches, Caves Notes on Architecture, History, and Worship
    CHAPTER 1 Cathedrals, Churches, Caves Notes on Architecture, History, and Worship he layers of history, the ways the past persists, are easier to see Tin the Old World, where the irony of ancient towers juxtaposed against tattoo parlors and multinational fast-food outlets is inescapable. The smooth and rough children of western Europe at the millennium, in their black designer dresses or their spiked hair and pierced eyebrows, do not spend nights arguing infant baptism, the uses of the sword, or the perils and advantages of a state church, as my ancestors did during the Anabaptist Reformation of 1525. If today’s citizens were to meet to study the New Testament and reach conclusions about its meaning contrary to those of the state church, the worst they would suffer is ridicule. When my wife Marlyce and I crossed ancient European borders no one asked about our passports, let alone our religion; as long as our cash and credit cards held out, we were free as any bird. So we went our quiet way across Holland and France and Switzerland and Ger- many, sometimes simple travelers enjoying the food and the sights, sometimes pilgrims in pursuit of the strange, small traces of our past. We call ourselves Mennonites now, but our people have claimed and been given many names in the last five centuries, as they wandered over Europe and then to many parts of the world in search of places where they might work out their particular, pecu- liar version of the gospel. 5 6 Scattering Point We were in Europe for three weeks, hardly time to discover anything.
    [Show full text]
  • Anabaptist History Unit.Qxd
    The Dawn of a New Age BACKGROUND During the next two centuries, the Holy Roman Empire slowly began to decline. Various states—such as England, Germany, and Bohemia—became angry when their tax dollars went toward building bridges in Rome. People from individual states began building loyalty toward those states instead of Rome. The Roman Empire, for all practical purposes, had become divided into smaller social states with their own unique ideals and customs. Other changes took place during the 1300s and 1400s as well. Across the empire, people became intrigued with ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and literature. This period of great awakening set the stage for new ways of thinking. By the early 1500s, corruption in the church had reached its peak. Many bishops, priests, abbots, monks, and popes were living in luxury and sin. The church had gained much wealth and power through the practice of selling indulgences. When a person sinned, he or she would confess the sin to the local priest. The priest would then ask that person to pay a specific fee, according to the seriousness of the sin. This fee was viewed as a guarantee that the sin would be forgiven. People also bought indulgences to release persons they knew from purgatory. Actually, the selling of indulgences was a profitable way to raise money for the government without assessing more taxes. People who were opposed to paying large sums of money in taxes often did not balk at paying small amounts (over time) for the purchase of indulgences. The church split these monies with the gov- ernment.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Life and Thought of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich
    University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 1-1-1998 A study of the life and thought of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich. K. Daniel Jahn University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Jahn, K. Daniel, "A study of the life and thought of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich." (1998). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 6923. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/6923 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has bean reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
    [Show full text]
  • Defending the Defenseless: a Radical Return to an Honest Portrayal of Anabaptism
    Defending the Defenseless: A Radical Return to an Honest Portrayal of Anabaptism Dr. Emir Caner The Center for Theological Research January 2010 White Paper 32 Published by the Center for Theological Research at www.BaptistTheology.org © 2010 Emir Caner This paper was delivered as part of Radical Reformation Day, 21 January 2010, in the chapel service of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, to commemorate the contributions of our fathers in the faith. Permissions: The purpose of this material is to serve the churches. Please feel free to distribute as widely as possible. We ask that you maintain the integrity of the document and the author’s wording by not making any alterations. For special requests please contact the editorial board for the White Papers for approval at [email protected]. Malcolm B. Yarnell III, Director The Center for Theological Research Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, Texas Defending the Defenseless A White Paper from the CTR Defending the Defenseless: A Radical Return to an Honest Portrayal of Anabaptism Now It Can be Told—Now It Must be Told January 21, 1525, should be seared in the conscience of all Christians who hold dear the concept of a free church in a free age. On that day, as it has been well documented, a small group of young men gathered in the home of Felix Manz and, without ever knowing it, changed the course of Christianity, perhaps the course of all history. Here, George Blaurock (1491–1529) demanded his good friend Conrad Grebel (1498–1526) to ―baptize him with the true Christian baptism upon his faith and knowledge.‖1 The believer‘s church movement was once again reborn.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect repmduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscn'pt and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing fmm left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manusuipt have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6' x 9' black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustmtions appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell 8 HowaH Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MENNONITE CONFESSIONS OF FAITH: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANABAPTIST TRADITION by Karl Peter Koop A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michae18s College and the Department of Theology of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology awarded by the University of St.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Zürcher Täufer 1525-1700. Edited by Urs B. Leu and Christian Scheidegger
    BOOK REVIEWS Die Zürcher Täufer 1525-1700. Edited by Urs B. Leu and Christian Scheidegger. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich. 2007. Pp. 428. CHF56; €36. As someone who has been working directly in this area of Swiss Anabaptist studies, I find this book a welcome addition. No book-length treatment of this topic has appeared since that of Cornelius Bergmann in 1916. Jacobus ten Doornkaat Koolman wrote a fresh, long article on the topic of Zurich for volume IV (1967) of the Mennonitisches Lexikon. He planned to write a full book on this subject, but it did not appear before his death. Hence this well-documented work fills a void. Urs Leu’s chapter 1, “Huldrich Zwingli und die Täufer,” begins with a statement in January 1523 by the Zurich government, assuming responsibility for the course of the Reformation against the Catholic bishops, and likewise Zwingli as church leader makes it plain that he would proceed with such governmental help so as to avoid any “great uproar.” Zwingli said in 1525 that he was in agreement with the Anabaptists concerning the inward spiritual life, but complained that they insisted on rejecting infant baptism and Christian participation in government. Nevertheless the previous year Zwingli had said that the chief cause of “uproar” among the people were the representatives of the old church, the Roman Catholics (33). Zwingli’s further ambiguity is revealed on another occasion when he thought Hercules, Theseus, Socrates and other good men of the ancients would inherit heaven, but that the Anabaptists would go to hell (78). Leu traces the rise of the first Anabaptist congregation, its further spread, and official opposition down through the Battle of Kappel in 1531, where Zwingli was killed.
    [Show full text]
  • Balthasar Hubmaier and the Authority of the Church Fathers
    Balthasar Hubmaier and the Authority of the Church Fathers ANDREW P. KLAGER In Anabaptist historical scholarship, the reluctance to investigate the authority of the church fathers for individual sixteenth-century Anabaptist leaders does not appear to be intentional. Indeed, more pressing issues of a historiographical and even apologetical nature have been a justifiable priority, 1 and soon this provisional Anabaptist vision was augmented by studies assessing the possibility of various medieval chronological antecedents. 2 However, in response to Kenneth Davis’ important study, Anabaptism and Asceticism , Peter Erb rightly observed back in 1976 that “. one must not fail to review the abiding influence of the Fathers . [whose] monitions were much more familiar to our sixteenth-century ancestors than they are to us.” 3 Over thirty years later, the Anabaptist community still awaits its first published comprehensive study of the reception of the church fathers among Anabaptist leaders in the sixteenth century. 4 A natural place to start, however, is the only doctor of theology in the Anabaptist movement, Balthasar Hubmaier. In the final analysis, it becomes evident that Hubmaier does view the church fathers as authoritative, contextually understood, for some theological issues that were important to him, notably his anthropology and understanding of the freedom of the will, while he acknowledged the value of the church fathers for the corollary of free will, that is, believers’ baptism, and this for apologetico-historical purposes. This authority, however, cannot be confused with an untested, blind conformity to prescribed precepts because such a definition of authority did not exist in the sixteenth-century, even among the strongest Historical Papers 2008: Canadian Society of Church History 134 Balthasar Hubmaier admirers of the fathers.
    [Show full text]
  • Century Historiography of the Radical Reformation
    Toward a Definition of Sixteenth - Century habaptism: Twentieth - Century Historiography of the Radical Reformation James R. Coggins Winnipeg "To define the essence is to shape it afresh." - Ernst Troeltsch Twentieth-century Anabaptist historiography has somewhat of the character of Hegelian philosophy, consisting of an already established Protestant-Marxist thesis, a Mennonite antithesis and a recent synthesis. The debate has centred on three major and related issues: geographic origin, intellectual sources, and essence. Complicating these issues has been confusion over the matter of categorization: Just who is to be included among the Anabaptists and who should be assigned to other groups? Indeed, what are the appropriate categories, or groups, in the sixteenth century? This paper will attempt to unravel some of the tangled debate that has gone on concerning these issues. The Protestant interpretation of Anabaptism has the longest aca- demic tradition, going back to the sixteenth century. Developed by such Protestant theologians and churchmen as Bullinger, Melanchthon, Men- ius, Rhegius and Luther who wrote works defining and attacking Ana- baptism, this interpretation arose out of the Protestant understanding of the church. Sixteenth-century Protestants believed in a single universal church corrupted by the Roman Catholic papacy but reformed by them- selves. Anyone claiming to be a Christian but not belonging to the church Joitnlal of Mennonite Stitdies Vol. 4,1986 184 Journal ofMennonite Studies (Catholic or Protestant) was classed as a heretic,' a member of the mis- cellaneous column of God's sixteenth-century army. For convenience all of these "others" were labelled "Anabaptists." Protestants saw the Anabaptists as originating in Saxony with Thomas Muntzer and the Zwickau prophets in 1521 and spreading in subsequent years to Switzerland and other parts of northern Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • A Believers Church Perspective. by John Howard Yoder. Gayle Gerber Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker, Eds
    BOOK REVIEWS Theology of Mission: A Believers Church Perspective. By John Howard Yoder. Gayle Gerber Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker, eds. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic. 2014. Pp. 432. $45. In his writings on the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann suggests that the psalmists lead us through a process of ‚orientation, disorientation and new orientation.‛1 I have found Brueggemann’s comments helpful in guiding me through the recent discussions surrounding John Howard Yoder’s sexual misconduct. Yoder has provided me—as he has with so many others—my plumb line ‚orientation‛ to the world. As Wilbert R. Shenk’s introduction point outs, Yoder’s vision and theological commitments were instrumental in shaping the work of Mennonite Board of Missions among African Independent Churches in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, where my parents served as missionaries and where I grew up. As a young adult, I attended and was baptized at Prairie St. Mennonite Church—the congregation Yoder called home for many years. And as a student at Fuller Seminary, Yoder’s writings have been, and continue to be, some of the most powerful and formative in shaping my missiological grid. Given Yoder’s influence in my own life, I now find myself experiencing a period of ‚disorientation.‛ I am baffled by Yoder’s destructive tendencies and wonder what should have been done in terms of accountability. Like the psalmists, I am trying to get to a place of ‚reorientation,‛ one that narrates how God rescues us from sin in a decisive way and that includes experiencing God’s grace, peace, and love, trusting that it will lead to reconciliation with Yoder’s legacy.2 While John Howard Yoder is best known for his work on issues of war and peace, the editors of this volume note that the theology of mission preoccupied him as a scholar, teacher, missionary, and ecumenical dialogue partner for most of his life.
    [Show full text]