Balthasar Hubmaier and His Eighteen Articles
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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. -
Sketching the Stories of the Ausbund Carita B
The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors Honors Research Projects College Fall 2015 Sketching the Stories of the Ausbund Carita B. Keim Ms. University of Akron Main Campus, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects Part of the Nonfiction Commons Recommended Citation Keim, Carita B. Ms., "Sketching the Stories of the Ausbund" (2015). Honors Research Projects. 215. http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/215 This Honors Research Project is brought to you for free and open access by The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors College at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Research Projects by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. “To the praise of God . though very coarse”: Sketching the Stories of the Ausbund Critical Essay The Ausbund, a hymnbook, is a historical anomaly for its tenacious usage. The Amish, one of the few surviving folk cultures in the United States, still sing the hymns in the original German. Their ancestors penned the words to these hymns nearly five hundred years ago on another continent. Ironically, the Amish arose in opposition to the Latin Christian Church (later known as the Roman Catholic Church), yet could be considered to be nearly their equal in their tradition. -
Migration and Survival of the Hutterite Brethren in Central Europe
Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 60 (2), pp. 267–285 (2015) DOI: 10.1556/022.2015.60.2.2 MIGRATION AND SURVIVAL OF THE HUTTERITE BRETHREN IN CENTRAL EUROPE Emese BÁLINT European University Institute, Florence, Italy E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: While the Anabaptist movement was still fl uid in the early 1520s, it soon crystallized into factions with sharp differences. Although the Moravian Anabaptists never succeeded in creating common doctrines and practices, the Central and East European experience was not merely a marginal part of the great Anabaptist story. Out of these divergent tendencies grew a strong sect that survived exile through a radical social experiment. Hutterite colonies, settled in a hostile environment, fl ourished for a long period while other sects disappeared within a few years. The factors that determined the advance and survival of the Hutterites point beyond religious motives. This social experiment was dependent on the integrated social structure enabling them to cope with an aggressive environment without assimilating. Various epochs of the Hutterite history show that communal life was never a uniform and perfect experience, but variants of the structure persisted in the colonies as they evolved in their local circumstances. Keywords: Anabaptism, Hutterite, community of goods, Moravia, Hungary, Transylvania In January 1525, the three founders of the Swiss Brethren, Georg Blaurock, Conrad Grebel and Felix Mantz baptized one another in Zürich. With this act a movement came into being that could not be stopped in spite of the imposition of the death penalty for those who accepted baptism as adults. Persecution quickly ensued, yet Anabaptism spread rap- idly across Europe. -
The Secret of the Strength What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation?
The Secret of the Strength What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation? Peter Hoover This is the 2008 version of the text, with the original introduction, forward, cover picture, etc. The text has been revised, but is substantially the same as the original text, with the addition of pictures. Other inspiring books are available at: www.PrimitiveChristianity.org Introduction I well remember the first time I faced the stark realization that I was a Mennonite and different. My fourth-grade friend, Gregory, and I were riding home from public school on the bus. We were talking about our future, how we would always be friends and do things together when we grew up. Then he enthusiastically began to describe activities that from my upbringing I knew to be worldly. Desperate to save our lifelong friendship, I turned to Gregory and said, “You will have to leave your church and become a Mennonite when you grow up.” Thus, the inevitability of our way of life impressed itself on my eight-year-old mind. A year later I made my decision to follow Christ. Of course, Gregory never joined my church, and I do not even know his whereabouts today. The theme of separation from the world ran strong in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania where I grew up. But I wrongly assumed that, except for our plainness, we believed the same things that other Christians believed. Then one evening at the Chambersburg Mennonite Church, where I was a member, a visiting speaker jolted me with a graphic picture of my martyr heritage. -
CHURCH HISTORY LITERACY Lesson 56 & 57 Anabaptists
CHURCH HISTORY LITERACY Lesson 56 & 57 Anabaptists, Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren We have studied Luther and his spiritual revolution waged against the Church and government of his day. While Luther was fighting for justification by faith in Germany, another movement to the south was struggling against the religious and governmental powers as well. The scene: Switzerland and Bavaria; the time: 1520’s; the cause: Biblical Christianity. Here, however, the adversary to free religious expression was equally Protestant as it was Catholic. As with Luther, the stage was set for things to happen in the area of human thought and belief. The advent of the printing press made writing more available. The ready availability of writing made literacy more important and useful. Increased literacy brought on the greater sharing of ideas, and western civilization found itself in the midst of a renaissance of learning. The dark ages were moving rapidly into history as civilization moved forward. Understandably, this energy for learning and change affected every arena of public and personal life, and religion was in no way excluded. The effect of putting the Bible in mass distribution and giving people the education to read and understand it was huge. More and more people would read the Bible and question the doctrines and practices the church authorities taught. It was no coincidence that this same renaissance brought on exploration as countries and adventurers set out to find new trade routes and treasures. The discovery of the New World brought a measure of discomfort in the intellect and in faith. People were recognizing that the world was greater than previously thought. -
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. -
Martin Bucer and the Anabaptist Context of Evangelical Confirmation
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, Department of History History, Department of 5-4-1994 Martin Bucer and the Anabaptist Context of Evangelical Confirmation Amy Nelson Burnett University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historyfacpub Part of the History Commons Burnett, Amy Nelson, "Martin Bucer and the Anabaptist Context of Evangelical Confirmation" (1994). Faculty Publications, Department of History. 12. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historyfacpub/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, Department of History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. MARTIN BUCER AmTHE ANAB Martin Bucer has long been called "the father of evangelied confir- mation" because of the ceremony he prescdbed for the territory of Hesse in 1539. After being called to Hesse by Landgrave Philip to combat the spread of Anahptisrar in his lds, Bucer drdtd both the Ziegenhain disciplinq ordinance, which gave the rationale and general procedure for co tion, and the Kassel church ordinance, which con~nedan agenda for the ceremony. Studies of Bucer's tion ceremony have freqmtly drawn aftention to Anabptist on the propal, that ifluence conning horn Anabaptists in both Strasbourg and Hesse? However, it is one thing to a that Anabaptisb inspired Bucer's proposal for confi tion; it is another to determine which Anabap- tists. Over the past two decades research on the "Radical Reforma- 'Amy Nelson Burnett is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. -
A Study of Early Anabaptism As Minority Religion in German Fiction
Heresy or Ideal Society? A Study of Early Anabaptism as Minority Religion in German Fiction DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ursula Berit Jany Graduate Program in Germanic Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Professor Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Advisor Professor Katra A. Byram Professor Anna Grotans Copyright by Ursula Berit Jany 2013 Abstract Anabaptism, a radical reform movement originating during the sixteenth-century European Reformation, sought to attain discipleship to Christ by a separation from the religious and worldly powers of early modern society. In my critical reading of the movement’s representations in German fiction dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, I explore how authors have fictionalized the religious minority, its commitment to particular theological and ethical aspects, its separation from society, and its experience of persecution. As part of my analysis, I trace the early historical development of the group and take inventory of its chief characteristics to observe which of these aspects are selected for portrayal in fictional texts. Within this research framework, my study investigates which social and religious principles drawn from historical accounts and sources influence the minority’s image as an ideal society, on the one hand, and its stigmatization as a heretical and seditious sect, on the other. As a result of this analysis, my study reveals authors’ underlying programmatic aims and ideological convictions cloaked by their literary articulations of conflict-laden encounters between society and the religious minority. -
2018 3 9 Catalog
LANCASTER MENNONITE HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S BENEFIT AUCTION OF RARE, OUT-OF-PRINT, AND USED BOOKS FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2018, 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 March 9, 2018, at 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one-half mile east of the intersection of Routes 30 and 462. The sale dates for the remainder of 2018 are as follows: May 11, July 13, September 14 and November 9. Please refer to the last page of the catalog for book auction procedures. Individual catalogs are available from the Society for $5.00 + $3.00 postage and handling. Persons who wish to be added to the mailing list for the rest of 2018 may do so by sending $15.00 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. The catalog is also available for free on our web site at www.lmhs.org/auction.html. 1. Bender, Harold S. Conrad Grebel, c. 1498-1526, the Founder of the Swiss Brethren, Sometimes Called Anabaptists. Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, no. 6, vol. 1. Goshen, Ind.: Mennonite Historical Society, 1950. xvi, 326pp (b/w ill, bib, ind, copy of author, syp, gc). 2. Friedmann, Robert. Mennonite Piety Through the Centuries: Its Genius and Its Literature. Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, no. 7. Goshen, Ind.: Mennonite Historical Society, 1949. xv, [i], 287pp (fp, b/w ill, bib, ind, presentation copy signed by author, syp, gc). -
Review and Discussion Recent Studies on Anabaptist Spirituality
Review and discussion Recent studies on Anabaptist spirituality John J. Friesen, Professor of History and Theology Canadian Mennonite Bible College T he recent interest in spirituality has resulted in a number of publications that focus on the spirituality of sixteenth-century Anabaptists. This review article looks at three books, produced to serve different purposes, all published in 1994 and 1995. Marlene Kropf and Eddy Hall. Praying with the Anabaptists, The Secret of Bearing Fruit. Newton and Winnipeg: Faith & Life, 1994. Cornelius J. Dyck, trans. and ed. Spiritual Life in Anabaptism: Classic Devotional Resources. Scottdale: Herald Pr., 1995. Daniel Liechty, trans. and ed. Early Anabaptist Spirituality: Selected Writings. New York: Paulist Pr., 1994. Praying with the Anabaptists, by Marlene Kropf and Eddy Hall, was commissioned by a joint Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church committee. The aim was to produce a book that would promote prayer and spiritual growth. The book “revisits the writings of the sixteenth-century martyrs and leaders of the Anabaptist movement to discover time-honored and yet refreshing ways to deepen our practice of prayer” (5). The book is divided into three sections: “Abiding in the Vine,” “Joined in Love,” and “Bearing Fruit.” The intent of “Abiding in the Vine” is to help people through personal prayer and devotion come into intimate and personal relationship to God. “Joined in Love” looks at the fruits of prayer, and focuses on aspects of relating to other people in building community, service, and mission. “Bearing Fruit” deals with further fruits of prayer, specifically service, peacemaking, and witness. In the authors’ view, spirituality, including Anabaptist spirituality, begins with a deeply personal prayer relationship to God, and proceeds into community, service, mission, and ethics. -
Anabaptist Masculinity in Reformation Europe Adam Michael Bonikowske University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2013 Anabaptist Masculinity in Reformation Europe Adam Michael Bonikowske University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the European History Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Bonikowske, Adam Michael, "Anabaptist Masculinity in Reformation Europe" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 80. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/80 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ANABAPTIST MASCULINITY IN REFORMATION EUROPE by Adam Bonikowske A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2013 ABSTRACT ANABAPTIST MASCULINITY IN REFORMATION EUROPE by Adam Bonikowske The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013 Under the Supervision of Professor Merry Wiesner-Hanks This thesis studies the connections between the Anabaptist movement during the Protestant Reformation and the alternative masculinities that developed during sixteenth- century Europe. It argues that Anabaptist men challenged traditional gender norms of European society, and through their unique understanding of the Reformation’s message of salvation, these men constructed new ideas about masculinity that were at odds with Protestant and Catholic culture. Anabaptist men placed piety and ethics at the center of reform, and argued for the moral improvement of Christians. In separation from Catholics and mainstream Protestants, Anabaptists created a new culture that exhibited behavior often viewed as dangerous. -
Book Reviews 105 Could Be Relationally Finessed in the Remaining Days with the Exhortation to “Welcome Each Other As Christ Ha
Book Reviews 105 could be relationally finessed in the remaining days with the exhortation to “welcome each other as Christ has welcomed you” (Rom. 15:7)? Second, with respect to the deutero-Pauline Ephesians, contemporaneous with Acts, would Thiessen see Eph. 2:11-22 to be a betrayal or an affirmation of Paul’s gospel? There we find both a recognition of Jewish and gentile identities but, more important, a celebration of a Christ who is “our Peace,” who breaks down the wall of division (the law) and creates in himself “one new human” out of “both.” Such questions do not point to inadequacy in Thiessen’s work, but to the rich and weighty questions his excellent exploration invites. Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld, professor emeritus of Religious Studies and of Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ontario. C. Arnold Snyder, ed. Later Writings of the Swiss Anabaptists, 1529-1592. Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2017. In this volume published as part of the Anabaptist Texts in Translation and Classics of the Radical Reformation series, Arnold Snyder makes available in English (and, in some cases, in print for the first time in any language) a wealth of documents related to the 16th-century Anabaptist group known as the Swiss Brethren. The documents in Later Writings of the Swiss Anabaptists span a variety of genres from letters and court records to apologetic writings and hymnal prefaces. Together, they shed light on the theology and practice of the Swiss Brethren in different times and places in the 16th century. The earliest precisely dated documents in this volume (Chapter II) relate to the work of Wilhelm Reublin, who in the course of his ministry was active in the Zurich area, the imperial city of Strasbourg, and Moravia.