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Anabaptist Religious Literature and Hymnody

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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. As a matriculated theologian with a systematic mind, Hubmaier articu- lated many convictions at the heart of Swiss Anabaptism. Denck 390 john d. rempel deserves to be included, I think, because he was able to ground dis- cipleship in mystical union with God, holding together two claims that often came apart in the larger tradition. In the traditional portrayal of Anabaptism assumptions have often been made about the nature of its piety. We will begin with three common generalizations about spirituality in the formative period of Swiss, Hutterian, and Dutch Anabaptism. Next we will trace the development and mutation of these traits in later generations of Mennonites in the Netherlands and North Germany, Swiss Brethren in Switzerland and South Germany, and Hutterites, centered in Moravia. In conclusion, we will assess the sampling of texts to test the validity of these common generalizations. The study of Anabaptist religiosity from the second decade of the 16th century through the last decade of the 17th century is com- plicated by the striking transition in the movement from prophetic vanguard to separatist minority. Originally Anabaptism was a broad charismatic movement emerging from diverse theologies and spir- itualities. Its leading figures covered the spectrum from peasant to theologian, with intellectual backgrounds ranging from monasticism to humanism. Many Anabaptists died young from persecution. For the most part, their writings were not systematic; they were caught up in immediate issues of controversy and shaped by an eschato- logical urgency. Their consuming passion was to gather a faithful church in anticipation of the coming kingdom. Dispersal by governmental persecution and itinerancy based on missionary urgency characterized the original movement. As they discovered pockets of refuge they sought a settled existence. Out of the ferment of first and second generation Anabaptism more homogeneous, somewhat regionally based successor communities coalesced. They emerged at different times and under diverse con- ditions.1 The prophetic originality of the founders became routinized. Their zeal, which had led to many splits, had to be channeled in ways that could nurture a persecuted minority over the long haul. Their overriding challenge was to sustain but also adapt the radicalism of Anabaptism’s eschatological impulse for ordinary time. This meta- 1 The most comprehensive classification is still that of Williams (1992). More recent studies of the movement as a whole are Goertz (1996) and Snyder (1995). Finger (2004) offers a theological classification and analysis of the movement. Strübind (2003) proposes a fundamental revision of the origins and character of early Swiss Anabaptism. See also the dialogue between Strübind (2004) and Stayer (2004) on her proposal and method. .
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