The Anabaptist Movement and Its Church Structure
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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’. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
Anabaptist Influences on World Christianity
Anabaptist Influences on World Christianity Howard F. Shipps* The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century had many sources. Some of these, like springs and streams leading toward a grand river, may be found several centuries before the time of Martin Luther. Such beginnings may be seen in the Cathari and the Walden- ses of the twelfth century. During the succeeding centuries of the late middle ages, similar movements of revolt and insistence upon purification of the established church continued to multiply and grow. More and more these new forces attracted the attention of all Europe. They arose in widely scattered geographical areas and represented various cultures and different levels of medieval society. There were the Christian mystics of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Merswin and the "Friends of God," seeking earnestly for life's greatest reality�the knowledge of God's presence in the soul of man. Likewise there were the Brethren of the Common Life of the fourteenth century, Groot, Ruysbroeck, Radewyn and a' Kempis, who were seeking to find God amidst the common ways of secular pursuits and by a daily practice of His Presence. During the same century, but across the English Channel, John Wy- cliffe was delivering the Word of God from the enslavement of tradi tion and the prison house of the so-called sacred Latin language, preaching and printing it in the tongue of the common man. He also made this living Word incarnate by committing it to men who would declare it throughout the by-ways of England. Thus for more than a century the Lollards carried the torch of truth which would urge the masses throughout England toward one of their greatest awakenings. -
Anabaptism in Historical Perspective
EDITORIAL Anabaptism in Historical Perspective Kenneth Cain Kinghorn* Perhaps one of the most glaring injustices in ecclesiastical historiography has been the frequent failure to see the responsible and worthwhile elements in the dissenting movements within Prot estantism. The prevalent attitude toward Anabaptists may be regard ed as a classic illustration of this phenomenon. For centuries the Anabaptists have been lumped together with the irresponsible "spiri tualists" of the Reformation, the radical Anti-Trinitarians, and other fringe movements. Many church historians have seen only evil in any movement which has not been consistent with Wittenberg, Zurich or Geneva. The Anabaptists have frequently been regarded as only a negation of the gains of the Reformation. This attitude has tended to persist in a widespread way because of the paucity of writing on the Anabaptists by sympathetic schol 1 ars. However, since the mid-nineteenth century, this traditionally negative view has been greatly modified. (This changing mood is often seen as beginning with Max Gobel in his Geschichte des christleichn Lebens in der rheinisch-westfalischen. Kirche.) This leads one to a basic question as to the meaning of the term "Anabaptist." The late Harold S. Bender, a distinguished Anabap tist scholar, points out the difference between the original,evangel ical and constructive Anabaptist movement and the various mysti cal, spiritualistic, revolutionary, or even antinomian groups which have been concurrent. 2 The former is represented by the Mennonite and the latter maybe represented by such as the Schw'drmer, Thomas * Associate Professor of Church History, Asbury Theological Seminary. 1. See John Christian Wenger, Even Unto Death (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1961), pp. -
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. -
Mennonites and South Africans
MENNONITE LIFE MARCH 1 975 Is reflected an emerging Men- IN THIS nonite interest in southern Africa. John de Gruchy, theo ISSUE logian of the University of Cape town and former staff member of the South African Council of Churches, visited North American Mennon- ite schools and churches in early 1975. The interview with de Gruchy in this issue suggests several natural points of common interest between Mennonites and South Africans. Cf The choices of Mennonites in Rus sia a hundred years ago—to migrate Eastward, West ward, or to stay at home, were celebrated as options of contemporary relevance in the Bethel College Men- nonite Church centennial worship service. Christine Siemens Lautt, Bethel College senior art major, de signed three banners symbolizing the choices: the apocalyptic East (rising sun), the progressive West (wheat), and the embracing Home (roots). Another Mennonite centennial is being celebrated in 1975— the 450th anniversary of the Anabaptist origins in Switzerland. William Keeney’s article on the relation ship of the Swiss Brethren to Menno Simons was pre sented in January at Bluff ton College as part of a series of four meetings in celebration of this anniver sary. (Q It has been two years since the last “Men nonite Bibliography” appeared in Mennonite Life, but it is the editors’ intention to include this feature in the March issue each year. This bibliography, completed for this issue by Cornelius Krahn, remains the most thorough listing of current research and publication in the fields of Anabaptism, the Radical Reformation, and Mennonite history. Readers who are aware of items to be included in the bibliography are invited to send the information to Mennonite Life. -
Anabaptism: the Beginning of a New Monasticism
[A paper given at “Christian Mission in the Public Square”, a conference of the Australian Association for Mission Studies (AAMS) and the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre of Charles Sturt University, held at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) in Canberra from 2 to 5 October 2008.] Anabaptism: The Beginning of a New Monasticism by Mark S. Hurst Introduction Wolfgang Capito, a Reformer in Strasbourg, wrote a letter to the Burgermeister and Council at Horb in May 1527 warning about the Anabaptist leader Michael Sattler. He was worried that Sattler was bringing about “the beginning of a new monasticism.” (Yoder, 87) Both Anabaptism and “new monasticism” are being explored today as relevant expressions of the Christian faith in our post-Christendom environment. The connections between these two movements will be examined in a conference sponsored by the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand in January 2009 as they were in a recent conference in Great Britain called “New Habits for a New Era? Exploring New Monasticism,” co-sponsored by the British Anabaptist Network and the Northumbria Community. (See http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/19 for papers from the conference.) The British gathering raised a number of questions for these movements: “We hear many stories of ‘emerging churches’ and ‘fresh expressions of church’, but Christians in many places are also rediscovering older forms of spirituality and discipleship. Some are drawing on the monastic traditions to find resources for a post- Christendom culture. ‘New monasticism’ is the term many are using to describe these attempts to re-work old rhythms, rules of life and liturgical resources in a new era. -
Healing Memories: Reconciling in Christ Report of the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission the Mennonite World Conference
The Lutheran World FederationThe LutheranWorld The Lutheran World Federation The Mennonite World Conference Healing Reconciling Memories: in Christ Healing Memories: Reconciling in Christ Report of the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission The Mennonite World Conference World Mennonite The The Lutheran World Federation 150, rte de Ferney CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland ISBN 978-2-940459-00-1 OEA-Lutheran-Mennonites-2010-cov1 1 05/07/2010 17:21:53 PM Healing Memories: Reconciling in Christ Report of the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission The Lutheran World Federation The Mennonite World Conference 2010 OEA-Lutheran-Mennonites-2010-EN.1 1 05/07/2010 17:57:29 PM Healing Memories: Reconciling in Christ Report of the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission Published by: The Lutheran World Federation 150, route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland and Mennonite World Conference 8, rue du Fossé des Treize F-67000 Strasbourg, France Copyright © 2010 The Lutheran World Federation and The Mennonite World Conference Printed in Germany ISBN 978-2-940459-00-1 Publication of this book was made possible by a special gift from Prof. emeritus Dr Joachim Track, chairman of the Program Committee for Ecumenical Affairs of the Lutheran World Federation Council, 2003-10. OEA-Lutheran-Mennonites-2010-EN.2 2 05/07/2010 17:57:30 PM Contents 5 Preface 11 Part I Introduction 12 Origin and Mandate of the International Study Commission 13 Study Commission Members 13 The Commission and its Themes 19 Part 2 Telling -
Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence Upon Anabaptism: the Case of Balthasar Hubmaier
Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence upon Anabaptism: The Case of Balthasar Hubmaier Darren T. Williamson BA Lubbock Christian University 1993 MS Abilene Christian University 1996 MA Hardin-Simmons University 1997 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Department of History O Darren T. Williamson 2005 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2005 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author APPROVAL Name: Darren T. Williamson Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence upon Anabaptism: The Case of Balthasar Hubmaier Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Mark Leier Associate Professor of History Dr. Hilmar M. Pabel Senior Supervisor Associate Professor of History Dr. John S. Craig Supervisor Associate Professor of History Dr. Paul E. Dutton Internal External Examiner Professor of Humanities Dr. Mark Vessey External Examiner Associate Professor of English University of British Columbia Date Defended: SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection.