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Classics of the Radical Reformation "tbe SOURces o-,: e,wtss1\,naBap"tfsm This is a preview. Get the entire book here. Classics of the Radical Reformation Classics of the Radical Reformation is an English-language series of Anabaptist and Free Church documents translated and annotated under the direction of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, which is the research agency of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, and published by Plough Publishing House. 1. The Legacy of ichaelM Sattler. Trans., ed. John Howard Yoder. 2. The Writings fo Pilgram Marpeck. Trans., ed. William Klassen and Walter Klaassen. 3. Anabaptism in Outline: Selected Primary Sources. Trans., ed. Walter Klaassen. 4. The Sources of Swiss Anabaptism: The Grebel Letters and Related Docu- ments. Ed. Leland Harder. 5. Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism. Ed. H. Wayne Pipkin and John Howard Yoder. 6. The Writings fo Dirk Philips. Ed. Cornelius J. Dyck, William E. Keeney, and Alvin J. Beachy. 7. The Anabaptist Writings of David Joris: 1535–1543. Ed. Gary K. Waite. 8. The Essential arlstadt:C Fifteen Tracts by Andreas Bodenstein. Trans., ed. E. J. Furcha. 9. Peter Riedemann’s Hutterite Confession of Faith. Ed. John J. Friesen. 10. Sources of South German/Austrian Anabaptism. Ed. C. Arnold Snyder, trans. Walter Klaassen, Frank Friesen, and Werner O. Packull. 11. Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition: 1527–1660. Ed. Karl Koop. 12. Jörg Maler’s Kunstbuch: Writings of the Pilgram Marpeck Circle. Ed. John D. Rempel. 13. Later Writings of the Swiss Anabaptists: 1529–1592. Ed. C. Arnold Snyder. This is a preview. Get the entire book here. Lbe SOLIRCes o+ ewfss RnaBapt:tsm t:beJ.on.esel J!.etterw ann Relaren bocarnen:ts Edited by Leland Harder This is a preview. Get the entire book here. Published by Plough Publishing House Walden, New York Robertsbridge, England Elsmore, Australia www.plough.com Plough produces books, a quarterly magazine, and Plough.com to encourage people and help them put their faith into action. We believe Jesus can transform the world and that his teachings and example apply to all aspects of life. At the same time, we seek common ground with all people regardless of their creed. Plough is the publishing house of the Bruderhof, an international community of families and singles seeking to follow Jesus together. Members of the Bruderhof are committed to a way of radical discipleship in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount. Inspired by the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2 and 4), they renounce private property and share every- thing in common in a life of nonviolence, justice, and service to neighbors near and far. To learn more about the Bruderhof ’s faith, history, and daily life, see Bruderhof.com. (Views expressed by Plough authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Bruderhof.) Copyright © 2019 by Plough Publishing House All rights reserved. Photos by Jan Gleysteen, from the Anabaptist Heritage Collection, Scottsdale, Pennsylvania isbn: 978-0-87486-262-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data pending. This is a preview. Get the entire book here. To the memoryof the three predecessors in this Grebel "lifeand letters" project Hau.oh) 5. Benc)eu. Ec)wau.c)Yoc)eu. Eu.nst Cou.u.ell and to Elizabeth Horsch Bender who in the eighth decade of her life translated most of the German.documentsin this collection. This is a preview. Get the entire book here. It took fifty years for Conrad Grebel’s letters and the accom- panying resources on the early history of the Zurich Anabaptists to be translated and published in English. In his editor’s preface to the 1985 edition, Leland Harder offers a detailed description of the complex historical background. Research into Swiss Anabaptism has changed markedly since the publication of this volume. Nowadays, a distinction is made between so-called normative research into the Anabaptists and revisionist examination. Starting with Ernst Troeltsch’s ground- breaking studies,1 the “Bender School”2 in particular generated substantial and fundamental works that accepted the pacifist and potentially separatist Swiss Anabaptism as the norm, according to which all other manifestations of the Anabaptist movement were to be measured. In spite of many new findings from exhaustive research into and investigation of original sources, this normative perspective approach conveyed an idealized image of early Anabap- tism, which also served as an identification model for current Free Church concepts. A new approach in the research of Anabaptism, based on large-scale empirical research using social and economic historical methods, was triggered by the resurgence of socio-historical inter- pretations in the 1970s. This development led to a move from a monogenetic, normative view to a polygenetic, pluralistic image of the Anabaptist movement.3 In addition, new perspectives have led to research projects with a cultural and theological-historical orien- tation being established since the turn of the century.4 3 This is a preview. Get the entire book here. There is general consensus among researchers that the Swiss Anabaptists drew on and recruited from the circle of Huldrych Zwingli’s supporters in the early days of the Reformation movement in Zürich. Recent research has put a new perspective on Conrad Grebel’s significance as a leader of the Anabaptist movement, shifting the focus to collective and social contexts and the roles of a wide range of players.5 Nevertheless, this book, which is intended for a wider read- ership, offers great possibilities. Conrad Grebel’s correspondence with his brother-in-law Vadian, a reformer from St. Gallen, maps the structure of the published source material. Harder presents the correspondence in the form of a five-act drama, including a prologue and an epilogue, which portrays the development of Conrad Grebel from a humanistically educated, middle-class citizen into a leader of the Anabaptist movement. The focus rests on developing and opening up the protagonist’s biographical turning points and spiritual changes. This enables insight from the perspective of a key player into the Zürich Reformation – which from very early on was becoming increasingly pluralized – and into the emerging Anabaptist movement. This is a strength of the edition, as the correspondence can thus be effectively penetrated and categorized. At the same time, this concentration on the persona of Grebel also represents a weakness. In essence, it causes the significance of the organizational structures of the emerging Anabaptist movement, such as the humanistic sodalities and the reformist reading circles, to recede into the background. Effectively, as a result of the source presentation, Grebel tends to be styled as the founder of the new Anabaptist Church according to the paradigm of normative research into Anabaptism, without pointing out his close interconnection with the community of reform-minded citizens. For readers, it is relevant here to incorporate the findings of recent research into Anabaptism critically and with a degree of skepticism,6 bringing a knowledgeable awareness to the source material. Additional illus- trations and commentaries on individual documents enable good insight into the early history of the Anabaptist movement within the framework of the Zürich Reformation. 44 This is a preview. Get the entire book here. Harder had the ability to make use of existing translations and, at the same time, to supplement these by working together with further experts. It is this coordination and its independent and skillful translation work that really determine the great value of this collection. I continue to find it remarkable that Harder not only respected and valued the evolving knowledge from preceding research into Anabaptism in this publication but that he was also able to set new priorities through his insightful commentary. It is particularly welcome that the volume is to be republished in the run-up to the five-hundred-year anniversary of the emergence of Reformation Anabaptism, which is to be celebrated around the world in 2025. Andrea Strübind Notes 1. See, e.g., Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2 vols. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009; Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen [1912]); Ernst Troeltsch, Protestantism and Progress: A Historical Study of the Relation of Protestantism to the Modern World (New York: Routledge, 2017; Die Bedeu- tung des Protestantismus für die Entstehung der modernen Welt [1906]). 2. Harold S. Bender, Conrad Grebel, c. 1498–1526: The Founder of the Swiss Brethren, Sometimes Called Anabaptists, 2nd ed. (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1971); John C. Wenger, Even unto Death: The Heroic Witness of the Sixteenth-Century Anabaptists (Richmond, VA: Knox, 1961); Franklin H. Littell, Das Selbstverständnis der Täufer (Kassel: Oncken, 1966); Robert Friedmann, Theology of Anabaptism: An Interpretation (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1973); George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation, 3rd ed. (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2000 [1962]); John H. Yoder, Täufertum und Refor- mation in der Schweiz: Die Gespräche zwischen Täufern und Reformatoren 1523–1538 (Karlsruhe: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1962); John Howard Yoder, Täufertum und Reformation im Gespräch: Dogmengeschichtliche Untersuchung der frühen Gespräche zwischen schweizerischen Täufern und Reformatoren (Zürich: EVZ-Verlag, 1968). On the history of normative Anabaptist research, see Levi Miller, “A Reconstruction of Evan- gelical Anabaptism,” Mennonite
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