LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
The Anabaptists Origins
Submitted to Dr. David Gorza
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
CHH 665-B01
History of Baptists
by
James D. Johnson
June 28, 2019
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Early Beginnings............................................................................................................................3
Zurich and Zwingli........................................................................................................................5
Anabaptist Theology......................................................................................................................7
2
Introduction
The Catholic church had been main venue of the Christian message for centuries.
Dissenters of the Catholic church were also considered dissenters of the state. Many people were
terrified to speak out against the doctrines and policies of the state church. Those that spoke out
did so by placing their own life in peril. However, the threat of imprisonment and death did not
stop some brave men from speaking out and debating on the doctrines of Catholicism. This
research paper will address the main events that led up to the Anabaptists movement, and its key
players within the movement. Moreover, this paper will show the spread of the Anabaptists
movement. While not realizing it at the time, the Anabaptists helped to pave the way for other
dissenting movements against the Catholic Church.
Early Beginnings
For the first fifteen centuries of the Christian church, most followed Catholicism.
Catholicism had spread from Rome, and had made its way into Europe by 597 AD.1 By the
sixteenth century, reforms within the church had begun to make gains. According to Leon
McBeth, “During this time, major upheavals occurred in the Roman Catholic Church, and
Protestant churches were born, such as Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican, as well as the
Anabaptists and other radical spiritual groups.”2 Many within the Roman Catholic Church did
not desire to break from the Catholic Church, but only to see the Catholic church make
significant reforms.
Such is the case with Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Thesis. According to Leonard
Verduin, “Luther’s brave deed, it need hardly be said, made the Rhetoricians more active and
1Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness (Nashville, TN: Broadman and
Holman, 1987), 22.
2McBeth, 25.
3
bolder. It also made the church more vigilant, and new and more violent measures were taken.”3
The Roman Catholic Church had imposed significant taxes throughout Europe, to help pay for
the hierarchy, art, and lifestyle for its Pope. Since the taxes did not produce enough money, the
church entered into financial schemes of simony, indulgences, and reservations. Luther had
witnessed these events, or had close associations with first-hand knowledge of these events
transpiring. Luther posted his thesis to the door of the church in 1517, and called for an end of
church abuse. According to John Derksen, “When preachers such as Luther preached that a true
church with true teaching should offer social and economic justice and equality to all, this was
music to the commoner’s ears.”4
From 1524-1526 the church faced strong headwinds. Commoners faced economic
oppression, were marginalized, and there was a growing disillusionment over the lack and
meaningful involvement in religion.5 Commoners wanted to see major reforms within the
church, but when they failed to see these reforms, many began to officially break from the state
church. It was during this reformation, that a new emphasis was placed upon the Bible, and for
grace of God through faith.6 Moreover, it was within these early days, that the Sola Scriptura
began to truly be examined, and the commoners and peasants demands for justice to be in-line
with the Word of God.7
Storch, which was one of Luther’s disciples, concluded that baptism could not justify
children, and that every Christian should be re-baptized, they were incapable of making an act of
3Leonard Verdun, “The Chambers of Rhetoric and Anabaptists Origins in the Low Countries,” The
Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 1960, 192–99.
4John Derksen, “The Roots of Anabaptists Empathetic Solidarity, Nonviolent Advocacy, and
Peacemaking,” in From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite Interreligious Interethnic and
International Peacebuilding, ed. Klager (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2016), 13–36.
5Derksen.
6Ibid.,
7Ibid.,
4
faith; by which, according to Luther, a Christian applies the merits of Jesus Christ to their lives.8
Luther had established his beliefs based entirely upon the biblical Scriptures, and not upon the
doctrines of the church. The preaching done by Luther and Storch caused several movements to
emerge, often among the people that were already dissatisfied with the policies of the state
church. Moreover, on occasion, alliances were sought with revolutionary forces, which caused
more social unrest, and many were ruthlessly persecuted.9
While Luther and Storch may be accredited in helping usher in the Reformation, they are
not solely responsible for the Anabaptists movement. Rather, Anabaptism developed from
several roots of extreme teachings. According to Goertz, “These include the early Reformation in
Zurich, Thomas Muntzer’s Radical Reformation in central Germany, which was carried to south
Germany by Hans Hut, and the charismatic and apocalyptic milieu of Strasbourg, which
Melchior Hoffman, with his spiritualist and eschatological ideas, moulded into a distinctive form
of Anabaptism and then introduced into lower Germany.”10 Moreover, some the sects accused
others following and teaching seductive and seditious theologies, which caused suspicions and
unrest among the extreme factions of the Reformation.
Zurich and Zwingli
The earliest form of Anabaptism came out of the Reformation in Zurich. One of the key
players in Zurich is a man by the name of Ulrich Zwingli. According to Goertz, “Ulrich Zwingli
had collected about him a circle of keen pupils, among them priests and monks, scholars and
artisans, who were dissatisfied with the old church and desired a fundamental renewal of
Christianity. Together, they set in motion a spiritual and political learning process, which
8“The Origin of the Anabaptists,” Irish Magazine and Monthly Asylum for Neglected Biography 5 (October
1812): 443–50.
9Hans-Jurgen Goertz, The Anabaptists (London: Routledge, 1996), 6.
10Goertz, 7.
5
gradually led to the official introduction of the Reformation by the town council.”11 Zwingli and
his followers took a form of rebellion by eating meat during the month of Lent. Moreover,
Zwingli’s followers debated clergy and monks about the value of ecclesiastical regulations and
laws, and continually pestered them with demands for communion.12 The clergy brought their
complaints to the town council, who did not reject this Reformation based on principle and gave
Zwingli a free hand to exercise his Christian freedom, as long as Zwingli would no longer cause
public disturbances within the city.13
Another coup was then planned by Zwingli and his followers. Konrad Grebel and a
number of fast breakers marched upon the monk’s church, and began to heckle the sermons
which publicly promoted the veneration of the saints.14 The council again called Zwingli’s
followers into their chambers, but Zwingli again came out victorious. Rather than punishing
Zwingli and his followers, the council issued a decree restricting preachers from delivering
sermons which conformed to the Scriptures.15 Other rebellions erupted throughout the
countryside, and Zwingli’s followers wanted to change take place quickly.
Zwingli did not desire to see chaos erupt, but had the desire to change take place in an
orderly fashion. Moreover, Zwingli was willing to wait for the council to institute the changes
that he desired, which were designed to maintain the Christian character within the city.16
However, Zwingli’s followers desired to see the needed changes come quickly, and be solely
based on the Bible and independent of the cautious city council.17 This ultimately led to a split
11Ibid., 8.
12Ibid.,
13Ibid.,
14Ibid.,
15Ibid.,
16Garry Schmidt, “Early Anabaptist Spirituality: History and Response,” Direction 34, no. 1 (2005): 34.
17Schmidt, 34.
6
between Zwingli and his followers, which marked the beginning of the Anabaptist movement in
Switzerland.
According to Gary Schmidt, “In January 1525, led by the scholars Conrad Grebel and
Felix Mantz as well as by peasant and former priest Jorg Blaurock, this radical group began
baptizing believing adults on confession of faith and in disregard of their infant baptisms.”18
These events led to a swift persecution by the state authorities, and ultimately a peasant revolt
and war. Many of the peasants gave up their cause, and returned to Catholicism, which others
continued to hold onto their ideas, and formed communities of faith.19 Goertz noted, “Thus,
ironically, these meek people, who endeavored in the name of Christ to establish the kingdom of
love, in reality seemed to be bent on destroying civilization.”20 It was through these communities
of faith which housed the radical reformers, that the Anabaptists movement truly began.
Anabaptist Theology
The Anabaptists differed significantly from the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
First, many Anabaptists did not believe in infant baptism. Rather, adherents believed that a
follower of Christ should be re-baptized. For the sake of time and space, this writer will not
delve into all the aspects of the baptism debate, and what separated Anabaptists from General
and Particular Baptists. Rather, the main issue for many Anabaptists was their rejection of infant
baptism.
Another key difference with Anabaptists and Catholicism concerned money. According to
Stayer, “Anabaptist leaders like Grebel and Blaurock stressed that tithes should be paid, lest it be
18Ibid.,
19Ibid.,
20Hans-Jurgen Goertz, “History and Theology: A Major Problem of Anabaptist Research Today,” The
Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 1979, 181.
7
thought that the new religion was but a pretext for worldly gain.”21 While the Catholic Church
collected funds for the Pope and luxuries, the Anabaptists would use tithe to pay for clergy living
and missionary efforts. Moreover, many Anabaptists believed the Catholic church missed used
funds, which ultimately belonged to God. As such, Anabaptist stressed tithe actually belonged to
God, and attempted to be good stewards of the funds collected.
Anabaptists also stressed a separation from the world. According to Stayer, “The early
Anabaptists were uncertain whether God had destined them to be a triumphant majority or a
suffering minority. The principle of separation from the world at first existed in tension with the
desire to overcome the world.”22 According to Klaassen, “The doctrine of sola fide, as the
Anabaptists heard Luther preach it, appeared to them to be merely an intellectual concept
because it did not call for a change in the style of life.”23 Most Anabaptists groups found Luther’s
teaching on sola fide to be offensive, because they believed that one must totally separate
themselves from the luxuries of life to be a true follower of Christ.
Anabaptism theology also stressed a synergism, which was a cooperation of “human
cooperation with divine grace in the process of redemption, and that emphasizes repentance,
holiness, and regeneration to a far greater extent than the major Reformers, who also presented
as teaching justification by imputed righteousness alone and its corollary double
predestination.”24 As such, Anabaptists stressed the importance of personal, private morality, that
one should live honorably unto God in an acentric fashion.
Anabaptists lived in a communal fashion, unlike those that practiced Catholicism.
According to Schmidt, “Often legalistic, with harsh consequences if broken, Ordnubg provided a
21James M. Stayer, “The Swiss Brethren: An Exercise in Historical Definition,” Church History, June
1978, 185.
22Stayer, 185.
23James M. Stayer, Werner O. Packull, and Klaus Deppermann, “From Monogenesis to Polygenesis: The
Historical Discussion of Anabaptists Origins,” The Mennonite Quarterly Review, April 1975, 90.
24Stayer, Packull, and Deppermann, 91.
8
strong sense of group identity. There were rules, often prescribed rather than written, and all
justified by the Bible. Difficulty and persecution were understood to be the natural result this
discipleship.”25 This form of communal living was hard, but the Anabaptists believed it necessary
to be true followers of Jesus’ teachings.
Anabaptists also viewed the clergy differently than the Catholic church. According to
Schmidt, “No longer was there any distinction between pope, priest, clergy, or lay person.
Anabaptists declared that clergy should find useful employment. Each person could and should
approach God directly. The priesthood was superfluous because every disciple was a priest.”26
While Schmidt is correct, Anabaptists also believed that clergy should be paid, and used some of
the tithe to pay the clergy. However, the majority of the tithe, where used for the needs of the
community and missionary efforts.
Spreading of the Anabaptists Movement
While the beginnings of the Anabaptists movement can be traced to Switzerland,
Anabaptists began to flourish across much of Europe, Germany, and the low countries.
According to Schmidt, “The Anabaptists spread so rapidly that their teaching soon covered, as it
were, the land. They soon gained a large following, and baptized many thousands, drawing
themselves many sincere souls who had a zeal for God.”27
While Anabaptists were still being persecuted by the state church, the growth began to
flourish in Augsburg under the leadership of Hans Denck. According to Klaassen, “Although a
restless fugitive until his death, Denck exercised a moderating influence on the movement in
South Germany with his emphasis on love as the sum of all virtue and his care and reticence in
25Schmidt, “Early Anabaptist Spirituality: History and Response.”, 33.
26Schmidt, 33.
27Ibid., 34.
9
judging others.”28 After baptizing Hans Hut in 1526, Hut was one of the most successful
Anabaptists missionaries, and has been accredited for founding churches all over Austria.29
Hut is also accredited with the rise Anabaptism in Moravia, and with converting Jacob
Hutter to the Anabaptists belief. Hutter worked to rescue Anabaptists from persecution, but
ultimately lost his life by being burned at the state in 1536.30 The Hutterian church was formed
around 1530 when, due to religious politics of the Habsburg monarchy that aimed at Catholicism
of the Empire, Protestant members of all radical groups faced severe oppression and
persecution.31 After being forced to flee, one of the dissenters traveled to Moravia, which was
part of the former Czech kingdom. In Moravia, Jacob Hutter preached to the Moravians, and the
Hutterites became the strongest and largest Anabaptists groups in Moravia. Hutterian
communities thrived after his death, and have been accredited for sending missionaries to many
parts of Europe.
The success of the Moravians led many other Anabaptists groups to send people to
Moravia to witness what had transpired. This led to the spreading of the Anabaptists across much
of Europe, with new sects springing up as far away as Poland, France, to Italy. While not all sects
practiced every aspect of the Anabaptists beliefs, most attempted to implement the doctrine of
the Anabaptists beliefs into their own communal sect.
Melchior Hoffman is also accredited with helping the spread of Anabaptism. Hoffman
came to Strasburg in 1529, where he was introduced to the Anabaptists movement. After being
converted to the Anabaptists doctrine, Hoffman departed the following year and headed to the
28Walter Klaassen, “A Fire That Spread Anabaptist Beginnings,” Christian History, no. 5 (1985).
29Klaassen.
30Ibid.,
31Magdalena Luszczynska, “The Polish Brethren versus the Hutterites: A Sacred Community?,” Journal of
Early Modern Christianity 4, no. 1 (2017): 21–46.
10
Netherlands and North German, to spread the Anabaptists beliefs.32 Hoffman spent a great deal
on apocalyptic theology, that suffering and end times were always meant to go together, As such,
after returning from his missionary efforts, Hoffman was sent to prison, where he died ten years
later.
Conclusion
Anabaptists have endured their share of turmoil. While the above information is not an
exhaustive effort, it does show the reader the events and circumstances that led many to follow
the Anabaptists movement. Thomas Heilke writes, “The Anabaptists view of the world, is, a
product of the resentments, power struggles, and political illegitimacies of a particular time and
place.”33 Anabaptism was born out of the need to reform the Catholic church. Years of abuse and
neglect ultimately led to significant amounts of bloodshed. Anabaptist believed that God wanted
them to live strictly according to the Bible. They rejected the practices of the Roman church,
lived and worked together, endured hardship, persecutions, and deaths. Anabaptists also believed
that infant baptism was not sufficient, and should only be applied to those that have been
instructed and truly understand its significance. While not realizing it at the time, the Anabaptists
helped to pave the way for other dissenters to finally forsake the Catholic church and practice
their own forms of Christianity.
Bibliography
Beck, Ervin, and Jeffery S. Peachey. “Ausbund 1564: The History and Conversation of an
Anabaptist Icon.” Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, October 2016, 128–38.
Derksen, John. “The Roots of Anabaptists Empathetic Solidarity, Nonviolent Advocacy, and
Peacemaking.” In From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite
32Ervin Beck and Jeffery S. Peachey, “Ausbund 1564: The History and Conversation of an Anabaptist
Icon,” Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, October 2016, 128–38.
33Thomas Heilke, “Theological and Secular Meta-Narratives of Politics: Anabaptists Origins Revisited
(Again),” Modern Theology 13, no. 2 (April 1997): 244.
11
Interreligious Interethnic and International Peacebuilding, edited by Klager, 13–36.
Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2016.
Goertz, Hans-Jurgen. “History and Theology: A Major Problem of Anabaptist Research Today.”
The Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 1979, 177–220.
———. The Anabaptists. London: Routledge, 1996.
Heilke, Thomas. “Theological and Secular Meta-Narratives of Politics: Anabaptists Origins
Revisited (Again).” Modern Theology 13, no. 2 (April 1997): 227–45.
Klaassen, Walter. “A Fire That Spread Anabaptist Beginnings.” Christian History, no. 5 (1985).
Luszczynska, Magdalena. “The Polish Brethren versus the Hutterites: A Sacred Community?”
Journal of Early Modern Christianity 4, no. 1 (2017): 21–46.
McBeth, Leon. The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness. Nashville, TN:
Broadman and Holman, 1987.
Schmidt, Garry. “Early Anabaptist Spirituality: History and Response.” Direction 34, no. 1
(2005): 30–45.
Stayer, James M. “The Swiss Brethren: An Exercise in Historical Definition.” Church History,
June 1978, 174–98.
Stayer, James M., Werner O. Packull, and Klaus Deppermann. “From Monogenesis to
Polygenesis: The Historical Discussion of Anabaptists Origins.” The Mennonite
Quarterly Review, April 1975, 83–123.
“The Origin of the Anabaptists.” Irish Magazine and Monthly Asylum for Neglected Biography 5
(October 1812): 443–50.
Verdun, Leonard. “The Chambers of Rhetoric and Anabaptists Origins in the Low Countries.”
The Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 1960, 192–99.
12
