Anabaptist Movement & The Revolutionary Anabaptist : Melchior Hoffman

The Anabaptist Movement

- Most of these radical reformers also held that pacifism is an essential element in Christianity.

- They rejected the infant baptism..

- They did not then baptize by immersion. But later, as they sought to conform to the New Testament, they began baptizing by immersion.

- Infant baptism was not valid, and therefore the first baptism takes place when one receives the rite after having made a public confession of faith.

- They were considered subversive.

- Also, by insisting on the contrast between the church and civil society the Anabaptist implied that the structures of power of that society, The Anabaptists implied that the structures of power of that society sould not be transferred into the church.

- They were radical egalitarians

 

 

 

The Revolutionary Anabaptist

 

Melchior Hoffman

- He had been first a Lutheran and then a Zwinglian before becoming an Anabaptist.

- He began announcing that the Day of the Lord was near.

- and it would become necessary for the children of God to take up arms against the children of darkness.

- He continued in prison seemingly until his death.

 

The Later Anabaptist

"Mennonites"

- The principal figure in this new generation was Menno Simons.

- He was convinced that pacifism was an essential part of true Christianity.

- And therefore refused to have anything to do which the revolutionary Anabaptists.

- He also felt that Christians ought not to offer any oaths whatsoever, and that they should occupy positions requiring them.

- They should obey civil authorities.

- Baptism should be administered only to adults who confess their faith publicly.

- Menno and his followers practiced footwashing

- But Mennonites were considered subversive by many governments because they would not give oaths or offer military service.

- By twentieth century, Mennonites were the main branch of the old Anabaptist movement of the sixteenth century, and they still insisted on their pacifist stance. But persecution appeared to be mostly a matter of the past, and Mennonites had gained an honored place in society through their social service.