Section 06

The Anabaptists

Believed in “gathered” churches

Rejected infant baptism

Had little to do with the State

Never participate in war

Withdrew from society and constituted communities of their own

Worship marked by simplicity

Bitterly persecuted by Protestants and Roman Catholics

Early Anabaptists

Sprung from heretical pre-sixteenth century movements

Kind of Apostolic succession different from the Catholics

Conrad Grebel (1498-1526) and Felix Manz

Manz was first martyr to the Anabaptist cause.

In 1520s the Anabaptists’ views spread to Switzerland, Austria, Southest Germany.

Opposed all use of force, even in persecution

Articles of faith rejected the Roman, Lutheran, and Zwinglian worship as “servitude of the flesh.”

The Mennonites

Took names from Menno Simons (1496-1561)

Was ordained as an Anabaptist minister

Various confessions of faith

Dortrecht Confession, 1632, was attempt to bring union of the various bodies

Differences were chiefly over degree to which members should shun those who had been excommunicated.

Varieties of Anabaptists

The Amish took their name from Jacob Ammann

The Hutterites, or Hutterian Brethren, from Jacob Hutter

They suffered severely in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

Remnants took refuge in Hungary

The Mennonites and other descendants of the Anabaptists became ingrown.