Anabaptism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"I flew me over to Munster in Germany, which an Anabaptistical brother named John Leyden kept at that instant against the Emperor and the Duke of Saxony. Here I was in good hope to set up my staff for some reasonable time, deeming that no city would drive it to a siege except they were able to hold out, and prettily well had these Munsterians held out, for they kept the Emperor and the Duke of Saxony play for the space of a year, and longer would have done but that Dame Famine came amongst them, whereupon they were forced by messengers to agree upon a day of fight when, according to their Anabaptistical error they might all be new christened in their own blood." --The Unfortunate Traveller by Thomas Nashe, describing the events of the Münster Rebellion. See also: Peasants' War, Radical Reformation |
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Anabaptists (Greek ανα (again) +βαπτιζω (baptize), thus, "re-baptizers", are Christians of the Radical Reformation. Various groups at various times have been called Anabaptist, but this article focuses primarily on the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe.
The term "anabaptist" comes from the practice of baptizing individuals who had been baptized previously, often as infants. Anabaptists believe infant baptism is not valid, because a child cannot commit to a religious faith, and they instead support what's called believer's baptism.
The word anabaptism is used in this article to describe any of the 16th century "radical" dissenters, and the denominations descending from the followers of Menno Simons. Today the descendants of the 16th century European movement (particularly the Baptists, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Brethren in Christ) are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist.
Münster Rebellion
A second and more determined attempt to establish a theocracy was made at Münster in Westphalia (1532–5), led by Bernhard Rothmann, Bernhard Knipperdolling, Jan Matthys and John of Leiden.
Popular culture
- In Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, the character of Chaplain Tappman identifies himself as an Anabaptist. He states that for this reason, it is not necessary to call him "Father".
- Voltaire's novella Candide features a character named James, who identifies himself as an Anabaptist and helps the eponymous protagonist and his teacher Pangloss but later drowns in Lisbon harbor.
- The novel Q, by the collective known as "Luther Blissett" features an Anabaptist as the central character and is set in the 16th century, touching on key elements of Anabaptist history such as the siege of Munster.
See also
- Abecedarians
- Amish
- Apostolic Christian Church
- Brethren in Christ
- Christian anarchism
- Eythorne Baptist Church
- Mennonite
- Peace churches
- Protestant Reformation
- Radical Reformation
- Schleitheim Confession
- Shunning
- Simple living
- The Upside-Down Kingdom