So I last year, stopped by Munster Germany on a eurpoupean vacation before covid, because as a first year history major l, was facinated by the munster anabaptist rebellion and wanted to know more because theres like... a grand total of 4 English sources and even less people talking about it in depth except for like, Dan Carlin and a few others that aren't the most 100% or unbiased. The people there (when they spoke good english) told me about alot of what happened and then when I asked why Melchoir Hoffman believed that 1533 in Strausborg was Doomsday, they said "well they believed it was 500 years after Christ's death", and when I asked why, no one could tell me. So where did thoes extra 1000 years go on their callendar? It's been bothering me for a while.
For several months now we have been reading and watching content from the Bruderhof in particular. Before that, I had been reading and researching stuff related to the Peasants' Revolt, which seemed to have been a major point of differentiation between Anabaptist and Reformed traditions. I also read several pieces of writings by Gerrard Winstanley and Leo Tolstoy, and I don't think either of them were directly involved in the anabaptist tradition but their criticism of cultural and religious norms is one of the things that has led me to anabaptists, who seem to be more able to be in the world and not of the world, to exist alongside others while remaining critical of the injustices that many protestant denominations endorse.
My wife and I have been joining Zoom sessions with the Bruderhof. I would love to hear from anyone who has been a part of the Bruderhof or, especially, from other anabaptists traditions to offer your perspective. Has anyone here joined an anabaptist community after having lived and fellowshiped in another church for years? I am in my mid-30s and I have been fellowshipping with a church for several years now and one of my hangups in thinking about joining a community will be abandoning the church family I have there.
Question in post title; explanation below.
I'm starting a plunge into Ronald Knox's Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion (Oxford, 1950). As part of this I've been reading some reviews that were published around the time the book was published (I like to see what the haters say when I'm starting something new). One particularly vicious review by a James Hastings Nichols of the University of Chicago includes a passage complaining that Knox doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the Anabaptists (link to image in comments). So, I'd like to ask — what is a good, brief, not-heavily-confessionally-skewed introduction to the history of Anabaptism? Wikipedia helpfully notes that "Research on the origins of the Anabaptists has been tainted both by the attempts of their enemies to slander them and by the attempts of their supporters to vindicate them", and then seems to cite a lot of older, biased and/or sensationalist sources. I'd like to read something like an NYRB review essay or one of the Very Short Introduction series, but failing that a medium-length book would be good, too.
By nature of them being a christian denomination means that there will be some deviance of some kind which has to be combated to remain united. These heresies should of course be somewhat unique, like an aggressive version of anabaptism.
There’s a few baptist churches nearby, and I was thinking about trying them out. Should I go to them, or a different denomination?
I have only been an Anabaptist for a bit over a year now, though the way I have lived and believed, I have been one longer without realizing the term and such. I used to have arguments with my husband maybe four years ago against the death penalty (now he agrees) and as a child I used to argue with a friend's father who was a reverend of a Christian Reformed church why I believed baby baptism was not right and why I was glad that I had not been baptized yet at the time. . .
The mentality was building since childhood. It had always been difficult for me to live at all under the roof of a PTSD military war veteran when I believed it was wrong to be at war with anyone and that we should love people. My dad called me a hippy back then and so I actually would try to dress like one as a way to revolt against him.
Now though my peace-living has changed my attitude because Christ has taken a hold of my life. I live my life very different from everyone I know. My husband is an Anabaptist as well now and we have lost countless of Christian friends simply because we are not nationalistic, don't celebrate most of the holidays, joined a Mennonite church (which they think are filled with cape dresses and bearded men when our church has none of that). I am told by my parents' friends that I am troubled because social justice issues mean so much to me and that supposedly they aren't Biblical (which drives me so nutty but I am very kind to these people and hold my tongue with them to keep at peace but the old me would have spouted things and argued). I have come to a point in my life where I realize that I am pretty much alone but not nearly as alone as Christ was. When my mom tries to tell my children things to try to make it seem like her beliefs are the right ones and my husband's beliefs and mine are not, we let them choose for themselves just as God had to point us in the direction He has. Other than the small congregation we have at our church (where there are honestly only a handful of people who agree with Anabaptism as it is because we have a lot of homeless and neighborhood people come and some of them have military children and don't understand why we won't pray for their sons to win battles but instead pray that they won't have to fight so that no wars will even take place), we really only have ONE friend who shares our heart in this issue.
I have never felt so alone, though I have always been a loner anyway. I see that God has prepared me for b
... keep reading on reddit ➡According to the Wikipedia article on Anabaptism, Anabaptists interpret the Sermon on the Mount literally which precludes participating in military actions. How does this pacifist stance square with Muntzer becoming a rebel leader in the Peasants' War? And are there any anabaptist churches today which aren't strictly pacifist?
Just curious. I grew up in a mennonite church, and never really thought of myself as an evangelical.
Mostly, I'm just claiming this space, since it seems like it's becoming a more and more talked about tradition in Christianity and no one has created an Anabaptism subreddit yet. I'll do what I can to develop the subreddit, but won't make any promises. I don't know much about the technical aspects of reddit so I'll try to learn, but would appreciate any help people are willing to give (especially in creating an appealing aesthetic, message me).
