The Anabaptist Vision part 2, by Harold S. Bender
Who were the Anabaptists? — and the vision Luther and Zwingli surrendered
Before defining the Anabaptist vision, it is essential to state clearly who is
meant by the term "Anabaptist," since the name has come to be used in modern
historiography to cover a wide variety of Reformation groups, sometimes thought
of as the whole "left wing of the Reformation" (Roland Bainton), "the Bolsheviks
of the Reformation" (Preserved Smith). Although the definitive history of
Anabaptism has not yet been written, we know enough today to draw a clear line
of demarcation between original evangelical and constructive Anabaptism on the
one hand, which was born in the bosom of Zwinglianism in Zurich, Switzerland, in
1525, and established in the Low Countries in 1533, and the various mystical,
spiritualistic, revolutionary, or even antinomian related and unrelated groups
on the other hand, which came and went like the flowers of the field in those
days of the great renovation. The former, Anabaptism proper, maintained an
unbroken course in Switzerland, South Germany, Austria, and Holland throughout
the sixteenth century, and has continued until the present day in the Mennonite
movement, now almost 500,000 baptized members strong in Europe and America.1
There is no longer any excuse for permitting our understanding of the distinct
character of this genuine Anabaptism to be obscured by Thomas Müntzer and the
Peasants War, the Munsterites, or any other aberration of Protestantism in the
There may be some excuse, however, for a failure on the part of the uninformed
student to see clearly what the Anabaptist vision was, because of the varying
interpretations placed upon the movement even by those who mean to appreciate
and approve it. There are, for instance, the socialist writers, led by Kautsky,
who would make Anabaptism either "the forerunner of the modern socialism" or the
"culminating effort of medieval communism," and who in reality see it only as
the external religious shell of a class movement.2 There are the
sociologists with their partial socioeconomic determinism as reflected in
Richard Niebuhr's approach to the social origin of religious denominations.
There is Albrecht Ritschl, who sees in Anabaptism an ascetic semimonastic
continuation of the medieval Franciscan tertiaries, and locates the
seventeenth-century Pietists in the same line;3 and Ludwig Keller, who finds
Anabaptists throughout the pre-Reformation period in the guise of Waldenses and
other similar groups whom he chooses to call "the old-evangelical
brotherhood,"4 and for whom he posits a continuity from earliest times.
Related to Keller are the earlier Baptist historians (and certain Mennonites)
who rejoice to find in the Anabaptists the missing link which keeps them in the
apostolic succession of the true church back through the Waldenses, Bogomils,
Cathari, Paulicians, and Donatists, to Pentecost. More recently there is Rufus
M. Jones who is inclined to class the Anabaptists with the mystics, and Walter
Koehler who finds an Erasmian humanist origin for them.
However, there is another line of interpretation, now almost 100 years old,
which is being increasingly accepted and which is probably destined to dominate
the field. It is the one which holds that Anabaptism is the culmination of the
Reformation, the fulfillment of the original vision of Luther and Zwingli, and
thus makes it a consistent evangelical Protestantism seeking to recreate without
compromise the original New Testament church, the vision of Christ and the
apostles. This line of interpretation begins in 1848 with Max Göbel's great
Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Kirche,
continues with the epoch-making work of C. A. Cornelius, particularly in his
Geschichte des Münsterschen Aufruhrs (1855-1860), follows in the work of men
like Johann Loserth, Karl Rembert, and John Horsch, and is represented by such
contemporaries as Ernst Correll of Washington and Fritz Blanke of Zurich. A
quotation from Göbel may serve to illustrate this interpretation:
The essential and distinguishing characteristic of this church is its great
emphasis upon the actual personal conversion and regeneration of every
Christian through the Holy Spirit. . . . They aimed with special emphasis at
carrying out and realizing the Christian doctrine and faith in the heart and
life of every Christian in the whole Christian church. Their aim was the
bringing together of all the true believers out of the great degenerated
national churches into a true Christian church. That which the Reformation was
originally intended to accomplish they aimed to bring into full immediate
More radically than any other party for church reformation the Anabaptists
strove to follow the footsteps of the church of the first century and to renew
unadulterated original Christianity.6
The evidence in support of this interpretation is overwhelming, and can be taken
from the statements of the contemporary opponents of the Anabaptists as well as
from the Anabaptists themselves. Conrad Grebel, the founder of the Swiss
Brethren movement, states clearly this point of view in his letter to Thomas
Müntzer of 1524, in words written on behalf of the entire group which constitute
in effect the original Anabaptist pronunciamento:
Just as our forebears [the Roman Catholic Papal Church] fell away from the
true God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ and of the right faith in him, and
from the one true, common divine word, from the divine institutions, from
Christian love and life, and lived without God's law and gospel in human,
useless, un-Christian customs and ceremonies, and expected to attain salvation
therein, yet fell far short of it, as the evangelical preachers [Luther, >
Zwingli, etc.] have declared, and to some extent are still declaring; so
today, too, every man wants to be saved by superficial faith, without fruits
of faith, without the baptism of test and probation, without love and hope,
without right Christian practices, and wants to persist in all the old fashion
of personal vices, and in the common ritualistic and anti-Christian customs of
baptism and of the Lord's Supper, in disrespect for the divine word and in
respect for the word of the pope and of the antipapal preachers, which yet is
not equal to the divine word nor in harmony with it. In respecting persons and
in manifold seduction there is grosser and more pernicious error now than ever
has been since the beginning of the world. In the same error we, too, lingered
as long as we heard and read only the evangelical preachers who are to blame
for all this, in punishment for our sins. But after we took the Scriptures in
hand, too, and consulted it on many points, we have been instructed somewhat
and have discovered the great and hurtful error of the shepherds, of ours too,
namely that we do not daily beseech God earnestly with constant groanings to
be brought out of this destruction of all godly life and out of human
abominations, and to attain to true faith and divine instruction.7
A similar statement was made in 1538, after fourteen years of persecution, by an
Anabaptist leader who spoke on behalf of his group in the great colloquy at
Berne with the leaders of the Reformed Church:
While yet in the national church, we obtained much instruction from the
writings of Luther, Zwingli, and others, concerning the mass and other papal
ceremonies, that they are vain. Yet we recognized a great lack as regards
repentance, conversion, and the true Christian life. Upon these things my mind
was bent. I waited and hoped for a year or two, since the minister had much to
say of amendment of life, of giving to the poor, loving one another, and
abstaining from evil. But I could not close my eyes to the fact that the
doctrine which was preached and which was based on the Word of God, was not
carried out. No beginning was made toward true Christian living, and there was
no unison in the teaching concerning the things that were necessary. And
although the mass and the images were finally abolished, true repentance and
Christian love were not in evidence. Changes were made only as concerned
external things. This gave me occasion to inquire further into these matters.
Then God sent His messengers, Conrad Grebel and others, with whom I conferred
about the fundamental teachings of the apostles and the Christian life and
practice. I found them men who had surrendered themselves to the doctrine of
Christ by "Bussfertigkeit" [repentance evidenced by fruits]. With their
assistance we established a congregation in which repentance was in evidence
by newness of life in Christ.8
It is evident from these statements that the Anabaptists were concerned most of
all about "a true Christian life," that is, a life patterned after the teaching
and example of Christ. The reformers, they believed, whatever their profession
may have been, did not secure among the people true repentance, regeneration,
and Christian living as a result of their preaching. The Reformation emphasis on
faith was good but inadequate, for without newness of life, they held, faith is
This Anabaptist critique of the Reformation was a sharp one, but it was not
unfair. There is abundant evidence that although the original goal sought by
Luther and Zwingli was "an earnest Christianity" for all, the actual outcome was
far less, for the level of Christian living among the Protestant population was
frequently lower than it had been before under Catholicism. Luther himself was
keenly conscious of the deficiency. In April 1522 he expressed the hope that,
"We who at the present are well nigh heathen under a Christian name, may yet
organize a Christian assembly."9 In December 1525 he had an important
conversation with Caspar Schwenckfeld, concerning the establishment of the New
Testament church. Schwenckfeld pointed out that the establishment of the new
church had failed to result in spiritual and moral betterment of the people, a
fact which Luther admitted, for Schwenckfeld states that "Luther regretted very
much that no amendment of life was in evidence."10 Between 1522 and 1527
Luther repeatedly mentioned his concern to establish a true Christian church,
and his desire to provide for earnest Christians ("Die mit Ernst Christen sein
wollen") who would confess the gospel with their lives as well as with their
tongues. He thought of entering the names of these "earnest Christians" in a
special book and having them meet separately from the mass of nominal
Christians, but concluding that he would not have sufficient of such people, he
dropped the plan.11 Zwingli faced the same problem; he was in fact
specifically challenged by the Swiss Brethren to set up such a church; but he
refused and followed Luther's course.12 Both reformers decided that it was
better to include the masses within the fold of the church than to form a
fellowship of true Christians only. Both certainly expected the preaching of the
Word and the ministration of the sacraments to bear fruit in an earnest
Christian life, at least among some, but they reckoned with a permanently large
and indifferent mass. In taking this course, said the Anabaptists, the reformers
surrendered their original purpose, and abandoned the divine intention. Others
may say that they were wise and statesmanlike leaders. 13
The Anabaptists, however, retained the original vision of Luther and Zwingli,
enlarged it, gave it body and form, and set out to achieve it in actual
experience. They proceeded to organize a church composed solely of earnest
Christians, and actually found the people for it. They did not believe in any
case that the size of the response should determine whether or not the truth of
God should be applied, and they refused to compromise. They preferred to make a
radical break with 1,500 years of history and culture if necessary rather than
to break with the New Testament.
May it not be said that the decision of Luther and Zwingli to surrender their
original vision was the tragic turning point of the Reformation? Professor Karl
Mueller, one of the keenest and fairest interpreters of the Reformation,
evidently thinks so, for he says, "The aggressive, conquering power, which
Lutheranism manifested in its first period was lost everywhere at the moment
when the governments took matters in hand and established the Lutheran
Creed,"14 that is to say, when Luther's mass church concept was put into
practice. Luther in his later years expressed disappointment at the final
outcome of the Reformation, stating that the people had become more and more
indifferent toward religion and the moral outlook was more deplorable than ever.
His last years were embittered by the consciousness of partial failure, and his
expressions of dejection are well known. Contrast this sense of defeat at the
end of Luther's outwardly successful career with the sense of victory in the
hearts of the Anabaptist martyrs who laid down their lives in what the world
would call defeat, conscious of having kept faith with their vision to the end.
Footnotes
1
In Switzerland, this group was called "Swiss Brethren," in Austria
"Hutterites," in Holland and North Germany, "Menists." All these groups
seriously objected to the name "Anabaptists" which was a term used to
designate a punishable heresy and which after the tragic Münster episode
(1534-35) was a name of odious opprobrium. I use the term here only for
custom's sake. The term "Mennonite" came into wider use in the seventeenth
century and was ultimately applied to all the groups except the Hutterites.
2
Ernst H. Correll, Das Schweizerische Täufermennonitentum (Tübingen, 1925),
"Allgemeine historisch-soziologische Kennzeichnung," 3-10, gives an
excellent concise survey. See particularly 6, footnote 1. See also Karl
Kautsky, Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation
(1897). Troeltsch rejected the theory of the socioeconomic origin of the
3
Albrecht Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus (Bonn, 1880). Cf. R. Friedmann,
"Conception of the Anabaptist,"
Church History (December 1940) IX, 351.
4
Ludwig Keller, Die Reformation und die älteren Reformparteien (Leipzig,
1885). Cf. also Friedmann, op. cit., 352.
5
Max Göbel, Geschichte des Christlichen Lebens, etc. (Coblentz, 1848),
I, 134. Ritschl, op. cit., 22, characterizes Göbel's views as follows: "Die
Wiedertäuferei also soll nach Göbel die gründlichere, entschiedenere,
vollständigere Reformation sein, welche als 'Kind der Reformation' Luthers
und Zwinglis zu erkennen aber von Luther seit 1522, von Zwingli seit 1524
aufgegeben worden wäre." Ritschl (op. cit., 7) himself states the Anabaptist
position as follows: "Nicht minder haben die Wiedertäufer sich dafür
angesehen, dass sie das von Luther und Zwingli begonnene Werk der
Wiederherstellung der Kirche zu seinem rechten Ziel führten."
6
7
Letter of Conrad Grebel to Thomas Müntzer, Sept. 5, 1524, Thomas Müntzers
Briefwechsel, ed. H. Böhmer, and P. Kirn (Leipzig, 1931), 92; English
translation, Walter Rauschenbusch, "The Zurich Anabaptists and Thomas
Münzer."
American Journal of Theology (January 1905) IX, 92.
8
Taken from an unpublished manuscript in the Staatsarchiv des Kantons Bern,
(Unnütze Papiere, Bd. 80), entitled Acta des Gesprächs zwischenn
predicannten und Touffbrüderenn (1538), Copy in the Goshen College Library.
9
Karl Holl, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kirchengeschichte (2nd and 3rd ed.)
10
Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum (Leipzig, 1911), II, 280 f. See also K. Ecke,
Schwenckfeld, Luther und der Gedanke einer apostolischen Reformation
(Berlin, 1911), 101 f. See also the discussion on this topic in J. Horsch,
"The Rise of State Church Protestantism," Mennonite Quarterly Review (July
11
See Luther's Deutsche Messe, translated in Works of Martin Luther (ed.
C. M. Jacobs et al.) Vol. VI (Philadelphia, 1932), 172, 173.
12
"Drei Zeugenaussagen Zwinglis im Täuferprozess" in Huldreich Zwinglis
Sämtliche Werke (Leipzig, 1927), IV, 169.
13
Against this interpretation of Luther (and Zwingli) it may be argued that
Luther never completely and consistently adopted the concept of a church of
"earnest Christians only" which is here attributed to him, but that along
with it he also retained the contradictory concept of the church functioning
as a "corpus regens," that is, as an institution of social control. It may
be agreed that Luther held the two concepts for a time and that he finally
abandoned the former in favor of the latter, but the fact nevertheless
remains that the former was for a time dominant, and that it is the implicit
meaning of his whole basic theological position. The retention and eventual
dominance of the second concept is an evidence of the carry-over of
medievalism in Luther's thought. In regard to Zwingli, Wilhelm Hadorn says:
"It must be admitted that not only Zwingli but also other Swiss and South
German Reformers, e.g., Oecolampad and Capito, originally held views similar
to the Anabaptists" (Die Reformation in der Deutschen Schweiz. [Leipzig,
1928]. 104). Walter Köhler, the best living authority on Zwingli, says: "Es
ist, wie bei Luther auch, die Kapitulation der autonomen kirchgemeinschaft
vor der Obrigkeit eingetreten." (
Zwinglis Werke [Leipzig, 1927], IV, 29).
14
Karl Müller, Kirchengeschichte, II, I, 476, Müller describes the essential
goal of the Anabaptists as follows: "Es bedeutete inmitten der Auflösung
aller Verhältnisse genug, dass hier eine Gemeinschaft stand, die die
Heiligung des Lebens allem anderen voranstellte und zugleich in dem unteren
Volksschichten wirklich Fuss gefasst, sie mit selbständiger Religiösität
gefüllt hat." (
Kirchengeschichte, II, 1, 330.)
