Against the old prevailing divides of Radical Reformation scholarship, which tended to emphasize either the doctrinal development of the Anabaptists over the material conditions that gave rise to the movement or vice versa, it now seems more likely that what would become
Anabaptism actually formed somewhere in the middle.
Although I have retained the Orthodox insights from my original paper in the present adaptation, my primary purpose is to corroborate Rempel's interpretation of the Lord's Supper in
Anabaptism by demonstrating that, for Pilgram Marpeck (d.
Robert Friedmann, The Theology of
Anabaptism: An Interpretation (Scottsdale: 1973).
The Preface lectures follow up that use of
Anabaptism. In the context of commenting on the authority of the classic creeds, he wrote about the Anabaptists: "They assumed the Apostolic Creed....
He looks at the movement called the Counter Reformation, Calvinism and how it played out in the various countries that embraced it, persecutions (including the Inquisition, the burning of witches, and the martyrdom of dissidents from both the Catholic and Lutheran churches), the Enlightenment, the Church of England, Lutheranism in Scandinavia, Methodism, church design, sermon style, music, art, and architecture, the effect of the printing press, biblical translations,
Anabaptism, pietism, and more.
He follows that chapter with contemporary approaches to historic
Anabaptism and its theology.
This important book should be read by anyone interested in ethnic studies,
Anabaptism, western Canadian history, or conflict resolution studies.
Following the introduction is a background chapter: "'Be Ye Separate': The History, Religion, and Society of the Old Order River Brethren." Here Reynolds discusses the origins of this group in
Anabaptism and Pietism.
The practice of the leaders, often with autocratic tendencies, fuelled by convictions based on visions, was at odds with the participative emphasis found elsewhere in early
Anabaptism. Some of the behaviour was by any standards bizarre and occasionally cruel and demeaning of women in particular.
Reading this new book by James Stayer, well-known historian of
Anabaptism, my first thought was: "Is Saul also among the prophets?" (1.Sam.
In 1943 Bender presented his influential essay, "The Anabaptist Vision," as the presidential address before the American Society of Church History in which he not only attempted to rehabilitate nonresistant
Anabaptism from the twin specters of Muntzer and Munster, but also laid out a vision for twentieth-century Mennonite life.