The Anabaptist heritage
* Freedom of religion
* Priesthood of all believers
* Bible as the sole rule of faith and practice
* Pacifism
All those who hold the idea of a free church and freedom of religion (sometimes called (link)
separation of church and state) are greatly indebted to the Anabaptists.
When it was introduced(5) by the Anabaptists in the 15th and 16th centuries, religious freedom independent of the state was a radical idea, and unthinkable to both clerical and governmental leaders. Religious liberty was equated with anarchy; Kropotkin(6) traces the birth of anarchist thought in Europe to these early Anabaptist communities.According to Estep,(7)
"Where men believe in the freedom of religion, supported by a guarantee of separation of church and state, they have entered into that heritage. Where men have caught the Anabaptist vision of discipleship, they have become worthy of that heritage. Where corporate discipleship submits itself to the New Testament pattern of the church, the heir has then entered full possession of his legacy."
Anabaptism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnabaptismThe 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.
Research on the origins of the Anabaptists has been tainted both by the attempts of their enemies to slander them and the attempts of their friends to vindicate them. It was long popular to simply lump all Anabaptists as Munsterites and radicals associated with the Zwickau Prophets, Jan Matthys, John of Leiden (also Jan Bockelson van Leiden, Jan of Leyden), and Thomas Muentzer. Those desiring to correct this error tended to over-correct and deny all connections between the larger Anabaptist movement and this most radical element.
English Peasant Revolt (1381)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Peasant_RevoltThe Peasants' Revolt, Tyler’s Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. The names of some of its leaders, John Ball, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar even though very little is actually known about these individuals.
Tyler's Rebellion is significant because it marked the beginning of the end of serfdom in medieval England. Tyler's Rebellion led to calls for the reform of feudalism in England and an increase in rights for the serf class.
(See also William of Ockham)
whose Oxford seminary students helped organize the revolt.
This revolt came within yards of dethroning the British monarchy
and overturning all existing British rulers in favor of an agrarian
socialist state.
Thomas Muentzer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_MuentzerThomas Muentzer (actually Thomas Müntzer) (1489 or 1490–27 May 1525) was
an early Reformation-era German pastor who was a rebel leader during the
(German) Peasants' War. Cf. Radical Reformation, Protestant reformers.
From 1517-19 Müntzer stayed in Wittenberg and was influenced by Andreas Karlstadt and Martin Luther, agreeing with their opposition to the Catholic church's sale of indulgences and its priests' abusive use of power.
Increasing RadicalismIn May 1520, Müntzer became a pastor in Zwickau in Saxony in 1520 on Luther's recommendation.
In 1521 and 1522, however, the growing divide between Luther and Müntzer’s beliefs became apparent, as Müntzer developed his anti-intellectualism further and rejected infant baptism.
The Zwickau authorities expelled Müntzer in April 1521. He fled to Prague. He was initially feted in the town when he arrived in June, welcomed as a follower of Luther, with accommodation provided for him and invitations to preach in Latin and German in the University chapels. For unknown reasons, however, by November he was far less welcome in the town. That month he wrote the Prague Manifesto. This survives in 4 different versions in German and Latin, and is an angry, anticlerical, apocalyptic work.
In December 1521, Muntzer left Prague. He spent 1522 moving about, not staying in many places. In March 1523 he became pastor at Allstedt, a town of around 900 people in an enclave of Electoral Saxony in Thuringia. In June 1523 he married a former nun, Ottilie von Gerson. In November he was interrogated by George Spalatin and Frederick the Wise. Luther pressed for a private confrontation in Wittenberg, but Müntzer wanted a more public disputation, and nothing happened. In December 1523, Müntzer produced the first completely German liturgy, the Order of German Church Service, for use in Allstedt.
On 13 July 1524, Müntzer apparently delivered his Sermon to the Princes, a sermon allegedly given to Duke John of Saxony and his advisors in Allstedt, though the circumstances surrounding this event are unclear. The sermon focuses on Daniel 2, a chapter in which Daniel, hostage in Babylon, becomes an adviser to the king because of his ability to interpret dreams. In the sermon, Müntzer presents himself as a new Daniel to interpret the dreams of the princes to them. He interpreted Daniel 2:44 as speaking of the kingdom of God that would consume all earthly kingdoms.
Probably as a result of this event, combined with Luther's Letter to the Princes of early July 1524 which attacked Müntzer and Andreas Karlstadt, Müntzer and others from Allstedt were called to a hearing at Weimar with Duke John of Saxony on 31 July or 1 August. He decided that the printing press at Allstedt was to be shut down. Müntzer fled Allstedt soon after.
Peasants' War
In August 1524, Müntzer became one of the leaders of the uprising later known as the Peasants' War. One of his battle cries was Omnia sunt communia, all things are common. After fleeing Allstedt, he arrived in the imperial city of Mühlhausen in Thuringia. In mid-September, he and his associate Heinrich Pfeiffer took advantage of long-standing tensions between the middling craftsmen and city council to produce the Eleven Muhlhausen Articles, which called for the dissolution of the existing town council and the formation of an "eternal council" based on divine justice and the Word of God. Copies of this were sent to the peasantry in the surrounding village, but support did not materialise, apparently because the article expressed predominantly urban grievances which did not address peasant needs. On 27 September 1524, Muntzer and Pfeiffer were expelled from Mühlhausen.
Müntzer spent late 1524 in Nuremberg, but in mid-February was able to return to Mühlhausen. The following month, the citizenry voted out the old council and a new "Eternal League of God" was formed, composed of a cross-section of the male population and some former councillors.
Müntzer led a group of about 8000 peasants at the battle of Frankenhausen (15 May 1525) against political and spiritual oppression, convinced that God would intervene on their side. Utterly defeated, captured, imprisoned and tortured, Müntzer recanted and accepted the Catholic mass prior to his beheading in Mühlhausen in Thuringia on May 27, 1525. His head and body were displayed as a warning to all those who might again preach treasonous doctrines and treatening the riches of those with wealth and power.
Muentzer's legacy
In studies of the Reformation, Muentzer has often been ignored. To Protestant historians, he was a short-lived radical. Muentzer was then adopted by socialists as a symbol of early class struggle. Muentzer's movement and the peasants' revolt formed an important topic in Friedrich Engels' book The Peasant War in Germany, a classic defense of historical materialism. Engels describes Muentzer as a revolutionary leader who chose to use biblical language—the only language the peasants would understand. He then became a symbolic hero for the East German state (German Democratic Republic, GDR) in the 20th century, appearing from 1975 on their 5 mark banknote.
More recent studies, however, have been more sensitive to the context of Muentzer's life. He stands as a symbol of one of the many theological directions which could have been taken by the Reformation movement in its earliest stages.