The Anabaptist Vision -Footnotes. You can view the footnote by clicking on the footnote number in the text.

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1. Reprinted from The Mennonite Quarterly Review 18 (April 1944) Xlll, 67-88, with slight revisions.  That version had in turn been reprinted (with slight revisions) from Church History (March 1944), 3-24.  The essay is available in booklet form from Herald Press, 616 Walnut Ave., Scottsdale, Pa. 15683-1999

2. Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (London, 1909) 369.

Professor Walter K&oumlhler of Heidelberg has recently expressed a similar evaluation, asserting that the historical significance of the Anabaptists "ersch&oumlpft sich nicht in dem Duldermut, der Arbeitstreue, dem kulturellen Fleiss.... Nein, die Mennoniten d&uumlfen ohne Uberhebung einen Platz in der Weltgeschichte beanspruchen als Bahnbrecher der modernen Weltanschauung mit ihrer Glaubens--und Gewissensfreiheit."

3. The results of this research are best found in: Mennonitisches Lexikon, edited by Christian Hege and Christian Neff (Frankfurt a. M. and Weierhof [Pfalz], Germany 1913 ff.), now at the letter "N"; Ernst Correll, Das Schweizerishe T&aumlufermennonttentum: Ein Soziologischer Bericht (Tubingen, 1925); Mennonite Quarterly Review (published at Goshen, Indiana, since 1927); Mennonitische Geschichtsbl&aumltter (published at Weierhof [Palatinate] since 1936); R. J. Smithson, The Anabaptists, Their Contribution to Our Protestant Heritage (London, 1935); John Horsch, Mennonites in Europe (Scottdale, Pa., 1942); C. Henry Smith, The Story of the Mennonites (Berne, Indiana, 1941); L. von Muralt, Glaube und Lehre der Schweizerschen Wiedert&aumlufer in der Reformationszeit (Zurich, 1938). Cf. also: Wilhelm Pauck "The Historiography of the German Reformation During the Past Twenty Years; IV. Research in the History of the Anabaptists," Church History (December 1940) IX, 335-364; Harold S. Bender, "Recent Progress in Research in Anabaptist History," Mennonite Quarterly Review (January 1934) VIII, 3-17. Only three volumes of the great source publication, Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedert&aumlufer (Leipzig, 1930 ff. ), published by the Vermin fur Reformationsgeschichte, have yet appeared.

4. Quoted in translation by John Horsch, Mennonites in Europe, 325, from Bullinger's Der Wiedert&aumlufferen Ursprung, etc., Zurich, 1560.

5. Horsch, 293, from Sebastian Frank's Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtbibel (Strassburg, 1531 ).

6. Heinrich Bullinger, Von dem unverschampten fr&aumlfel . . . der selvsgesandten Widertouffern (Zurich, 1531), folio2v.

7. F. Roth, Augsburgs Reformationsgeschichte (Munich, 1901), I, 230.

8. Letter of Zwingli to Vadian, May 28, 1525, Huldreich Zwinglis S&aumlmtliche Werke ed. Egli, Finsler, Kohler, et al. (Leipzig, 1914) VII, 332.

9. The full official text of the decree may be found in Aller des Heiligen Roemischen Reichs gehaltene Reichstage, Abschiede und Satzungen (Mainz, 1666), 210, 211. It is also edited by Ludwig Keller in Monatshefte der Comenius Gesellschaft (Berlin, 1900), IX, 55-57, and by Bossert in "Die Reichsgesetze &uumlber die Wiedert&aumlufer" in Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedert&aumlufer, 1. Band Herzogtum W&uumlrttemberg (Leipzig, 1930), 1º-10º. See the excellent discussion of Anabaptist persecution by John Horsch in "The Persecution of the Evangelical Anabaptists," Mennonite Quarterly Review (January 1938), XII, 3-26.

10. Geschicht-Buch der Hutterischen Br&uumlder, edited by Rudolf Wolkan (Macleod [Alberta] and Vienna, 1923), 142,181.

11. Ibid., 182-187. The following quotation is composed of extracts selected from this account without regard to the original order, chiefly from 186, 187.

12. Gottfried Keller's Werke, ed. by Max Nussberger (Leipzig, n. d.) VI, 309. See Elizabeth Horsch Bender, "The Portrayal of the Swiss Anabaptists in Gottfried Keller's Ursula," Mennonite Quarterly Review[July, 1943] XVII, 136-150.

13. 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 M&uumlnster 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.

14. Ernst H. Correll, Das Schweizerische T&aumlufermennonitentum (T&uumlbingen, 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 Anabaptists.

15. Albrecht Ritschl, Geshichte des Pietismus (Bonn, 1880). Cf. R. Friedmann, "Conception of the Anabaptist," Church History (December 1940) IX, 351.

16. Ludwig Keller, Die Reformation und die &aumllteren Reformparteien (Leipzig, 1885). Cf. also Friedmann, op. cit., 352.

17. Max G&oumlbel, Geschichte des Christlichen Lebens, etc. (Coblentz, 1848), 1, 134. Ritschl, op. cit., 22, characterizes Gobel's views as follows "Die Wiedert&aumlufereI also soll nach G&oumlbel die gr&uumlndlichere, entschiedenere, vollstandigere Reformation sein, welche als 'Kind der Reformation' Luthers und Zwinglis zu erkennen aber von Luther seit 1522, von Zwingli seit 1524 aufgegeben worden w&aumlre." Ritschl (op. cit., 7) himself states the Anabaptist position as follows: "Nicht minder haben die Wiedert&aumlufer sich dafur angesehen, dass sie das von Luther und Zwingli begonnene Werk der Wiederherstellung der Kirche zu seinem rechten Ziel f&uumlhrten."

18. Horsch, op. cit., 289.

19. Letter of Conrad Grebel to Thomas M&uumlntzer, Sept. 5, 1524, Thomas M&uumlntzers Briefwechsel, ed. H. Bohmer, and P. Kirn (Leipzig, 1931), 92; English translation, Walter Rauschenbusch, "The Zurich Anabaptists and Thomas M&uumlnzer." American Journal of Theology (January 1905) IX, 92.

20. Taken from an unpublished manuscript in the Staatsarchiv des Kantons Bern, (Unn&uumltze Papiere, Bd. 80), entitled Acta des Gespr&aumlchs zw&umlschenn predicannten und Touffbr&uumlderenn (1538), Copy in the Goshen College Library.

21. Karl Holl, Gesammelte Aufs&aumltzezur Kirchengeschichte (2nd and 3rd ed. ) (T&uumlbingen, 1923), 359.

22. 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 1932), VI, 189-191.

22a. See Luther's Deutsche Messe, translated in Works of Martin Luther (ed. C. M. Jacobs et a1.) VoI VI (Philadelphia, 1932), 172, 173.

23. " Drei Zeugenaussagen Zwinglis im T&aumluferprozess" in Huldreich Zwinglis S&aumlmtliche Werke (Leipzig, 1927), IV, 169.

24. 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 K&oumlhler, 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).

25. Karl M&uumlller, Kirchengeschichte, II, I, 476, M&uumlller describes the essential goal of the Anabaptists as follows: "Es bedeutete inmitten der Aufl&oumlsung aller Verh&aumlltnisse genug, dass hier eine Gemeinschaft stand, die die Heiligung des Lehens allem anderen voranstellte und zugleich in dem unteren Volksschichten wirklich Fuss gefasst, sie mit selbstandiger Religi&oumlst&aumlt gef&uumlllt hat." (Kirchengeschichte. II, 1, 330. )

26. Johannes Kuhn, Toleranz und Offenbarung (Leipzig. 1923), 224 says: "With the Anabaptists everything was based on a central idea. This central idea was concretely religious. It was Jesus' command to follow Him in a holy life of fellowship." Professor Alfred Hegler of T&uumlbingen describes the Anabaptist ideal as "liberty of conscience, rejection of all state-made Christianity, the demand for personal holiness, and a vital personal acceptance of Christian truth." Professor Paul Wernle says, "Their vital characteristic was the earnestness with which they undertook the practical fulfillment of New Testament requirements both for the individual and for the church." These and other similar quotations are to be found in Horsch. "The Character of the Evangelical Anabaptists as Reported by Contemporary Reformation Writers." Mennonite Quarterly Review (July 1934). VIII, 135.

27. Pilgram Marpeck, the outstanding writer of the Swiss and South German Brethren, is an example. See J. C. Wenger, "The Theology of Pilgram Marpeck." Mennonite Quarterly Review (October 1938), XII, 247.

28. The German (Luther) translation of I Peter 3:21 calls baptism " Der Bund eines guten Gewissens mit Gott."

29. Bullinger, Von dem unverschampten fra&aumlfel (1531), fol. 75 r.

30. S. M. Jackson, Selected Works of Huldreich Zwingli (Philadelphia, 1901), 127.

31. Bullinger, Der Widert&aumlufferen Ursprung, fol. 15 v.

32. Joachim von Watt, Deutsche Historische Schriften, ed. Ernst G&oumltzinger (St. Gall, 1879), II, 408.

33. C. A. Cornelius, Geschichte des M&uumlnsterschen Aufruhrs (Leipzig, 1860), II, 52.

34. W. J. McGlothlin, Die Berner T&aumlufer bis 1532 (Berlin, 1902), 36.

35. J. J. Simler, Sammlung alter und neuer Urkunden (Zurich, 1757), I, 824.

36. Karl Rembert, Die Wiedert&aumlufer im Herzogtum J&uumllich (Berlin, 1899), 564.

37. Ernst Muller, Geschichte der Bernischen Ta&uumlfer (Frauenfeld, 1895), 88. M&uumlller speaks (p. 89) of the mandate of 1585 as conceiving of "das T&uumluferwesen" as a just judgment of God on the church and the people of Berne.

38. Sebastian Franck, Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtbibel (Strassburg, 1531), folio 444v.

39. Schwenckfeld's Epistolar (1564), 1, 203.

40. Bullinger, Der Widert&uumlufferen Ursprung (1561), fol. 170r.

41. Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedert&uumlufer, 1. Band Herzogtum W&uumlrttemberg, ed. Gustav Bossert (Leipzig, 1930), 216 f.

42. Ibid., 259 ff.

43. Complete Works of Menno Simons (Elkhart, Indiana, 1871), II, 37b.

44. Handlung oder Acta der Disputation gehalten zu Zofingen (Zurich, 1532).

45. Bohmer-Kirn, op. cit., 97.

46. Horsch, op cit., 386.

47. P. Tschackert, Die Entstehung der Lutherischen und reformierten Kirchenlehre (G&oumlttingen, 1910), 133, says of the Anabaptists that they were "a voluntary Christian fellowship, striving to conform to the Christian spirit for the practice of brotherly love.

48. Johannes K&uumlhn, op. cit., 231. fol. 22v.

49. Ernst M&uumlller, op. cit., 44. See Ernst Correll, op. cit., 15 f. on the attitude of the various Anabaptist groups on community of goods.

50. Horsch, op. cit., 317.

51. A. Hulshof Geschiedenis van de Doopsgezinden te Straatsburg van 1525 tot 1557 (Amsterdam, 1905), 216.

52. Bullinger, Der Widert&uumlufferen Ursprung, fol. 129v.

53. John Horsch, The Hutterian Brethren 1528-1931 (Goshen, Indiana, 1931), gives the only adequate account in English of the Hutterian Brethren. It is of interest to note that Erasmus, Melanchthon, and Zwingli condemned private ownership of property as a sin. See Paul Wernle, Renaissance und Reformation (T&uumlbingen, 1912), 54, 55, for the citations of Erasmus and Melanchthon, and Horsch, Hutterian Brethren, 132, footnote 126, for the citation of Zwingli. Wilhelm Pauck says that Bucer's ideal state was that of Christian communism, "Martin Bucer's Conception of a Christian State," in Princeton Theological Review (January 1928), XXVI, 88.

54. Not all the Anabaptists were completely nonresistant: Balthasar Hubmaier for instance for a brief period (1526-28) led a group of Anabaptists at Nikolsburg in Moravia who agreed to carry the sword against the Turk and pay special war taxes for this purpose. This group, which became extinct in a short time, was known as the "Schwertler" in distinction from other Moravian Anabaptists called the "St&aumlbler," who later became the Hutterites and have continued to the present. It is obvious that Hubmaier and the "Schwertler" represent a transient aberration from original and authentic Anabaptism. Bullinger (Von dem unverschampten fr&aumlfel [1531] fol. 139v. ) testifies that the Swiss Brethren considered war to be "das ergist uebel das man erdencken mag," and (Der Widert&aumlufferen Ursprung [1561] fol. 16 r.) says "they do not defend themselves, therefore they do not go to war and are not obedient to the government on this point." See also, extensive compilation of evidence by John Horsch in his booklet, The Principle of Nonresistance as Held by the Mennonite Church, A Historical Survey (Scottdale, Pa., 1927), 60 pages.

55. Letter of Grebel to M&uumlntzer, B&oumlhmer-Kirn, op. cit., 97.

56. (Pilgrim Marpeck), Testamenterle&uumltterung (n.d., n.p., ca. 154-1), fol. 313r.

57. (Peter Riedemann), Rechenschaft unserer Religion, Lehre und Glaubens, von den Bruedern die Man die Hutterischen nennt (Berne, Indiana, 1902), 105.

58. The Complete Works of Menno Simons (Elkhart, Indiana, 1871), 1, 170b and 81b. The quotations were revised by comparison with the Dutch editions of 1646 and 1681.

59. Mennonites of Holland, Germany, France, and Switzerland gradually abandoned nonresistance in the course of the nineteenth century. The emigrant Mennonites in Russia and North America have maintained it. The Mennonites of the United States furnish 40 percent of all conscientious objectors in Civilian Public Service in the present war, and the Mennonites of Canada a still higher percent of the conscientious objectors in that country.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harold S. Bender was born July 19, 1897, at Elkhart, Indiana. He held degrees from the following institutions BS, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana; BD, Garrett Biblical Institute; ThM, Princeton Theological Seminary; MA, Princeton University; and ThD, Heidelberg University.

He became dean of Goshen College in 1933 and from 1944 he served as dean of Goshen College Biblical Seminary until his death, September 21, 1962.

In the Mennonite Church he was active in many organizations and committees most notable as chairman of the Historical and Research Committee and the Peace Problems Committee. He was ordained to the ministry June 18, 1944. He became president of the Mennonite World Conference in 1952 and served until his death on September 21, 1962.

In 1927 he founded the scholarly quarterly, The Mennonite Quarterly Review, and served as its editor until his death. He served as editor of The Mennonite Encyclopedia, a four-volume monumental contribution to Christendom. In addition to numerous articles in various scholarly magazines he was also author of Two Centuries of American Mennonite Literature: Conrad Grebel, First Leader of the Swiss Brethren; These Are My People; Mennonite Origins in Europe; and Biblical Revelation and Inspiration.

The Anabaptist Vision, given as a presidential address before the American Society of Church History in 1943, has become a classic essay. Since its delivery it has appeared in scholarly journals and been translated into several languages.