Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

Ses s i on 2: The Med i eva l Chur ch and the Reformat i on 47

3. Anabaptists, a varied movement, from which evolved a number of traditions, including the Free Church

4. The Schleitheim Articles of 1527, edited by Michael Sattler, is an important statement of Swiss Anabaptism in particular, and radical reformed thinking in general

5. Anabaptist movements occurred in Switzerland, in southern Germany, and in the “Low Countries” (Melchior Hoffman ca. 1495-1543)

6. Key figures: Menno Simons, born in Friesland, North Holland 1496

a. Became a priest in 1524, struggled with transubstantiation, infant baptism, was convinced by Scripture that no support existed for them

b. 1534, Munster was taken over by revolutionary Anabaptists, hailed as the “New Jerusalem”; Roman Catholics and Protestants united to besiege the place, Anabaptists were slaughtered.

c. Pacifist evangelical Anabaptism predominated from this time forward.

d. Openly preached Anabaptist doctrine in 1536; agreed with the Schleitheim confession, but rejected tradition (suffered from some strange Christology because of it). For instance, he believed that Jesus did not become flesh of Mary but in Mary (i.e., Mary was the “host mother” of Jesus, a view rejected in the second century). Note: modern Mennonite churches do not follow him on this point .