Radical Reformation

Overview

In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and others carried out reform with the backing of city councils or princes. This is known as the "Magisterial (mainstream) Reformation." The Radical Reformation is a collective term for the various movements that sought to carry reform further than this. The term came into wide use after the American church historian George Huntston Williams published The Radical Reformation in 1962. Williams divided the movement into three branches: the Anabaptists, the Spiritualists, and the anti-Trinitarian Rationalists.

Background

The Reformers upheld Scripture as the supreme authority. In many cases, however, the pace and scope of reform were left to the decisions of cities and territorial rulers, and some of their followers regarded this as half-hearted. When Andreas Karlstadt and others attempted to change worship hastily in Wittenberg in 1521–1522, Luther opposed them, calling them "enthusiasts" (Schwärmer). In Zurich, Conrad Grebel and others who had followed Zwingli rejected infant baptism on the grounds that it had no basis in Scripture.

Development

• 1525: On January 17 a public disputation on baptism was held in Zurich. The city council sided with Zwingli and ordered that infants be baptized. On January 21, in the house of Felix Manz, Grebel baptized George Blaurock upon his confession of faith. This event is regarded as the beginning of Anabaptism. In the same year Thomas Müntzer took part in the German Peasants' War and was executed.
• 1527: In February a gathering led by Michael Sattler drew up the Schleitheim Confession. This confession affirmed believers' baptism, separation from the world, and the rejection of the sword and of oaths. In the same year Manz was executed by drowning in Zurich, and Sattler was burned at the stake in Rottenburg.
• 1529: The Diet of Speyer decreed that Anabaptists be punished by death.
• 1534–1535: Some Anabaptists who believed the end of the world was imminent seized control of Münster before being suppressed (the Münster Rebellion).
• 1536: Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest in the Netherlands, joined the Anabaptists. He regathered the scattered communities along a nonviolent path.

Caspar Schwenckfeld and Sebastian Franck are among those counted as Spiritualists. They placed greater emphasis on the inward guidance of the Holy Spirit than on outward rites. Michael Servetus, who denied the Trinity, was executed in Geneva in 1553.

Results and Influence

The Anabaptist tradition continued in the Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Amish, and others. Their advocacy of believers' baptism, the separation of church and state, liberty of conscience, and nonviolence is considered to have influenced various free church traditions. There are two views on the origins of the Baptists. One emphasizes continuity with the Anabaptists, while the other locates their origins among the English Separatist Puritans of the seventeenth century.

In the Korean church, the Radical Reformation is frequently mentioned in discussions of the infant baptism controversy and the question of baptism versus immersion. Presbyterians, Methodists, and others hold that it is proper to baptize the children of the covenant community. Baptists and others hold that only those who have professed faith should receive baptism by immersion. Anabaptist theology of peace and community has been introduced to Korean readers through translated works by John Howard Yoder and others. A small number of Mennonite communities are reported to be active in Korea.

Assessment

In the sixteenth century, Lutherans, the Reformed churches, and the Catholic Church persecuted the Anabaptists, regarding them as a sect that undermined the social order. Reformed confessions such as the Belgic Confession also contain articles rejecting Anabaptist teachings. Because of the Münster episode, negative views of the movement persisted for a long time.

In the twentieth century, Mennonite historians reassessed the Anabaptists as a movement committed to discipleship and nonviolence. Among scholars, the view that the movement arose independently in several places rather than from a single root gained ground. The Lutheran World Federation is reported to have asked the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecution at its 2010 assembly. Reformed theologians, however, continue to point out theological disagreements with Anabaptist views of the sacraments and of the state.