Dr. Davis explores the Anabaptist emphasis on penitence, personal holiness, and active discipleship to Christ. He examines their view that discipleship involves the rejection of a life of affluence, the civil oath, and participation in the military and the magistracy.
The Anabaptist Vision, given as a presidential address before the American Society of Church History in 1943, has become a classic essay. In it, Harold S. Bender defines the spirit and purposes of the original Anabaptists. Three major points of emphasis are: the transformation of the entire way of life of the individual to the teachings and example of Christ, voluntary church membership based upon conversion and commitment to holy living, and Christian love and nonresistance applied to all human relationships.
This book considers a 'baptist' account of the identity of the church, Jesus' body, and the communion elements in the Lord's Supper. It does so in conversation with Thomas Aquinas, Balthasar Hubmaier, and James Wm. McClendon, Jr. in the context of contemporary Baptist engagements with ecumenical Christianity and of contemporary philosophy of language. In a very creative and imaginative way it sets the stage for an account of the identity of Jesus' body, the bread and wine, and the church, that makes a constructive contribution to ecumenical Christianity
In this comprehensive volume Thomas N. Finger takes on the formidable task of making explicit the often implicit theology of the Anabaptist movement and then presenting, for the sake of the welfare of the whole contemporary Christian church, his own constructive theology. In the first part Finger tells the story of the development of Anabaptist thought, helping the reader grasp both the unifying and diverse elements in that theological tradition. In the second and third parts Finger considers in more detail the major themes essential to Anabaptist theology, first considering the historic views and then presenting his own constructive effort. Within the Anabaptist perspective Finger offers a theology that highlights the three dimensions of its salvific center: the communal, the personal and the missional. The themes taken up in the final part form what Finger identifies as the convictional framework of that center; namely, Christology, anthropology and eschatology. This book is a landmark contribution of Anabaptist theology for the whole church in biblical, historical and contemporary context.
By utilizing the contributions of a variety of scholars – theologians, historians, and biblical scholars – this book makes the complex and sometimes disparate Anabaptist movement more easily accessible. It does this by outlining Anabaptism's early history during the Reformation of the sixteenth century, its varied and distinctive theological convictions, and its ongoing challenges to and influence on contemporary Christianity. T&T Clark Handbook of Anabaptism comprises four sections: 1) Origins, 2) Doctrine, 3) Influences on Anabaptism, and 4) Contemporary Anabaptism and Relationship to Others. The volume concludes with a chapter on how contemporary Anabaptists interact with the wider Church in all its variety. While some of the authorities within the volume will disagree even with one another regarding Anabaptist origins, emphases on doctrine, and influence in the contemporary world, such differences represent the diversity that constitutes the history of this movement.
This book aims to explore the meaning of salvation in Balthasar Hubmaier's theology. Previous research has tended to explain and evaluate his theology by locating his identity among contemporary Anabaptists. Moreover, Hubmaier's theology has been variously labeled as Catholic Anabaptist, Magisterial Anabaptist, or as a bridge between the Radical and Magisterial branches of the Reformation. These approaches to Hubmaier's theology essentially depend on a static and transactional perspective where the result comes from the cause. Such an approach cannot fully explain the distinctive features of Hubmaier's theology, because his theology had multiple rather than single influences. To understand Hubmaier's theology, we need to focus on his motive and purpose in writing rather than external influences. This volume attempts to explore a new understanding of Hubmaier's theology reflecting a necessary change in our paradigmatic methodologies. This fresh perspective helps us see that Hubmaier's theology was not static and transactional but dynamic and relational. As Hubmaier's main purpose was to give readers a proper understanding of soteriology, his writings were written from this perspective, concentrating on salvation. This volume aims to enable the reader to access this unique understanding of soteriology by examining his primary texts in three categories: free will, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. To understand Hubmaier's theology through a new methodology leads us to rethink the meaning of salvation.
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of this seminal book, this new edition includes an illuminating foreword by Carlos Eire and Ronald K. Rittges The seeds of the swift and sweeping religious movement that reshaped European thought in the 1500s were sown in the late Middle Ages. In this book, Steven Ozment traces the growth and dissemination of dissenting intellectual trends through three centuries to their explosive burgeoning in the Reformations—both Protestant and Catholic—of the sixteenth century. He elucidates with great clarity the complex philosophical and theological issues that inspired antagonistic schools, traditions, and movements from Aquinas to Calvin. This masterly synthesis of the intellectual and religious history of the period illuminates the impact of late medieval ideas on early modern society. With a new foreword by Carlos Eire and Ronald K. Rittgers, this modern classic is ripe for rediscovery by a new generation of students and scholars.
Four hundred seventy years ago the Anabaptist movement was launched with the inauguration of believer's baptism and the formation of the first congregation of the Swiss Brethren in Zurich, Switzerland. This standard introduction to the history of Anabaptism by noted church historian William R. Estep offers a vivid chronicle of the rise and spread of teachings and heritage of this important stream in Christianity. This third edition of The Anabaptist Story has been substantially revised and enlarged to take into account the numerous Anabaptist sources that have come to light in the last half-century as well as the significant number of monographs and other scholarly works on Anabaptist themes that have recently appeared. Estep challenges a number of assumptions held by contemporary historians and offers fresh insights into the Anabaptist movement.