Anabaptists, Rebaptizers

General Information

Anabaptists, or rebaptizers, were members of a variety of 16th - century religious groups that rejected infant baptism. Since they believed that only after an adult had come to faith in Christ should he or she be baptized, they taught that converts who had been baptized in infancy must be rebaptized.

Anabaptists held the church to be the congregation of true saints who should separate themselves from the sinful world. Their theology was highly eschatological, and they claimed direct inspiration by the Holy Spirit. The Anabaptists refused to take oaths, opposed capital punishment, and rejected military service. Their beliefs made them appear subversive and provoked persecution. Many of the Reformers disclaimed them, regarding them as fundamentally opposed to the ideas of the reformation.

In Zurich, Conrad Grebel performed the first adult baptism on Jan. 21, 1525, when he rebaptized Georg Blaurock in the house of Felix Manz. Anabaptism spread to southwest Germany, Austria, Moravia, along the Danube, and down the Rhine to the Netherlands. Numbering less than 1 percent of the population, the Anabaptists were for the most part of humble social origin. Among their leaders were Balthasar Hubmaier, Hans Denck, Jacob Hutter, and Hans Hut. In 1534, militant Anabaptists, inspired by radical Melchior Hofmann, seized control of the city of Munster. Led by Bernt Knipperdollinck, Jan Mathijs, and Jan Beuckelson, better known as John of Leiden (c. 1509 - 36), they drove out all Protestants and Roman Catholics. John set up a theocracy, became king, and established polygamy and communal property. After a 16 month siege, the bishop of Munster recaptured the city and executed the rebels. Menno Simons, a Dutchman, restored the reputation of the Anabaptists through his moderate and inspired leadership. His followers have survived and are known as Mennonites. The Hutterian Brethren are descendants of the group led by Hutter.

Lewis W Spitz
BibliographyC P Clasen, Anabaptism: A Social History, 1525 - 1618 (1972); W Estep, The Anabaptist Story (1975); G F Hershberger, ed., The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision (1957); F H Littell, Origins of Sectarian Protestantism (1964); G H Williams, The Radical Reformation (1962); G H Williams and A Mergal, eds., Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers (1957).

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