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The Anabaptist Story Book Reflection Brianna Tercero Tellez Dr. Wilkinson BPTST 320 January 21, 2024

Estep William R. The Anabaptist Story . Eerdmans Publishing Co: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996. The Anabaptist story was written by William Estep. Estep was a church history professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. During his time of teaching, he wrote numerus books on the subjects of Baptist and Anabaptist history. In this book, he offered a vivid chronicle of the rise of the important beginnings of Christianity. He wrote about many key persons who played crucial roles in the Radical Reformation known as Anabaptism. On January 21, 1525, the world changed when the Anabaptists arose. Anabaptism was birthed out of the Renaissance with the interest in Scripture and the valiant courage by Luther and Zwingli to bring the Reformation to the Roman Catholic church. Luther published the Ninety-Five Theses at that time. The first baptism happened, and the church of the Swiss Brethren was established. There grew a great dispute between Zwingli and one of the other church leaders Grebel. Grebel did not agree with Zwingli’s stance on infant baptism (19). This caused the relationship with Grebel and Zwingli to dissipate. There are three main categories that have caused confusion amongst the radical reformation. Anabaptists, inspirationalists, and rationalists are the differences in the parties and movements within the Radical Reformation (21). In conclusion, the birth of Anabaptist Reformation was the start of the medieval religious awakening. There were many leaders in the Anabaptist movement that sacrificed much for their religion. The first Anabaptist to lose his life for his faith was Eberli Bolt, who was burned to death (29). While his life was taken for his faith, Conrad Grebel only had one year and eight months of ministry before his death. Grebel had a hard time discovering what he wanted to study in college, which led to him attending multiple universities until landing a scholarship with Zwingli and began studying Greek classics (34). In the time of his studies, he got married and

quickly found out that marriage does not solve everything. However, his conversion in Christ did. As Grebel heard Zwingli’s teachings and sermons, he came to realize that infant baptism was not something he believed in. This led to disputes and ultimately the imprisonment of Grebel. George Blaurock, who was baptized by Grebel, held fast to the Anabaptist movement, which led to his faith costing his life. A painstaking theme that became present in the Anabaptist movement was martyrdom (57). Michael Sattler became a monk at an early age and was well acquainted with Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. He studied the Pauline epistles religiously during his stay in the monastery. Sattler likely made his connection to the Anabaptist movement from Hans Kuenzi and landed in Swiss Brethren in November 1525. He disagreed on Capito and Bucer’s stance on infant baptism but kept a good relationship with them. However, not long after the Schleitheim confession, Sattler was caught and imprisoned (65). He then was sentenced to death and was executed by burning. Another leader that played a role in the Anabaptist movement was Dr. Balthasar Hubmaier (77). He was appointed as university preacher and Chaplin of the Church of the Virgin. Hubmaier was much like Zwingli and his conversion was due to Lutheran influence. He often defended Zwingli’s beliefs and later returned to Waldshut in order to open a reformation program. He wrote a book on baptism after Zwingli came out with his pamphlet (88). Zwingli did not agree with his stance on infant baptism and that caused controversy amongst the Anabaptists and non-Anabaptists. Like in the previous chapters, Hubmaier was sent to prison and eventually burned for his faith. He was a devout Christian that proclaimed that Gospel at any costs and was known as one of the most brilliant starts in the Anabaptist firmament.

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In the advancement of Anabaptism, there were many fellow apostles that played a huge role in this movement. Hans Hut was known for his preaching and baptism. He was Lutheran before becoming an Anabaptist and began his fervent evangelism. Hut was known for setting dates of Christ’s return and when he failed in providing the correct date, he was imprisoned. In the end, Hut died of asphyxiation from a fire (119). He set a precedence for Anabaptism in Germany. The Anabaptists landed their first communal settlement in Brüderhof (129). The Hutterites, which was named after Jacob Hutter. There were many missionaries that formed out of the Anabaptist movement and launched this reformation in other parts of the world. Peter Riedemann was one of those men who was an effective missionary (137). Sadly, there were many persecutions that happened in Hungary and Transylvania as the advancement of the reformation occurred. Menno Simons was another Anabaptist that influenced this movement. He left his Catholic faith to pursue this reformation (151). Menno became a key component that the Dutch Anabaptists became formally known as “Mennonites.” While his doctrines stood out amongst preachers, there was a dispute when it came to incarnation. He defended his beliefs to the end and the Anabaptist movement gained much from the character of Menno Simons (174). There are many people who claimed during this reformation that the Anabaptists were charged with heresy. Nevertheless, if the definition of heresy was the denial of basic Christian doctrines, this would not apply to the Anabaptists (178). Moving along, the creeds, sola scriptura , and confession were all important doctrines of the Anabaptist movement. The leaders of this movement sought to ensure that faith was not just an academic source but a spiritual

awakening. In conclusion, the Anabaptists were critical of doctrine and making sure to be consistently biblical. One of the key leaders of the Anabaptist movement was Ulrich Zwingli. He was born on January 1, 1484, in Switzerland. 1 Zwingli’s family lived on a farm and his father was a successful farmer and shepherd and eventually became the chief magistrate for the district. 2 Because of these things, the wealth of his father allowed Zwingli to pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree at the University of Vienna. Zwingli became the pastor of a Roman Catholic church and taught himself Greek, in order to understand the New Testament better. He spent much of his early years in ministry in private study in order to become equipped for the ministry he would pursue. Zwingli began the Swiss Reformation at this time. Zwingli’s most famous writing was the Sixty-seven Theses , which rejected much of the medieval beliefs that were amongst the people. The theses served as Zwingli’s opinion on how he understood the Scriptures to be interpretated. While Luther, another key component in the reformation, had written the Ninety-five Theses , Zwingli’s work was first and likely he had no idea about Luther when writing these. Besides this writing, the biggest contribution to the reformation from Zwingli was his devout preaching. He would preach through different books of the Bible. This was called Sola Scriptura . Zwingli feared the souls of the people around him and wanted them to come to salvation. Some of the most debated arguments between Zwingli and other reformers was his stances on the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Luther and the Catholic church believed that the Lord’s Supper was actually Christ in the form of bread and wine. However, Zwingli believed that the Supper is our act of remembrance of the work Christ did for us. This caused a big 1 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-ulrich-zwingli/ 2 https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/zurich-revolutionary-ulrich-zwingli

division amongst many reformers in that time due to the controversary over such matters. Another dispute was about baptism. Zwingli believed that infants should be baptized because they are a part of God’s creation. Almost every chapter in Estep’s writing mentioned how reformers disagreed with Zwingli’s stance on infant baptism. The majority of reformers at that time agreed that baptism was an outward symbol of an inward confession. This led to three disputations with other reformers and Zwingli to argue infant baptism. The third disputation was the most problematic for Zwingli. However, Zwingli proved to be great at arguing his viewpoint on his doctrinal beliefs. In the end, Zwingli was killed on the battlefield when fighting against the Catholic Cantons. The contributions that Baptists can take away from Zwingli’s Swiss Reformation were how the Lord Supper is done and Sola Scriptura. Today, Baptist churches teach the Lord’s Supper as a sacrament for believers as they remember the death and resurrection of Christ. This was because of Zwingli’s belief and contribution to the reformation. Also, pastors use expositional preaching and sola scriptura as their method of preaching because of Zwingli and the reformation. In conclusion, though Baptists disagree on infant baptism, there was so much Zwingli did in the reformation that shaped our doctrinal beliefs today.

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Bibliography Carter, Joe, et al. “9 Things You Should Know about Ulrich Zwingli.” The Gospel Coalition , 28 Aug. 2019, www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-ulrich-zwingli/. Estep, William Roscoe. The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism . William B. Eerdmans, 1996. “Zurich Revolutionary: Ulrich Zwingli.” Ligonier Ministries , www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/zurich-revolutionary-ulrich-zwingli. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.

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