This excellent "authorized" Mennonite history (a project of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, a research agency of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart, IN) covers Anabaptist/Mennonite life and thought from the 16th century to the present. The author notes that "the problems which brought about the Reformation were spiritual, social, economic, and political in origin" and that "all through the Middle Ages the voices of councils, clergy, kings and lay people had been crying for an end to the corruption of the institutional church. Those who saw greed as the biggest sin urged economic reforms. Those who deplored the scandal of incompetent and often immoral clergy urged reform of the priesthood. And those who saw the pride and power of the pope as the root of all evil called for more church councils to exercise control" (15).
In the first chapter (The Church Before the Reformation), he briefly reviews pre-Reformation Christian history in order to better understand Reformation events. He covers these centuries as follows: persecution (first 3 centuries) when Christians were seen as "enemies of the human race" (Tacitus), Constantinian synthesis (lasting over 1000 years) between church and state power ("some of the old glory of the disintegrating Roman Empire came to be associated with the papacy" 18), the double standard as hermits and monks tried to take their faith seriously but others were increasingly not expected to, attempts at reform (he cites Benedict, Gregory the Great, Boniface, Charlemagne, Cluny, Franciscans, Dominicans, reforming council of Innocent III and Thomas Aquinas, "yet none of these reforms decisively turned the church in a new direction" 19), the Crusades (begun 1096) which "brutalized the life of the church" (20, kill them all [Cathari in France], let God sort them out), other problems of the church (Renaissance nationalism, which brought financial ruin to the [international] church by 1300, leading to Avignon "captivity" from 1305-78, sacramental ritual overshadowed faith and obedience, "even the simple-minded were under no illusions about the spirituality of the church...The spiritual had become almost entirely objective and mechanical" 21) and late medieval piety (some deeply faithful, some skeptics, but mostly fear, superstition and reliance on corrupt sacramental system).
I might note here that faith should have both subjective and objective components, and that sometimes "mechanical" methods like regular church attendance, hymn singing and Bible reading are good things. The Anabaptists tend (then and now) to overcorrect on the subjective side.
Many individuals and groups prepared the way for the Reformation; Francis of Assisi (d. 1226), "who became a living reproach of the greed and wealth of the church, and who recaptured in his own life what it means to be a disciple of Christ" and Girolamo Savonarola "who was hanged in Florence in 1498, because of his powerful, prophetic preaching" (24) and many others. Among these others, Dyck concentrates on 3 individuals and 2 groups; Peter Waldo, John Wyclif, John Hus, the mystics and the humanists.
In 1176, Peter Waldo (a rich merchant of Lyon, France, d. ca. 1218) was moved by a song to seek a deeper faith.
Upon asking a theologian for the best way to God, he was quoted Matthew 19:21: 'If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' A new life began for Waldo with this verse. He sold his property, resolving to be as poor as Jesus and the apostles had been. His wife and family received enough to support them. Then he began to study the New Testament, memorizing favorite passages, and reciting them to whoever would listen, together with his own interpretation of the passage. Within a year he was joined by others and the group eventually became known as Waldensians. They called themselves the Poor in Spirit, and asked the Third Lateran Council in 1179 for permission to preach as laymen. This was denied, but they felt compelled by God to continue nevertheless, and severe persecution followed for almost 700 years. Relative freedom was granted them in Italy (where the largest groups came to live) only in 1848."At the heart of the Waldensian reform movement was a love for the Scriptures and a desire to put into practice in their own lives what they read in them. They studied the Bible together in small-group meetings...Because they placed special emphasis on the New Testament and obedience to the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, they became known as the Sermon on the Mount people. And, because they were convinced that the Scriptures held the answer to people's problems, they travelled all over Europe two by two, preaching, witnessing, and suffering for the sake of Christ. The neglect of the Scriptures in Roman Catholicism was to them a certain sign that the church had fallen from the faith.
The Waldensians were not Protestants before the Reformation, but Christians who took the Word of God seriously. They rejected the mass, purgatory, and participation in warfare as unbiblical, but continued to practice infant baptism. They believed that all Christians, whether men or women, were called to witness to their faith by living it and preaching it. So effective were they in this lay witnessing that long before the Reformation a Roman Catholic leader wrote, 'One third of Christendom if not more has attended illicit Waldensian meetings and is at heart Waldensian.' Numerous attempts to link the Anabaptists historically with the Waldensians have failed, but through them the spiritual soil was being prepared for the events of the 16th century" (25-6).
John Wyclif (d. 1384), known as the "Morning Star of the Reformation," was a professor at Oxford University and became a reformer only in the last decade of his life. Believing that Christ had given the church authority only in spiritual matters and that it should not have worldly wealth or power, he met with church leaders in 1374 at Bruges and, when they disagreed, gave up hope of "reform through councils and clergy" (27). He then became a vocal critic of church leadership in Rome, advocating [forcible if necessary] reform by the King of England, dissemination of the Scriptures to all people (as the only certain ground for reform, an early inkling of democracy's ability to limit corruption religious, political and otherwise), "Holy Scripture [as] the highest authority for every Christian and the standard of faith and of all human perfection" (he trained 'poor preachers' aka 'Lollards' to memorize long passages of Scripture and recite them as they travelled through the country, in effect early English evangelists), the lack of a biblical basis for the pope's authority, transubstantiation, indulgences or priestly celebacy. He managed to die a natural death 10 years later only because he had powerful (and self-interested) noble defenders.
John Hus (d. 1415), a professor at the university of Prague, became a leader of the Bohemian reform movement, basing his critique of the church on the writings of Wyclif, but placing less trust in the reforming ability of the state. Unlike Wyclif, Hus' views lead to his being burned at the stake near the city of Constance on 6 July 1415. Martin Luther said 105 years later that "we are all Hussites without knowing it." During those years, "bloody Hussite wars devastated the land as his followers stuggled for religious and political independence...most finally made their peace with [Rome], but some continued separately as the Bohemian Brethren, known today as the Moravians" (29).
The Mystics influenced not only the reformers but the entire Middle Ages. They "cultivated an inner, personal religion ... firsthand experience was for them the final authority in matters of faith...priests, sacraments, and traditions [were] not rejected...but they were not [considered] really necessary...God could be known best, they believed, through self-denial, contemplation, and spiritual insight. The key to the knowledge of God was love" (30). They wanted to stay within the RCC but were shocked by its corruption. They believed real reform could only come through a deeper commitment by Christians to the inner voice and work of the Spirit, a total abandonment to the will of God. Not surprisingly, mystic styles were very individualized. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), considered by many the father of Western mysticism, was "a man of orthodox Catholic theology who could lose himself completely in the love of God, yet who was also one of the most active church reformers of all time, giving himself completely to the service of others" (30). Hugh of St. Victor (near Paris, d. 1141) was much more intellectually inclined, yet displayed mysticism in his 3 ascending levels of faith, based on authority, then reason, then inner experience. While not a mystic himself, Luther was deeply influenced by German mystics such as Meister Eckhart (d. 1327), John Tauler (d. 1361) and the anonymous mystic book A German Theology. These writings "mirrored the longing for God which he himself felt and which drove him unrelentingly to find a gracious God" (30). In the Netherlands, the Brethren of the Common Life (which included Thomas a Kempis d. 1471) combined mysticism with serious scholarship (unlike many earlier mystics). They took the Bible literally and personally, taking as their goal to follow in the footsteps of Jesus (WWJD). The Brethren established many schools in the 15th century, known for excellence in both piety (devotio moderna, the 'new devotion') and learning. Both Erasmus and Luther, among others, studied under the Brethren. Although neither seems to have enjoyed the experience, the later work of both testifies to its influence on them [the founder of this movement was dutchman Geert Groote, see tdr for more info, also ebcc, wbdc].
Note: "The Dutch Republic" (see br-tdr.html) and also "Dictionary of Christian Biography" (SBC library) both have more information on the Dutch writer [Geert Groote] of the "Modern Devotion," an early precursor to the Reformation. Need to track that down and include here.
The humanists, embodying the life and spirit of the Renaissance (the 14th and 15th century recovery/revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture), arguably provided the biggest spark for the Reformation. "Humanism was this-worldly...reject[ing] many of the irrational superstitions and customs of the age. It expressed itself in a flowering of the arts and sciences - the poetry of Dante (d. 1321) and Petrarch (d. 1374), the sculpture of Donatello (d. 1466), the architecture of Alberti (d. 1472), the painting of da Vinci (d. 1519) and Michelangelo (d. 1564), and a multitude of other creative masters. Humanism was inspired by a new spirit of freedom and inquiry which found ample moral and financial support in the papacy as the great patron of the arts" (31).
The humanists north of the Alps generally had a stronger religious concern than those in Italy, giving themselves more to biblical studies than to classical sources. As Christian humanists they were also concerned with the problems of the church, though they did not usually participate in action programs of reform. Their tools were a pen, a critical intellect, satire, humor, and thorough scholarship. Humanist circles could be found in most of the major universities and cities, and everywhere they were respected, hated, feared, and loved. In these circles and throughout Europe, no one was more respected than Desiderius Erasmus (d. 1536), the "prince of the humanists." As a young man Luther almost worshipped Erasmus, writing to him, "Where is he in whom Erasmus does not control the inner thoughts, does not teach, does not rule...?" But by 1524 he called him a babbler and a skeptic and felt he was undercutting the Reformation. And yet in some ways the old saying that Erasmus laid the egg which Luther hatched is right.Erasmus and Luther had many things in common. Both deplored the corruption of the clergy and the papacy; both emphasized the central place Scripture should have in the life of the church; both taught the importance of Christ for the believer. Nevertheless, the two men were very different. Erasmus was scholarly and polite; Luther could be vulgar and dogmatic. Erasmus believed reform could come to the church without destroying its unity; Luther was a man of action ready to die for his faith. Luther came to be a reformer because of his personal search for faith. Erasmus had more of a detached scholar's interest in Reformation issues. There were also basic differences in understanding the faith. Luther saw salvation primarily as grace, Erasmus primarily as imitating Christ, though both stressed the importance of faith. Luther held man to be a miserable sinner, while Erasmus, together with all humanists, stressed the fundamental goodness of man. Luther might be described as crying, "Back to the Bible," while Erasmus might have asked, "What is the Bible?"
In all of this, Erasmus represented the best in humanism. The Reformation would not have been possible without the humanists' recovery of the Scriptures and of biblical scholarship. Their sharp pens goaded the church to act where the actions of the reformers often caused a reaction. The humanists added spiritual depth to the church by stressing the inward and personal dimension of faith, where the reformers were often forced to quarrel over doctrine or external church issues. Yet all of the major reformers had a humanist education and were scholars in their own right - Luther wrote much more than Erasmus, and during his university student days was known as "the learned philosopher" - but at a given point each of the reformers became deeply and personally involved in the life and problems of the church. How the humanists' vision of gradual reform through education, criticism, and patience would have worked out we will never know (31-33).
Martin Luther was a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg from 1512 until his death in 1546. His well-known public actions were fruits of his own inner struggles of faith. Convinced God was too angry with him to save him, he became a monk and pursued more seriously than most Bible study, fasting and prayer (also continuing teaching, where his serious preparation increased his popularity as a lecturer). His breakthrough came while studying Galations, then Romans, discovering a new meaning for Romans 1:17: "He who through faith is righteous shall live." The crucial insight was that God's love and grace depend not on our own works or goodness, but on God's. This insight changed his life (and many since). He preached, wrote, travelled and counseled based on his new understanding of the scriptures.
Opposition came from many quarters. Summoned to Rome, he refused to go, remembering Hus. He was then excommunicated and placed under the ban of the empire (i.e. the Interdict, a license to be killed), but he was loved by the people. He felt it important that ordinary people read the scriptures and sing songs of worship, so he translated the Bible into German and began to train clergy in the gospel. "He knew their [the people's] spiritual needs and wanted to share with them the answer he had found" (34). Some of his own friends also opposed him on various grounds, including Erasmus as we've seen. Andreas Carlstadt (d. 1541) emphasized many points the Anabaptists would later; the importance of following Jesus in life (vs. simply relying on faith alone), rejection of oath swearing and any sacramental interpretation of Lord's Supper (no saving power in themselves, merely a memorial service), egalitarianism and rejection of any hierarchy ("all are equal in the church of Christ"). "All of this greatly distressed Luther, but did not change his program" (34). Thomas Muentzer (d. 1525) was even more radical. Having become a pastor at Luther's suggestion (being an excellent speaker), he soon began to advocate revolutionary social reforms (to free the peasants from oppression by nobles). "Persons from the lower classes of society felt particularly attracted to his messages about equality and freedom" (35). Among Muentzer's followers were the "Zwickau Prophets," 3 men from Zwickau who went beyond Bible study to spiritual visions. Once armed uprisings became widespread, Muentzer's "Peasants' Revolt" was put down violently 15 May 1525 at Frankenhausen. Muentzer himself was captured, tortured and executed.
Carlstadt, the Zwickau Prophets, and the Peasants' Revolt closed Luther's mind to the Anabaptists when they appeared in 1525. He lumped together as fanatics all those who felt that his Reformation had not gone far enough. One of his favorite terms for them was Schwaermer, meaning a person driven by impulses and emotions rather than by common sense. The Anabaptists actually rejoiced at the work Luther had done but called it a halfway Revolution. They did not find the Bible teaching his sacramental understanding of the Lord's Supper nor baptism as having saving power, but they were particularly disappointed in his definition of the church as being wherever the Word of God was preached and the sacraments rightly administered. To them the church, according to the New Testament, should consist of believers only. These would voluntarily join the church, instead of being brought in through infant baptism. By their free decision they would bind themselves to witness and to discipline as the body of Christ. While Luther had brought many changes and had, above all, restored the gospel as grace, they felt that he had left unchanged the really basic problem of the church which had come when Constantine merged the church with the state.
Similarly, in Switzerland, reformer Ulrich Zwingli relied on the state to reform the church, forcing the Swiss Brethren to go their own way. Like the German Anabaptists, they saw themselves as completing what the reformer had started but left unfinished.
Hmmm, not much here yet on Menno Simons, although I know this book covered him in detail. Here's a picture of him from 131c:
Chapter 2 (Anabaptist Origins in Switzerland)
Chapter 3 (Persecution and Consolidation)
Chapter 4 (Central German and Moravian Anabaptism)
Chapter 5 (Pilgram Marpeck and South German Anabaptism)
Chapter 6 (Anabaptism in the Netherlands)
Chapter 7 (Anabaptist-Mennonites in Northern Europe, 1550-1650)
Chapter 8 (A Summary of the Anabaptist Vision)
I found the first 8 chapters to be the most interesting, discussing origins and early history, founding ideas and "first things" of the Anabaptist movement. The remaining 14 chapters discuss later organizational developments of the Mennonite (and related Amish and Hutterian) churches around the world.
...to be continued
