Stories of Christian Martys: The Anabaptists

Persecution during the Reformation

The term Anabaptist means “rebaptizer” and was used by critics
of these sixteenth-century radical reformers. The Anabaptists
believed the Bible taught “believer’s baptism,” while the church
followed infant baptism. They did not think of themselves as rebaptizing
anyone, since the first baptism done to infants, they believed, was illegitimate. The Anabaptists simply called themselves “believers” or “brethren” or “Christians.” These reformers did not form a communion or
church, such as the Lutherans, but were rather a collection of different
movements, which today range from the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites (who trace from Menno Simons) to English Baptists, and in the most general sense to all who restrict baptism to adult believers. Moreover, some Christians in the first centuries followed this practice, yet the
Anabaptist movement has its origins in the Reformation.

In Zurich in 1525, three men—Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and
George Blaurock—met to continue the reforms they believed had stalled
in compromises made by Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Grebel and
company wanted nothing to do with an established church and its half-hearted followers. For them, a commitment to follow Christ was total
and meant not only belief but also practice. The sign of one’s joining
Christ’s church was baptism, which only adults could receive. These
radicals therefore refused to have their children baptized.

In the modern era, no civic authority would consider baptism to be
state business, and the social response would be on the order of “live and
let live; to each his or her own.” But in sixteenth-century Zurich, civil and
religious authorities were not two distinct spheres. Convergence and
order required the city to recognize one way of worship only. Thus the
radicals presented to the city an unacceptable disunity.

The solution offered was a debate. The radicals were to meet in a
public forum with Zwingli himself. Afterwards, the city council would
settle the matter in law. Indeed, the debate resulted in laws expressly forbidding the “rebaptizers” from meeting, teaching, or having fellowship together. The group was to be treated as nonexistent. Obviously the
passing of these laws set up a classic conflict of conscience for Grebel
and the others.

Against the law, the radicals met for prayer on January 21, 1525.
Thus the Swiss Brethren were born as fellows of the Reformation, yet
they were rejected and made pariahs by the reformers. Succeeding generations of Anabaptists would resist the neighboring culture (Amish) or assimilate incompletely (the pacifist Mennonites). Certainly the tragic
misuse of doctrine and power against Grebel and his Brethren would be
repeated in succeeding centuries. The migrations of Brethren from
Europe to the New World in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
attest to their continuing effort to find a safe place to worship and raise
families. And in some corners of positive Christian radicalism, the
prayers of Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock are echoed today.

“If I give away all I have, and if
I deliver up my body to be
burned, but have not love,
I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:3

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.