Anabaptists definition of Anabaptists in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Anabaptists (ăn'əbăp`tĭsts) [Gr.,=rebaptizers], name applied, originally in scorn, to certain Protestant sects holding that infant baptism is not authorized in Scripture and that baptism should be administered to believers only. A convert if baptized in infancy must be baptized again as an adult (Anabaptists did not consider adult baptism to be a repetition, as their critics charged, since infant baptisms were annulled).

Anabaptists were prominent in Europe during the 16th cent., forming part of the "radical" wing of the Reformation Reformation, religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church ) and ultimately led to the freedom of dissent (see Protestantism ).
..... Click the link for more information. ; they were harshly condemned and persecuted under Protestants and Catholics alike. Their principal centers were in Germany, Switzerland, Moravia, and the Netherlands. They baptized converts for the first time near Zürich in 1525 in protest over the city council's decree ordering the baptism of all unbaptized children. These Swiss Brethren, as they were called, separated themselves from the control of the state church established by Ulrich Zwingli Zwingli, Huldreich or Ulrich (h
..... Click the link for more information. in Zürich (and developed in other centers of the Reformation). Thus they became the first to practice the complete separation of church and state.

They modeled their new church after the Christian community of apostolic times, depicted as a free gathering of convinced believers dedicated to leading the saintly life in strict accord with Scripture. Other factors contributing to the development and spread of Anabaptism include the peasant movement (see Peasants' War Peasants' War, 1524–26, rising of the German peasants and the poorer classes of the towns, particularly in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia. It was the climax of a series of local revolts that dated from the 15th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and the revolutionary rhetoric of Thomas Münzer Münzer or Müntzer, Thomas (tō`mäs mün`tsər), c.
..... Click the link for more information. , late medieval mysticism and asceticism, and the writings of Andreas Carlstadt Carlstadt, Karlstadt (both: kärl`shtät), or Karolostadt
..... Click the link for more information. and Martin Luther 4)), which was written by Melanchthon at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 with the sanction of Luther, who was not permitted to attend. About this time the control of the Lutheran Church had passed further into the hands of the Protestant princes.
..... Click the link for more information. (whose reforms the Anabaptists felt went only halfway).

Although they were never united either politically or doctrinally, three distinct subgroups of Anabaptists can be discerned. The revolutionary Anabaptists, represented by the short-lived theocracy established at Münster Münster (mün`stər), city (1994 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. (c.1534–35), sought to bring about the New Jerusalem predicted in Scripture using force. Anabaptism is more often associated with the evangelical Anabaptists who were avowed pacifists (the "ban" replaced the sword). The Schleitheim Confession (1527) is a principle statement of their beliefs. They are exemplified by the communitarian followers of Jacob Hutter (see Hutterian Brethren Hutterian Brethren (hətēr`ēən), a body of Christians practicing strict communism based on religious principles.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and Menno Simons (see Mennonites Mennonites (mĕn`nənīts), descendants of the Dutch and Swiss evangelical Anabaptists of the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Finally there are contemplative Anabaptists like Hans Denck (c.1500–1527). Denck submitted to adult baptism but believed the presence of the inner Word in believers precluded any visible organization of the Christian life.

Bibliography

See studies by G. H. Williams (1962), C. P. Clasen (1972), K. P. Davis (1974), and J. D. Weaver (1987).