Some individuals and groups rejected the idea that church and state needed to be
united, and sought to create a voluntary community of believers as they understood
it to have existed in New Testament times. In terms of theology and spiritual practices,
these individuals and groups varied widely, though they are generally termed “radicals”
for their insistence on a more extensive break with the past. Many of them repudiated
infant baptism, for they wanted as members only those who had intentionally
chosen to belong; some adopted the baptism of believers – for which they were given
the title of “Anabaptists” or rebaptizers by their enemies – while others saw all outward
sacraments or rituals as misguided and concentrated on inner spiritual transformation.
Some groups attempted to follow Christ’s commandments in the gospels
literally, while others reinterpreted the nature of Christ. Radicals were often pacifi sts
and refused to hold any offi ce or swear oaths, which were required of nearly everyone
with any position of authority, including city midwives and toll-collectors, as well as
anyone involved in court proceedings. Some groups attempted communal ownership
of property, living very simply and rejecting anything they thought unbiblical. Different
groups blended these practices in different ways, and often reacted very harshly
to members who deviated, banning them from the group, and requiring other group
members – sometimes including spouses – to shun, or have no contact with, the offending
member until he or she changed behavior and asked for forgiveness. Others,
however, argued for complete religious toleration and individualism; that idea was
especially common among those radicals who rejected the idea of the Trinity and
viewed Christ as thoroughly human.
Individuals known for their more radical ideas include Andreas Bodenstein von
Karlstadt (1486–1541), who taught with Luther at the University of Wittenberg and celebrated
the fi rst communion service in German there; Conrad Grebel ( c . 1498–1526),
an associate of Zwingli’s in Zurich who conducted the fi rst adult baptism in 1525;
Kaspar von Schwenkfeld (1489–1561), a German nobleman who asserted that Christ
worked directly in the human soul so that no external ceremonies were very important;
Menno Simons ( c . 1496–1561), a Dutch pastor who developed a very Christ-centered
theology and opposed the use of violence; Jacob Hutter (1500?–36), an Austrian hatmaker
turned preacher who set up a system of complete communal sharing of property
among his followers; Fausto Sozzini (1539–1604), an Italian reformer who saw the
importance of Christ in his resurrection, not his divine nature, and thought that true
religion was consistent with reason. Highlighting the role of specifi c individuals when
looking at the radical Reformation may be even more misleading than focusing only
on Luther in the magisterial Reformation, however, for the majority of those who accepted
radical beliefs were not highly learned. They were artisans and peasants who
opposed hierarchies within the church, wanted the congregation to have a more active
role in the church service, and expected the second coming of Christ – predicted in
the Book of Revelation – to be imminent. Many of them were women, and a key issue
facing many Anabaptist groups became that of “mixed marriages,” that is, whether
spouses who differed in matters of religion should be allowed – or even required – to
divorce and remarry.
In some cases eschatological ideas about the end of the world were linked with
political insurrection. Some radical reformers, including Thomas Müntzer (d. 1525),
supported the peasants in the 1525 German Peasants’ War (see below), for which he
was eventually executed. In Münster, a city in northwestern Germany, several charismatic
preachers gathered increasing numbers of followers when they predicted that
the city would be the site of a New Jerusalem that would survive God’s fi nal judgment.
In 1534 people streamed into Münster to be rebaptized, a city council sympathetic
to these views was elected, and those who refused rebaptism were expelled.
Material goods were redistributed, polygyny was introduced (justifi ed because the
Old Testament patriarchs had several wives), and leaders in Münster proclaimed
their city an independent kingdom. This attempt to transform society according to
radical religious principles was absolutely unacceptable to both Catholic and Lutheran
authorities, and combined armies successfully besieged the city and executed
its leaders.
The insurrection at Münster and the radicals’ unwillingness to accept a state church
were both used as justifi cation for intense persecution. The emperor made Anabaptism
a crime punishable by death in 1529, and both Catholic and Protestant religious and
political leaders complied. Over the next century thousands of radicals were tortured
and executed in many parts of Europe, often in very gruesome ways; Jacob Hutter,
for example, was burned at the stake, and many female Anabaptists were drowned.
Records of their trials are one of the few sources we have for the religious ideas of
people who were illiterate. From these records, we learn that many unlearned men and
women had memorized large parts of the Bible by heart and could argue complicated
theological concepts. Anabaptists themselves compiled accounts of trials and executions,
along with letters and other records, into martyrologies, which were published
and read widely.
Persecution also led radical leaders and their followers to migrate to parts of Europe
that were more tolerant. Sympathetic nobles in the Empire sometimes allowed
them to live in their territories, as did nobles in Moravia (in modern-day Slovakia
and the Czech Republic), Silesia (in modern-day Poland), and other parts of eastern
Europe. Eventually many of these groups were forced to move even further. In
the seventeenth century Polish Socinians (the anti-trinitarian followers of Sozzini)
went into exile in Transylvania (in modern-day Hungary) and Mennonites and Hutterites
moved to southern Russia. In the eighteenth century Schwenkfelders went
to Pennsylvania, and in the nineteenth century Hutterites moved to South Dakota,
where they have survived to the present day. (The Hutterites in South Dakota migrated
to Canada because they were persecuted for their pacifi sm during World War
I; after the end of the war, they gradually returned to the United States, where they
still live communally.) Many other religious groups, such as the Baptists, Unitarians,
and Quakers, have their roots in the radical Reformation. The radicals’ notions that
religious allegiance should be voluntary, and that church and state should be separate,
later became part of the United States Constitution, and are widely accepted in
Europe today.
World History
