The Canon · No. 073
Anabaptism
The Radical Reformation; Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites
1525 CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · Originally Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands; now US, Canada, Latin America, Africa
VI. REFORMATION & EARLY MODERN — 1500 – 1800
How many
Roughly 2.1 million Mennonites and Brethren in Christ worldwide, more than half in Africa, Asia and Latin America; about 380,000 Amish, almost entirely in North America and doubling roughly every twenty years.
Who began it
A group in Zurich in 1525 — Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock — who baptised one another as adults, concluding Zwingli had stopped short. Menno Simons (1496–1561) rebuilt the movement after its catastrophe; Jakob Ammann split off in 1693 to found the Amish.
What it is for
To restore the church of the New Testament: a voluntary community of committed adults, separate from the state and from the world.
What it worships
The Trinity.
What it holds
Believer's baptism — baptism follows a personal decision, so infant baptism is no baptism at all. This was a capital crime in the 16th century under both Catholic and Protestant law, because infant baptism was the mechanism by which everyone became a subject of the state church. Separation of church and state, three centuries before it was respectable. Nonviolence — refusal of military service, oaths and litigation. Discipleship (Nachfolge) over doctrine: what matters is following Jesus' actual instructions. Community discipline including the ban and shunning.
What it does
Adult baptism; plain worship; congregational decision-making; mutual aid — Mennonite Disaster Service and the Mennonite Central Committee are large international relief operations. The Amish add selective rejection of technology, decided community by community according to whether a technology strengthens or weakens family and church rather than by any blanket rule; Pennsylvania Dutch as a home language; Rumspringa, the period in which teenagers decide whether to join. Hutterites practise full community of goods.
After death
Standard Christian resurrection and judgment, with strong emphasis on martyrdom — the Martyrs Mirror is second only to the Bible in many Anabaptist homes.
Its texts
Bible. Schleitheim Confession (1527). Martyrs Mirror (1660), which records over 4,000 Anabaptist executions. The Ausbund, the oldest hymnal in continuous use in any Christian tradition, largely written by prisoners.
Its branches
Mennonite, Amish (Old Order, New Order, Beachy), Hutterite, Brethren in Christ, Bruderhof; the Church of the Brethren and Quakers are related in ethos though separate in origin.
Of note
Anabaptists were persecuted by Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists alike — the one thing the 16th century could agree on. Their positions on adult choice, church-state separation and conscientious objection are now mainstream almost everywhere.
Its timeline
- 1525 CE First adult baptisms in Zurich.
- 1527 CE Schleitheim Confession; Michael Sattler executed.
- 1527 CE The Zurich council decrees drowning as the penalty for rebaptism — a deliberate mockery.
- <strong>1534–35 CE</strong> The Münster Rebellion. A militant apocalyptic faction seizes the city, institutes polygamy and community of goods under Jan van Leiden, and is destroyed with extreme brutality. Münster discredited Anabaptism across Europe for centuries and is the exception the pacifist mainstream has spent 500 years distancing itself from.
- 1536 CE Menno Simons joins and rebuilds the movement on nonviolent lines.
- 1693 CE Ammann's stricter group separates; the Amish begin.
- 1683–1770s CE Migration to Pennsylvania at William Penn's invitation.
- 1870s CE Mennonites move to the Russian steppe, then to Canada and the American plains, bringing hard winter wheat with them.
- 1917–18, 1940–45 CE Conscientious objection in both world wars; Civilian Public Service.
- 1972 CE Wisconsin v. Yoder — the US Supreme Court exempts Amish children from compulsory schooling past eighth grade.
- 2006 CE After the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting, the Amish community publicly forgives the killer and attends his funeral, drawing worldwide attention.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.