“I feel sorry for the Anabaptists,” Dutch Catholic priest and scholar Desiderius Erasmus wrote. “They introduce confusion into everything. They are possessed by a kind of madness; yet I am told that some members of this sect are not at all evil people.”
That was what counted as a charitable assessment in the 16th century toward members of the “Radical Reformation.” The Catholic Church condemned Anabaptists with the Diet of Speyer in 1529, ruling they should be punished with death. Even other reformers opposed the Anabaptists. Martin Luther blasted them as “fanatics” and “only a seditious mob” with “no learned men nor any eminent men.” John Calvin wrote a whole tome Against the Anabaptists to attack the group for rejecting infant baptism, refusing to wield the sword, and separating from government. He rejected “those Satanic Anabaptists” as “fanatics,” “crackpots,” and “a nefarious herd.” And Huldrych Zwingli, who had been a mentor for the first Anabaptists but rejected their ideas, led the persecution of the fledging movement.
Even the group’s name was initially a slur to label them as rebaptizers. They preferred to call themselves the Swiss Brethren, though most soon fled the area due to Swiss persecution. Despite it all, Anabaptist ideas continued to spread. Next week will mark the 500th anniversary of when it started.
On Jan. 21, 1525, a group of young men in Zürich, Switzerland, held a Bible study that soon shook up the religious and political powers of the city. But it wasn’t what they talked about in that home that caused a stir. It was what they did next out in public.
The group left the house of Felix Manz and walked through the snow over to a nearby public fountain. Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock, who then proceeded to baptize Grebel and the others present. This marked the start of the Anabaptist movement with a belief in baptism after conversion instead of infant baptism, and which also quickly became known for opposing the union of church and state and for rejecting the use of violence.
I stood at that fountain in 2018. It’s like a lot of public fountains in Zürich, though it’s kind of hidden in a wide spot between houses and narrow ways winding through the city. There are no markers or signs. You need someone to guide you to it.
Left: Fountain at the site where it is believed the first baptism service occurred in Zürich, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 1525. Right: The Grossmünster, the most prominent church in Zürich, stands over 200 feet tall. (Brian Kaylor/Word&Way)
Less than a football field away from the fountain lies the backside of the Grossmünster, the most-visited religious site in Zürich. Massive in size, it particularly loomed over the city 500 years ago during the time of Zwingli. Perhaps the third most significant leader of the Protestant Reformation behind Luther and Calvin, Zwingli led the city religiously and politically. The young men who gathered at the fountain in the shadow of his great church that January day had been his students, but then moved further than he would. Within five years, Manz, Grebel, and Blaurock were all dead — along with several other Anabaptists killed by the collusion of church and state.
Yet, despite the efforts to stamp out this new vision for following Jesus, Anabaptism spread across Europe as adherents fled Swiss persecution and violence elsewhere. Today, the spiritual descendants of the “Radical Reformation” can be found among the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, Mennonites, and others. Anabaptist ideas also influenced the development of Baptists and continue to find affinity among Christians in various denominations today. So this issue of A Public Witness looks back at Anabaptism and what it still offers for Christians five centuries after stirring the waters of a little fountain in Zürich.
Martyrs Mirror
The stories of martyrdom loom large in Anabaptist life, which is understandable given how furiously they were hunted by authorities in Zürich and elsewhere. Ironically, the group that participated in that first baptism had been inspired by Zwingli to study the Bible.
Zwingli became a priest at the Grossmünster in Zürich in 1519, barely more than a year after Luther delivered his Ninety-Five Theses via nail mail. Within a few years, Zwingli would also spark controversy as he challenged Catholic Church teachings and practices, like arguing against fasting during Lent, celibacy of priests, and the use of icons.
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