Anabaptist Christianity During The Sixteenth-Century

During the sixteenth-century, Calvinist theology spread across much of Europe, even reaching England.25 In England, the English Reformation occurred when King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, Maria of Aragon, but was not permitted by the Church of Rome. So, he broke the Church of England off from the Church of Rome and established himself as the head of the church. The resulting theological shifts in Church doctrine tended to lean to the Calvinist side.26 In the 39 Articles of the Church of England,27 the church's doctrinal standard, many beliefs reflect Calvinist thought. For example, the Anglican doctrines include a denial of free will, affirmation of predestination, denial of purgatory, and denial of transubstantiation.28 In the Netherlands,
One primary way they differed is their view on the relation of the church and state. While other Protestants still viewed the state as an institution to be respected, the Anabaptists did not. In fact, they entirely rejected the institution of the magistracy, and rather advocated for a pacifistic communism.40 Another way they differed is on the issue of infant baptism. Lutherans and Calvinists both continued the Catholic practice of baptizing infants41 In fact, the Augsburg Confession states that the Lutherans “condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the baptism of children, and say that children are saved without Baptism.”42 In fact, a similar view held by the Zurich reformers on this issue led to some Anabaptist's fatal persecution, whose victims included their early leader, Felix Manz, who was drowned.43 Anabaptists rejected infant baptism and preferred to only baptize those who made a profession of faith and re-baptize those who had been baptized as an infant.44 The Schleitheim Confession45 states that “baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ.”46 Nevertheless, the Anabaptists did not differ on these views on the basis of different traditions or authorities, but rather, that they also believe that Scripture was the sole authority of faith and practice.
Although his movement began by a protest against the selling of indulgences, its foundation became the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which proposed the Scripture ought to be the sole, infallible rule of Faith and not the Pope. Such a doctrine threatened the very authority of the leader of the Church., the Pope. The revolution of the Reformation, therefore, is seen to be the result of doctrinal disputes between reformers and the church. The disputes arose due to the protestants insistance on using the Bible as the sole source of their faith. A consequence of the reformation was the counter-reformation, which began in order to defend the Catholic faith against the protestants, yet the protestants continued to grow. Despite their being different groups of protestants, all of which had disagreements with each other, their primary foundation of their source of knowledge was the Scriptures. What caused their differences was not a different authority, which caused their differences with Catholics, but different interpretation of the same authority, the Bible. Despite their difference, Protestantism as whole was clearly a world changing force that still has effects on modern life in the Western