Anabaptists And Hutterites

The term “radical,” defined as “back to one’s roots,” that pertains to the

religious movements of the Mennonites, Anabaptists, and Hutterites is really a

matter of personal opinion. If a religious cult’s identity is to maintain a

proclaimed moral higher ground or its theological opinion of biblical text is

different than the mainstream, what makes that radical? I will elaborate on their

historical views and their surviving present day cultures. In addition, I will

discuss why the term “radical” plagues them.

“Back-to-their-roots” was a movement against the life penetrating

control of the religious canon of mainly the Catholic Church. Not only the

Anabaptist and associated sects but also the Quakers,
And when the lord your God delivers it into your hands you shall strike every

male in it with the edge of the sword”. (Deut 20:12, 13 NKJV)

Apocalyptic teachings are very strong within the Old Testament-orientated

Revolutionary movement. They reference for instance the book of Daniel which

proclaims destruction and death in the end times. The Revolutionaries also

taught separation from religious centralism. Thomas Müntzer states, “The

church calls people to be delivered form slavery to the world-system and to enter

the freedom and security of a new community, God’s people, the church. The

church, as a separated community, is meant to be God’s example in and to the

world a people who have heard of the destruction which is to come, and have

believed in the Savior who has been offered” (Lindberg 248)

The strong emphasis on communistic style living was a major component

of these first two sect’s of the Anabaptist movement. Is this idea of “separation”

really a form of radical thinking? Maybe not, Jesus taught that in order to follow

him, one was to separate themselves from the world. However, what it means

to be separate from the world is completely a matter of Interpretation as can
(Forell 368) Sebastian Franck suggested that in

its infancy the church could not dispense with such crutches, but when it

discarded them in its maturity, the Father would be pleased rather than angered.

(Forell 368) Other leaders in this movement like Casper Schwenckfeld

suspended infant baptism because he believed it was based in superstition.

The “Lord’s Supper” is another debated Christian/Catholic sacrament that

the Spiritualists rejected. The Catholics believe in what is called

Transubstantiation. At the very moment that the priest raises the bread

above the alter and pronounces the consecration, the bread becomes the actual

body of Christ. (Erb web link) For non-Catholic Christians, consubstantiation of

the bread is a bit more mystical. They believe that during the sacrament the

substance of the body of Christ is present alongside the substance of the bread

and wine.

Schwenckfeld, Craultwald and other Spiritualist Anabaptists debated at

great lengths what the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper really meant. Obviously

they did not side with the popular religious canon. Sometime later,