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The '''Radical Reformation''' represented a response to perceived corruption both in the [[Catholic Church]] and in the expanding [[Magisterial Reformation|Magisterial]] [[Protestantism|Protestant movement]] led by [[Martin Luther]] and many others. Beginning in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century, the Radical Reformation gave birth to many radical Protestant groups throughout Europe. The term covers Radical Reformers like [[Thomas Müntzer]] and [[Andreas Karlstadt]], the [[Zwickau prophets]], and [[Anabaptism|Anabaptist]] groups like the [[Hutterites]] and the [[Mennonites]].

In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a majority sympathized with the Radical Reformation despite intense persecution.<ref name=horsch>{{cite book| last= Horsch| first= John| author-link= John Horsch| title= Mennonites in Europe|date= 1995|publisher= Herald Press|isbn= 978-0836113952|page= 299}}</ref> Although the surviving proportion of the European population that rebelled against Catholic, [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] and [[Calvinism|Reformed]] Churches was small, Radical Reformers wrote profusely, and the literature on the Radical Reformation is disproportionately large, partly as a result of the proliferation of the Radical Reformation teachings in the [[United States]].<ref>
{{cite book
| title= The European Reformation
| author= Euan Cameron
| publisher= Oxford University Press
| isbn= 978-0-19-873093-4
| location= New York
| edition = 2nd
| date = 2012
| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I-Cahu2q6YYC
}}
</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2019}}

==History==
[[File:Schleitheimer Bekenntnis Druck 1550 ausgestellt im Täuferzimmer des Heimatmuseums Schleitheim.jpg|300px|thumb|right| [[Schleitheim Confession]] printed in 1550, displayed in the Anabaptist Room of the Local History Museum in [[Schleitheim]], Switzerland.]]
Some early forms of the Radical Reformation were [[Millenarianism|millenarian]], focusing on the imminent end of the world. This was particularly notable in the rule of [[John of Leiden]] over the city of [[Münster]] in 1535, which was ultimately crushed by the combined forces of the Catholic [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Münster|Bishop of Münster]] and the Lutheran [[Landgraviate of Hesse|Landgrave of Hesse]].<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, ''Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites'', JHU Press, USA, 2010, p. 12</ref> After the [[Münster rebellion]], the small group of the [[Batenburgers]] continued to adhere to militant Anabaptist beliefs. Non-violent Anabaptist groups also had millenarian beliefs.

The early Anabaptists believed that their reformation must purify both theology and the lives of Christians, especially their political and social relationships.<ref name="ReferenceA">Gonzalez, ''A History of Christian Thought'', 88.</ref> Therefore, the church should not be supported by the state, neither by tithes and taxes, nor by the use of the sword; Christianity was a matter of individual conviction, which could not be forced on anyone, but rather required a personal decision for it.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Many groups were influenced by [[Biblical literalism]] (like the [[Swiss Brethren]]), [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] (like the south German Anabaptists) and mainly absolute pacifism (like the Swiss Brethren, the Hutterites and the Mennonites from northern Germany and the Netherlands). The Hutterites also practiced [[Common ownership|community of goods]]. In the beginning, most of them were strongly [[Christian mission|missionary]].

==Later forms of Anabaptism==
Later forms{{clarify|reason=the date mentioned in this section is only one year later than the date in the previous section|date=September 2012}} of Anabaptism were much smaller and focused on the formation of small, separatist communities. Among the many varieties to develop were Mennonites, [[Amish]], and Hutterites.

Typical among the new leaders of the later Anabaptist movement, and certainly the most influential of them, was [[Menno Simons]], a Dutch Catholic priest who early in 1536 decided to join the Anabaptists.<ref name="ReferenceB">Gonzalez, ''A History of Christian Thought'', 96.</ref> Simons had no use for the violence advocated and practiced by the Münster movement, which seemed to him to pervert the very heart of Christianity.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Thus, Mennonite pacifism is not merely a peripheral characteristic of the movement, but rather belongs to the very essence of Menno's understanding of the gospel; this is one of the reasons that it has been a constant characteristic of all Mennonite bodies through the centuries.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

The Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation continue to inspire current community groups such as the [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]] and movements such as Urban Expression in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/115621228/Why-the-Bruderhof-is-not-a-cult-by-Bryan-Wilson|title=Why the Bruderhof is not a cult – by Bryan Wilson {{!}} Cult And Sect {{!}} Religion And Belief|website=Scribd|language=en|access-date=2017-07-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eberhardarnold.com/|title=Eberhard Arnold: Founder of the Bruderhof|website=www.eberhardarnold.com|access-date=2017-05-25}}</ref>

==Non-Anabaptist Radical Reformers==
Though most of the Radical Reformers were Anabaptist, some did not identify themselves with the mainstream Anabaptist tradition. Thomas Müntzer was involved in the [[German Peasants' War]]. Andreas Karlstadt disagreed theologically with Huldrych Zwingli and Martin Luther, teaching nonviolence and refusing to [[Infant baptism|baptize infants]] while not rebaptizing adult believers.<ref name=GAMEO-Karlstadt>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hein|first=Gerhard|title=Karlstadt, Andreas Rudolff-Bodenstein von (1486–1541).|url=http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Karlstadt,_Andreas_Rudolff-Bodenstein_von_(1486-1541)|encyclopedia=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online|access-date=19 April 2014}}</ref> [[Caspar Schwenckfeld|Kaspar Schwenkfeld]] and [[Sebastian Franck]] were influenced by [[Friends of God|German mysticism]] and spiritualism. In 17th-century England, the tumultuous climate of the [[English Civil War]] and [[English Revolution]] saw the emergence of several movements that were influenced by or could be considered part of the Radical Reformation, such as the [[English Dissenters]]. One of these dissenting groups that developed along convergent lines with the continental Radical Reformation was the [[Religious Society of Friends]], commonly known as Quakers, led by [[George Fox]] and [[Margaret Fell]], among others.<ref name="Reformation Europe: George Fox">{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Caleb |title=Reformation Europe: George Fox |url=https://sites.duke.edu/project_refeurope/england/george-fox/ |website=sites.duke.edu/project_refeurope |publisher=Duke University |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref>

==Other movements==
In addition to the Anabaptists, other Radical Reformation movements have been identified. Notably, [[George Huntston Williams]], the great categorizer of the Radical Reformation, considered early forms of [[Unitarianism]] (such as that of the [[Socinianism|Socinians]], and exemplified by [[Michael Servetus]] as well as the [[Polish Brethren]]), and other trends that disregarded the [[Nicene Creed|Nicene]] [[Christology]] still accepted by most Christians, as part of the Radical Reformation. With Servetus and [[Faustus Socinus]], [[Nontrinitarianism|anti-Trinitarianism]] came to the foreground.<ref>Gonzalez, ''A History of Christian Thought'', 101.</ref>

==Beliefs==
The beliefs of the movement are those of the [[Believers' Church]].<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, ''Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites'', JHU Press, US, 2010, p. 25 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Unlike the Catholics and the more Magisterial Lutheran and Reformed ([[Theology of Huldrych Zwingli|Zwinglian]] and [[Calvinism|Calvinist]]) Protestant movements, some of the Radical Reformation abandoned the idea that the "[[Church visible]]" was distinct from the "[[Church invisible]]."<ref>Robert S. Ellwood, Gregory D. Alles, ''The Encyclopedia of World Religions'', Infobase Publishing, US, 2007, p. 912 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Thus, the Church only consisted of the tiny community of believers who accepted Jesus Christ and demonstrated this by adult baptism, called "[[believer's baptism]]".

While the magisterial reformers wanted to substitute their own learned elite for the learned elite of the [[Catholic Church]], the radical Protestant groups rejected the authority of the institutional "church" organization, almost entirely, as being unbiblical. As the search for original Christianity was carried further, it was claimed that the tension between the church and the [[Roman Empire]] in the [[Early Christianity|first centuries of Christianity]] was normative,{{clarify|What does this mean?|date=August 2018}} that the church is not to be allied with government [[sacralism]], that a true church is always subject to be persecuted, and that the [[Constantine the Great and Christianity|conversion of Constantine I]] was, therefore, the [[Great Apostasy]] that marked a deviation from pure Christianity.<ref>Justo L. Gonzalez, ''A History of Christian Thought'' (Abingdon: Nashville, 1975) {{ISBN?}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bohemian Reformation]]
*[[Christian anarchism]]
*[[English Dissenters]]
*[[Justus Velsius]]
*[[Martyrs Mirror]]
*[[Restorationism (Christian primitivism)]]
*[[Waldensians]]
*[[Oswald Glaidt]]
*[[Andreas Fischer (Anabaptist)|Andreas Fischer]]
*[[Paul Fagius]]
*[[Johann Reuchlin|Johannes Reuchlin]]

==Further reading==
* [[William Roscoe Estep|Estep, William R.]], '' The Anabaptist story: An introduction to sixteenth-century Anabaptism'' (1996).
* Roth, John, and James Stayer, eds. ''A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521–1700'' (Brill, 2007).
* Williams, George H., ''The Radical Reformation'', 3rd ed (Truman State Univ Press, 2000).
* Beno Profetyk (2020) ''Credo du Christocrate – Christocrat's creed'' (Bilingual French-English edition)

==External links==
* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/radical_reformation Radical Reformation] at [[Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online]]
* [http://www.tyndale.ca/seminary/mtsmodular/reading-rooms/history/16th-century 16th Century Reformation Reading Room], Tyndale Seminary
* [https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-radical-reformation/ Radical Reformation] at Protestant Museum

==References==

[[Category:History of Anabaptists| ]]
[[Category:Amish]]
[[Category:Mennonitism]]
[[Category:Protestant Reformation]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Christian radicalism]]
[[Category:16th-century Christianity]]
[[Category:16th century in Europe]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:22, 10 May 2025
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	*[[Martyrs Mirror]]		*[[Martyrs Mirror]]
	*[[Restorationism (Christian primitivism)]]		*[[Restorationism\|Restorationism (Christian primitivism)]]
	*[[Waldensians]]		*[[Waldensians]]
	*[[Oswald Glaidt]]		*[[Oswald Glaidt]]

Radical Reformation - Revision history

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