Mertcan Bulak
@MBulak
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Ağustos 2020 tarihinde katıldı
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In the aftermath of Munster, the dispirited Anabaptists of the Lower Rhine area gained new heart through the ministry of Menno Simons (c. 1496–1561). Although always in great personal danger, Menno, a former priest, traveled widely to visit the scattered Anabaptist groups of northern Europe. Although Menno was not the founder of the movement, most of the descendants of the Anabaptists are to this day called Mennonite.
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Finally the Zurich council lost all patience. On March 7, 1526, it decided that anyone found rebaptizing would be put to death by drowning. Apparently their thought was, “If the heretics want water, let them have it.”
Many of the persecuted fled to Germany and Austria, but their prospects were no brighter there. In 1529 the imperial Diet of Speyer proclaimed Anabaptism a heresy, and every court in Christendom was obliged to condemn the heretics to death. During the Reformation years, between four and five thousand Anabaptists were executed by fire, water, and sword.
In one important respect Zwingli followed the Bible even more stringently than did Luther. The Wittenberger would allow whatever the Bible did not prohibit; Zwingli rejected whatever the Bible did not prescribe. For this reason the Reformation in Zurich tended to strip away more traditional symbols of the Roman church: candles, statues, organ and choir music, and pictures. Later, in England, this spirit was called Puritanism.
Like the missionary monks of the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists wanted to shape society by their example of radical discipleship—if necessary, even by death. They steadfastly refused to be a part of worldly power, including bearing arms, holding political office, or taking oaths. In the sixteenth century that sort of talk was inflammatory, revolutionary, and even treasonous.
In spite of Luther’s stress on personal religion, Lutheran churches were “established” churches. They retained an ordained clergy who considered the whole population of a given territory, whether devout or totally uninterested, as members of their church. The churches looked to the state for salary and support. Official Protestantism seemed to differ little from official Catholicism. Doctrinally they were different; structurally they were very similar.
Reklam