Early Anabaptist Spirituality: Selected Writings

by Daniel Liechty

Publisher:

Paulist Press

, 1994

Overview

This volume consists of an anthology of early to mid-sixteenth century writings that illuminate the distinctive character of early Anabaptist ideology. The writings focus on the themes of regeneration, the Anabaptist fellowship and the demands of discipleship. Modern Christians will benefit from learning about the setting in which these early Protestants lived and will gain insight into the focus and character of their worship.

Key Features

• A unique presentation of classic Anabaptist spirituality compiled by expert editors
• Fully integrates and cross references with other resources from your Logos library
• Theology, specifically regeneration, lived out in daily life

Contents

Top Highlights

“Anabaptist theology, as will be seen in the texts presented here, was very different from both Lutheran and Reformed Protestantism. The major strains of Protestantism stressed the absolute helplessness of the human individual before God to in any way affect salvation. Only God could bring about individual salvation. Anabaptists, on the other hand, stressed both the corporate character of salvation and the ability of the individual to cooperate with God’s grace in the course of salvation.” (Page 1)

“The Anabaptists came to believe in the separate nature of the church from the world. This idea was the seed of what we in our time call the ‘separation of church and state,’ and was a major innovation in the sixteenth century.” (Page 1)

“Thus the first (and perhaps foremost) characteristic of the Anabaptist understanding of the Christian faith lies in the categorical opposition to the notion that the civic community and the Christian church were identical and that all people were in fact ‘Christians.’ The Anabaptists argued that not all people were serious about their religion, even as not all were fully committed to the way of Christ. The Anabaptists pursued a serious Christianity, uncompromising, categorical, earnest.” (Page xix)

“As citizens of the Kingdom of God rather than the worldly state, these Anabaptists rejected the civil loyalty oath and military service, along with the ‘religious’ practice of infant baptism. They enforced church discipline by use of the ‘ban,’ which often extended to severing social relations with the erring brother or sister. Their goal was to restore the apostolic church, organized according to the explicit precepts of the New Testament.” (Page 5)

Product Details

• Title: Early Anabaptist Spirituality: Selected Writings
• Author: Daniel Liechty
• Series: The Classics of Western Spirituality
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Print Publication Date: 1994
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Pages: 336
• Era: era:Contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Spiritual life › Anabaptists; Anabaptists › Doctrines
• ISBNs: 0809104660, 0809134756, 9780809104666, 9780809134755
• Resource ID: LLS:RLYNBPTSSPRTLTY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:46:58Z

About Daniel Liechty

Daniel Liechty teaches human behavior in the School of Social Work at Illinois State University, where he holds the rank of Professor. Liechty originally trained in academic religious studies (MA, Associated Mennonite Seminaries; PhD, University of Vienna, Austria) but put that training to work in mental health work, as a group specialist at The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital. He eventually earned two more graduate degrees (MSW, Bryn Mawr; DMin in pastoral counseling, Graduate Theological Foundation) and worked a number of years as Psychosocial Coordinator in the Montgomery Hospital Medical Center hospice program. His research and writing focuses generally on the edge between psychology and spirituality, and specifically on the work of social anthropologist Ernest Becker. He is Vice-President of The Ernest Becker Foundation.