Anabaptists: From the Reformation to the 21st Century (Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies (New Series))

“an essential overview” – Kat Hill, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University “ambitious” – PD Dr. Ingo Klitzsch, Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen “saturated with sources” – Freikirchenforschung “excellent” – Dr. Thomas Klockner, Habilitation candidate at JGU Mainz “comprehensive” – Moritz Vachek, in Ichthys “a great achievement.” – PD Dr. Andrea Strubind, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg “a welcome and insightful work of commemoration.” – Douglas H. Shantz, University of Calgary “This work will be a significant point of reference for Anabaptist scholarship for decades to come.” – John D. Roth, Professor of History Emeritus, Goshen College. “A tour de force… I can see this becoming the standard text for courses on Anabaptism.” – Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, University of New Brunswick. The Anabaptists, alongside the Lutheran and Reformed churches, were the third major current in the sixteenth century Reformation movements. From their beginnings, the Anabaptists were highly diverse and yet they shared some central beliefs and practices for which they were quickly persecuted – for example, defenselessness and nonresistance, the refusal to swear oaths, and the separation of church and state. Ideal for both teachers and students, this book provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the history and development of the Anabaptists, alongside the Mennonite, Hutterite, and Amish traditions that emerged from their movement. Anabaptists: From the Reformation to the 21st Century shows the cultural diversity of the Anabaptists over five centuries as they moved between persecution and toleration, isolation and social integration, and tradition-alization and renewal. Amidst these tensions, the Anabaptist story is told here anew based on the current state of the field on the eve of its 500-year anniversary. Written by an established scholar of Anabaptist history, and expertly translated into English by Victor Thiessen, this comprehensive study appears in the Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies series, edited by Maxwell Kennel, and published by Pandora Press. PD Dr. Astrid von Schlachta is a Lecturer at the Universitat Hamburg and head of the Mennonite Research Center in Weierhof, Germany.