Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists: Luther, Melanchthon and Menius and the Anabaptists of Central Germany

278 Pages·1964·9.16 MB·English

by  John S. Oyer (auth.)

LUTHERAN REFORMERS AGAINST
ANABAPTISTS
LUTHERAN REFORMERS
AGAINST ANABAPTISTS
LUTHER,MELANCHTHON
AND MENIUS AND THE ANABAPTISTS
OF CENTRAL GERMANY
by
JOHN S. OYER
Goshen College, Indiana
•
THE HAGUE / MARTINUS NI]HOFF / 1964
ISBN 978-94-011-8535-6 ISBN 978-94-011-9285-9 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-94-011-9285-9
Copyright I964 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book was first written as a doctoral dissertation and submitted to
the History Department of the University of Chicago in 1959. The
sections on Anabaptism in Central Germany were published in the
Mennonite Quarterly Review, Vols. XXXIV (October, 1960) and XXXV
(January, 1961). I wish to thank the editors of the MQR for permission
to reprint those chapters. I have altered the chapters on Anabaptism
principally by the inclusion of more material on Rink, material based
on several of his writings to which I did not have access when I first
wrote the dissertation in 1959. I have made minor alterations at other
places.
lowe my deepest thanks to each of the following persons: the late
Dean Harold S. Bender of the Goshen College Biblical Seminary for his
suggestion of the topic and his frequent helpful comments; Professor
Wilhelm Pauck, earlier of the University of Chicago and now of Union
Theological Seminary, for his initial encouragement and advice; Pro
fessors Jaroslav Pelikan and Donald Lach, both of the University of
Chicago during my student days, for undertaking to guide the disser
tation and for their numerous suggestions for its improvement; Pro
fessors Heinrich Bornkamm and Walter Peter Fuchs, both of Heidel
berg University, for many critical comments given to one who was not
their own cando phil.; Nelson Springer, curator of the Mennonite
Historical Library at Goshen College, for bibliographical advice of the
highest order; Frl. Fehringer, Secretary of the Historisches Seminar at
Heidelberg University, for help in locating a place in the Kandidaten
zimmer; Mrs. Carol Oyer for frequent help in the tedious work of
correcting copy, proofreading, and indexing; Professor John H. Yoder
of the Goshen College Biblical Seminary for his helpful comments on
the material of chapters II and III. To all of these mentors and friends I
acknowledge my indebtedness. If they have given of themselves to
make this book more meaningful and accurate, the obscurities and
errors remaining are still my own.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. . v
List of Abbreviations VIII
Introduction . . . . I
I. The Schwiirmer, Luther, and Melanchthon. 6
II. Anabaptism in Central Germany I: The Rise and Spread
of the Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41
III. Anabaptism in Central Germany II: Faith and Life. . 75
IV. Luther and the Anabaptists. . . 114
V. Melanchthon and the Anabaptists 140
VI. Menius and the Anabaptists. . . 179
VII. Theological Conflict between Lutherans and Anabaptists 2II
VIII. Evaluation of Lutheran Writings against the Anabaptists 239
Bibliography . 253
Index. 261
Map . ... at the end
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ARG Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte.
CR Corpus Reformatorum
DeWette Dr. Martin Luther's Briefe, Sendschreiben, und Bedenken.
Edited by Wilhelm M. de Wette. 6 vols. Berlin, 1825-56.
EA Dr. Martin Luther's siimmtliche Werke. 67 vols. Erlangen,
1826ff.
ME Mennonite Encyclopedia. 4 vols.
ML M ennonitisches Lexikon. 3 vols.
MQR Mennonite Quarterly Review.
TA, Hesse Urkundliche Quellen zur hessischen Reformationsgeschichte,
Vol. IV. Edited by G. Franz, et al. Marburg, 195I.
WA D. Martin Luther's Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Edited
by Knaake, Kawerau, et at. 57 vols. Weimar, 1883-1914.
WB D. Martin Luther's Briefwechsel, D. Martin Luther's Werke,
kritische Gesamtausgabe. Edited by Konrad Burdach, et al.
I! vols. Weimar, 1930ff.
WT Tischreden, D. Martin Luther's Werke, kritische Gesamtaus
gabe. Edited by Karl Drescher. 6 vols. Weimar, 1912ff.
r. recto.
v. verso.
In the absence of pagination in the sixteenth century
brochures, I have used the signatures with the added
identification r. or v. for recto or verso.
INTRODUCTION
Until well into the nineteenth century scholars have repeated a tra
ditional view of Anabaptism when they turn to Reformation history.
They have regarded the Zwickau Prophets and Thomas Miintzer as the
instigators of the movement. The radical disturbance caused by the
Prophets and Miintzer in Wittenberg and the Saxon lands spread to
Switzerland, there to plague Zwingli and his following. In both regions
a radical spiritualism was the dominating element of the movement.
Anabaptism reached its peak of development in the forceful establish
ment of the Kingdom of Miinster. Most historians have devoted the
major part of their discourse on Anabaptism to this model of fanati
cism. After the rebellion was suppressed a rather pious but nonetheless
harsh converted priest named Menno Simons collected the dispersed
elements and attempted to direct them into more peaceful channels.
Other leaders, like David J oris, continued the radical spiritualism if
not the civil disorder. In this picture of the movement historians have
insisted on regarding more highly the similarities rather than the
differences in religious ideas of men such as Miintzer, Storch, Carlstadt,
Grebel, Manz, Sattler, Denk, Marpeck, Matthys, Jan van Leyden, Joris,
and Menno Simons. Even a cursory perusal of the writings of the
Reformers - particularly those of Luther, Melanchthon, Menius, and
Bullinger - reveals the identity of this traditional picture with that of
the sixteenth-century polemicists.
Of the traditionalist view two examples may be cited here. Among
the Swiss Reformed Johann Jakob Hottinger,l and from the Lutherans,
Johann Kurtz 2 stand out as perpetrators of the Reformers' views, both
1 Historia del' Reformation in del' Eidgenosschafft ... (Zurich: Bodmerischen Truckerey,
1708), especially pp. 218ft, 384ff, 497ff.
2 Lehl'buch del' K il'chengeschichte ful' Studiel'entie (9th ed.; Leipzig: August Neumann, 1885),
III, 42-57; 148-156 (in the 1885 edition). Among the older church historians Gottfried Arnold
wrote a sympathetic account undoubtedly because of his pietist inclinations. Gott!l'ied
2 INTRODUCTION
in content and in hostility. Hottinger appealed to the authority of the
Zurich reformers for those of his readers who might be dissatisfied with
his own denunciation of Anabaptist poison. Kurtz, whose manual
became the standard text in church history for several generations of
students in Germany, styled the Anabaptist movement the "Defor
mation" in contrast to the theologically correct Reformation.
Some of the more recent students of the movement have tended to
abandon the hostility, though generally not the insistence on measuring
Anabaptism by the standard of Lutheran or Reformed orthodoxy.
Karl Holll and Heinrich Boehmer 2 reaffirmed the continuity from
Miintzer to the later Anabaptists, all of whom were spiritualists. Both
men did an impressive amount of scholarly research on the figure of
Miintzer and wrote creative, stimulating interpretations of him. Their
remarks on Anabaptism in its relation to Miintzer must be considered
as speculative because neither did any research on the movement itself.
But their remarks, however insubstantial, were taken as authoritative
pronouncements by the scholarly world.3 Fritz Heyer 4 later attempted
to supply the documentation, from Anabaptist sources, for the spiri
tualist part of the assessment. But Heyer, whose work is strongly
apologetic in character, is unconvincing precisely at the crucial point:
the distinction between Anabaptist and unparteiisch Spiritualist views
on the church.5 A full generation of scholars, with Holl, Boehmer, and
Heyer, have not seriously questioned the Anabaptist origin in the
person and work of Miintzer, and its essential spiritualist character.
These elements of the old picture remain, though much of the hostility
has vanished and in most instances an earnest desire to be fair and
accurate has appeared.6
Arnolds unpartheyische Kirchen und Ketzer-Historie (Schaffhausen: Emanuel und Benedict
Hurter, 1742). This was first published in 1699.
1 Gesammelte Autsiitze zur Kirchengeschichte (Tiibingen: Paul Siebeck, 1923), I, chapter vii,
"Luther und die Schwarmer," especially pp. 422-24, 437, 447-50, 457-59.
2 "Thomas Miintzer und das jiingste Deutschland," Gesammelte AI~tsiitze (Gotha: Perthes,
1927), especially pp. 221-22.
3 See the exchange between Eberlein and Wiswedel on this point: Muhlhiiuser Geschichts
blatter, XXVII (1926-27), 210-13; ibid., XXX (I929-30), 268-73. Against Wiswedel's protest
to Hall's interpretation Eberlein pitted the authority of Holl: whoever heard of Wiswedel
anyway? The stature of Hall as an interpreter of Luther is undeniably very great indeed. Bu t
in this instance Wiswedel had read the Anabaptists and Holl had not.
4 Der Kirchenbegriff der Schwarmer, "Schriften des Vereins fiir Reformationsgeschichte,"
Nr. 166 (Leipzig: Heinsius Nachfolger, 1939).
5 Ibid., pp. 33-49.
6 For example Reinhold Seeberg, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (2d ed.; Erlangen:
Deichert, I917-1920), IV, 28; Karl Heussi, Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte (loth ed.;
Tiibingen: Siebeck, 1949), pp. 333-35; H. H. Bagger, "Anabaptists - Extinction or Extension
of the Reformation," Lutheran Quarterly, IV (1952), 243-60.
INTRODUCTION 3
The appearance of published Anabaptist source materials in recent
decades has radically altered the necessity for relying on the polemics
for information on Anabaptism. Those scholars who have taken ad
vantage of Anabaptist sources have been willing to question most of
the elements in the traditional pictu:r:e.l The twin questions of Anabap
tist origins, especially in relation to Miintzer, and spiritualism in
Anabaptism are up for reassessment.2 Most of the recent writers are
open to the idea, in sharp contrast to the traditional picture deriving
from the Reformers, that the Anabaptists may appear quite different
when they are allowed to speak for themselves. But there still remains
the opportunity to write a wild account and find acceptance for it in
some quarters of the academic world.3
As a contribution to the reassessment of the nature and place of the
Radical Reformation, this study will make a fresh examination
of the writings against the Anabaptists by the Lutheran Reformers,
and of the Anabaptist movement itself in Central Germany. An at
tempt will be made to fix more precisely the nature of Anabaptism as
the Lutherans saw it. Their picture will be evaluated in the light of the
study of the movement in the geographical region where they knew it
best. Finally an attempt will be made to ascertain the essential conflict
in religious ideas between Lutherans and Anabaptists, based on the
accusations of both parties. The study will consider the writings
of Luther, Melanchthon, and Menius. Rhegius could have been added
in order to cover the major Lutheran writers on the topic. But Rhegius
knew a different Anabaptism, that of Denk and the South Germans.
There were similarities, of course, between his Anabaptism and that
1 See Walther Peter Fuchs, "Die Taufer," Gebhardts Handbvch der deutschen Geschichte, ed.
Herbert Grundmann (8th ed.; Stuttgart: Union, 1955), II, 75-78 for a German view. See also
Franklin Littell, The Anabaptist View of the Church (Berne, Ind.: Amer. Soc. of Church
History, 1952; 2d revised ed.; Boston: Star King Press, 1958).
8 For spiritualism see the exchange between Meihuizen and Friedmann: H. W. Meihuizen,
"Spiritualistic Tendencies and Movements among the Dutch Mennonites of the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries," MQR, XXVII (1953), 259-304; Robert Friedmann, "A Critical
Discussion of Meihuizen's Study of 'SpiIitual Trends,'" MQR, XXVIII (1954), 148-54. For
the question of origins and the relation to Miintzer see the articles of Bender and Friedmann,
and the responses: Harold S. Bender, "The Zwickau Prophets, Thomas Miintzer, and the
Anabaptists," MQR, XXVII (1953), 3-16; Robert Friedmann, "Thomas Miintzer's Relation
to Anabaptism," MQR, XXXI (1957), 75-87; Grete Mecenseffy, "Die Herkunft des ober
osterreichischen Taufertums," ARG, XLVII (1956),252-59.
8 For example the Erlangen dissertation of Friedrich Radel, "Die anarchischen Tendenzen
bei den Wiedertaufern des Reformationszeitalters" (MS, 1950). Radel sets for himself the task
of ascertaining Anabaptist attitudes toward government, but he accepts as Anabaptists only
those who have radical and violent attitudes toward government. Those that might profess
peaceful intentions are hypocritical. He visualizes Anabaptists as people with a message that
is overwhelmingly political; he cannot see theiI religious motivation.
INTRODUCTION
of the Saxon trio. Nevertheless his exclusion permits a more unified
treatment of the Anabaptism in question, and consequently of the
evaluation of the Lutherans' view of the movement.
It should be immediately evident that in this study the Reformers
do not appear always in a favorable light. They were unremittingly
hostile. The topic of Anabaptism aroused them to the heights of passion,
as it did most of the religious figures of the sixteenth century. There is
anger and scorn on the Anabaptist side against the Reformers, too; but
their wrath is not as evident because the records with few exceptions
show them on the defensive. There will be no balanced picture of the
Reformers in this book. Its purpose is not biographical. It must
be remembered that the Luther who spoke on rebaptism, or on
punishment of the Anabaptists, is the Luther who could also write the
Treatise on Christian Liberty or the delightful fantasy on Paradise to
his four-year old son, Hans. Melanchthon, who was unreservedly harsh
with the Anabaptists, could be irenic to the Catholics at Augsburg or
to the Swiss and Strassburgers at Kassel.1
No attempt will be made in this study to assess the relative im
portance of the Anabaptist movement to each of the three Lutherans.
But a general comment on each would be in order. Luther was too
preoccupied with other things to give due consideration to the radicals.
He said as much in I528.2 The fact that he wrote only one major
pamphlet against them is another indication of the same. But the
problem disturbed him immensely. He expressed himself in some
manner or other on Anabaptism in at least fifty letters or sermons or
table conversations that happened to be recorded and preserved.
Melanchthon devoted more time to analysis, refutation, and publi
cation against the group. One suspects that this relatively greater
concern derived from his practical experience as a church visitor in
Saxon lands where he encountered radicals of various sorts who brought
conflicts into the church. For Menius the struggle with Anabaptism was
a major task. Of the three he was the most deeply involved in the cure
of souls. His geographical location brought him into frequent contact
with the results of Anabaptist evangelism. Combatting the radicals
1 Biographers of Luther generally give ample coverage to Luther's irascibility and
expressions of wrath. The same is not true for those who write on Melanchthon. Clyde
Manschreck's lYfelanchthon, The Quiet Reformer (New York: Abingdon Press, 1958) is a
splendid piece of scholarly research and creative writing; but it lacks precisely that balance
in Melanchthon's character that a fuller treatment of his relations with some of the radicals
could well give.
2 Martin Luther, Von der Widertautfe an zwen Pfarherrn, ein Brief (Wittenberg: Georg
Wachter, 1528); printed in W A, XXVI, 173.