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• North German / Dutch Anabaptism

• Traceable to the influence of one individual
  (Melchior Hoffman)

• Born between 1495 and 1500 became a furrier by
  trade
• Noted as a powerful and persuasive speaker (see
  quote from Obbe Philips, p. 209)
• Active as a Lutheran lay missioner 1523-1526 in
  the eastern Baltic area, later in Stockholm and
  Schleswig-Holstein (1527-1529)
• Came to disagree with Lutheran belief in a real
  presence in communion and left the Lutheran
  camp, adding Lutheran clergy to his list of
  false prophets.
• Moved south to Strasbourg where he came into
  contact with several varieties of Anabaptism and
  spiritualism (in Strasbourg were Swiss Brethren,
  Hans Denck, Caspar Schwenkfeld, followers of
  Pilgram Marpeck, and disciples of Hans Hut).

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• Hoffman was attracted to Anabaptist visionaries
  and prophets.
• Attracted to apocalypticism and showed
  preoccupation with prophetic biblical texts and
  contemporary prophecy. (Hoffman was later
  responsible for publishing the visions of Ursula
  Jost dealing with the End Times).
• However weird or crazy this may sound to modern
  ears, Hoffman saw himself in the stream of
  biblical prophets. Snyder notes that his
  congregations always included numerous prophets
  and visionaries (p. 211).

Biblical voice Joel 228-29 And afterward, I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons
and daughters will prophesy, your old men will
dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will
pour out my Spirit in those days.


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• Who baptized Hoffman is unknown, and he did not
  join any existing Anabaptist groups. He instead
  formed his own.
• He appears to have developed his own unique
  theology, borrowing from other streams.
• His apocalypticism led him to believe that
  punishment would be meted out to the ungodly
  before the return of Christ, but he also taught
  that individual Christians were not to take up
  the sword themselves.
• Hoffman, however, did not reject political
  authority. He believed that there would be pious
  rulers who would be instrumental in bringing
  about the final victory of the saints.
• Hoffman fled Strasbourg in April, 1530, to avoid
  arrest. He moved to Emden, near the coast of the
  North Sea, and began baptizing. Some of his
  converts became zealous missionaries and
  baptizers of others.
• From Emden, Melchiorite Anabaptism spread into
  the Netherlands.

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• Hoffman suspended baptisms and his movement went
  underground in North Germany and the Netherlands
  following the execution of Jan Volkerts
  Trijpmaker, one of his Dutch converts, in
  December, 1531.
• Hoffman continued to work in the north and in
  Strasbourg until May, 1533, when he allowed
  himself to be arrested, believing that his arrest
  would be the trigger for the events of the Last
  Days. Hoffman died in prison ten years later,
  still awaiting the Last Days.
• Melchiorite Anabaptism had taken strong root in
  the Netherlands and had spread southward into
  modern Belgium. It also moved south and east
  into Westphalia where Münster became the focus of
  Anabaptism in 1534 and 1535.
• With the arrest of Hoffman, Melchiorite
  Anabaptism did not wither but moved into a second
  phasewith disastrous consequences.

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• Jan Matthijs of Haarlem began prophetic activity
  in Amsterdam soon after the arrest of Hoffman.
• Led by dreams and visions, and believing himself
  to be the prophet Enoch of the Last Days,
  Matthijs reinstated baptism.
• Biblical voice Jude 14-15 Enoch, the seventh
  from Adam, prophesied about these men See, the
  Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of
  his holy ones to judge everyone and to convict
  all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have
  done
• Saw his baptizing activity in the sense of
  Revelation 73-4.
• Biblical voice Do not harm the land or the
  sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the
  foreheads of the servants of our God. Then I
  heard the number of those who were sealed
  144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

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• Matthijs message had three components
• This is the time of the working of the Spirit
• God is about to return and execute judgment
• Those who are baptized will be spared
• Among those he baptized was Jan van Leiden who
  later was to proclaim himself King of Münster
  and of the world.
• Jan Matthijs disagreed with Hoffman on some basic
  issues, particularly the role of the saints in
  wielding the sword to execute divine justice.
• Matthijs was convinced that Münster was the New
  Jerusalem, not Strasbourg and soon became
  involved in the reform of that city. He was also
  a persuasive speaker (see sidebar, p. 215).

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• Bernhard Rothmann was a leader of the reforming
  party in Münster. The evangelical factions in
  Münster prevailed in the power struggle, and
  Münster became an evangelical city.
• Heinrich Rol came to Münster after the council
  decision to make Münster and evangelical city.
  He brought Zwinglian ideas about the sacraments,
  moving Münster away from its Lutheran neighbors
  even as it needed their support against the
  Catholic bishop.
• Rothmann and Rol accepted rebaptism in January,
  1534. This served to increase the isolation of
  Münster from its neighbors.
• Jan van Leiden arrived in January, 1534.
• Elections for city councilors on Feb. 23, 1534,
  were won by the Anabaptists. Jan Matthijs
  entered Münster on Feb. 24 and claimed prophetic
  authority. The siege of Münster began three days
  later.
• On the same day, all non-baptized residents were
  forced to leave or accept rebaptism.

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• The Münsterites proceeded to organize the city
  according to a community of goods (a pattern
  noted in the Book of Acts) those who would not
  listen to Matthijs were expelled.
• Matthijs believed that the second coming of
  Christ would take place by Easter, 1534. When
  the End did not arrive, he left Münster with a
  few companions, possibly expecting divine
  assistance. He was killed his head impaled on a
  lance.
• Van Leiden then had a free hand to assume power
  in Münster. He instituted social changes based
  on Old Testament patterns, including polygamy.
  (He married Matthijs widow and had a number of
  concubines as well).
• Other Melchiorites responded to the call to come
  to Münster or participated in armed resistance.
  Some 300 Anabaptists took over the monastery of
  Oldeklooster in March, 1535, and held it for a
  week. The assault on the monastery of
  Oldeklooster was a pivotal event for Menno
  Simons, a priest in nearby Witmarsum. (Peter
  Simons, one of those who died at Oldeklooster,
  may have been Mennos brother).

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• The bishop changed tactics from assault to
  blockade.
• The final assault on Münster began on June 25,
  1535, and lasted two days.
• Rothmanns body was never identified, and he may
  have escaped. Jan van Leiden was captured. In
  January, 1536, he was tortured for hours with
  red-hot tongs and eventually executed before the
  cathedral along with Bernhard Knipperdolling and
  Bernd Krechting (p. 221).
• Melchiorite Anabaptism after Münster
• Pacifist group, gathered around Dirk and Obbe
  Philips and David Joris
• Violent group following Jan van Batenburg
• Münsterite refugees in Westphalia
• Melchiorites in the Rhineland and Hesse (later
  enticed to join the Hessian state church)
• Melchiorites in Strasbourg.

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• Menno Simons ordained a priest in 1524 but came
  to have doubts about sacramental claims regarding
  communion. Preached against the Münsterite
  Kingdom in 1535, but left the priesthood in 1536,
  was baptized by Obbe Philips, and joined the
  Anabaptists. He began a ministry to rally and
  reorganize the scattered Melchiorites.
• Dirk Philips younger brother of Obbe Philips,
  baptized by an emissary of Jan Matthijs during
  the Münster episode, but did not subscribe to
  Matthijs willingness to use violence.
• Leenaert Bouwens (1515-1582) became a leader of
  the Melchiorite Anabaptists some years after the
  Münster episode. In 31 years of activity, he
  recorded 10,386 baptisms in 182 different
  locations stretching from Antwerp (Belgium) to
  Danzig (modern Gdansk, in Poland)
• Both Dirk Philips and Leenaert Bouwens were to
  play leading roles in the development of Dutch
  Anabaptism after 1550.

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• North Holland remained a place of refuge for
  persecuted Anabaptists Amsterdam remained an
  Anabaptist center despite persecution until
  tolerance was extended in 1578.
• Modern-day Belgium was reached by Leenaert
  Bouwens ministry, but Anabaptism became
  virtually extinct in Flanders after a Catholic
  regime came to power in 1585.
• The lower Rhine area around Cologne was a scene
  of Anabaptist activity since the 1530s with Menno
  Simons and Dirk Philips conducting missions in
  the 1540s. It was movement south of the North
  German/Dutch Anabaptists that brought them into
  contact with Swiss Anabaptists.
• Dutch Anabaptist refugees (most of whom were
  Mennonites) came to Danzig and East and West
  Prussia from 1527 to 1578. This eastward
  movement of refugees would culminate in the 18th
  century with the arrival of Mennonites in Russia.

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• Anabaptists and Scripture
• A common core of shared beliefs salvation,
  baptism, church discipline (the ban), memorial
  Supper, mutual aid.
• Biblical voice (Matthew 1815-17) If your
  brother sins against you, go and show him his
  fault, just between the two of you. If he
  listens to you, you have won your brother over.
  But if he will not listen, take one or two others
  along, so that every matter may be established by
  the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he
  refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church
  and if he refuses to listen even to the church,
  treat him as you would a pagan or a tax
  collector.
• Despite this shared core, there were divergent
  interpretational streams
• Letter over spirit (Swiss Anabaptists Grebel,
  Sattler,Hubmaier some South German Anabaptists
  (Rinck, Hutter), later Dutch Melchiorite
  Anabaptists (Menno Simons)
• Christian life ruled by what scripture commanded
• New Testament took precedence over Old.

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• Anabaptists and Scripture
• Spirit over letter (Hans Denck)
• Fundamental interpretative principle was
  Christocentric love, not a literal application of
  biblical texts
• When it appeared that the outward signs
  separating the church from the world were leading
  to legalism, and hindering more than helping,
  Hans Denck and other spiritualist Anabaptists
  simply left the baptizing movement behind.
  (Snyder, p. 241)
• Moderate position Pilgram Marpeck
• Prophetic spirit and letter Virtually all of
  the early Anabaptistswere convinced that they
  were living at the very end of history.
  Nevertheless, for some of the early Anabaptists,
  this conviction provided the interpretive
  framework for reading all of scripture. (p. 242)

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• Hans Hut The Christian of the Last Days was to
  act in accordance with the divinely-revealed
  prophetic calendar and a prophetic reading of the
  signs of the times. (p. 243)
• Melchior Hoffman accepted extra-biblical
  revelations as authoritative
• Ursula Jost her visions were published by
  Hoffman in 1530. Her visions show two kingdoms
  clearly at war with each other (a kingdom of good
  and a kingdom of evil)
• Over time, interpretive modes within Anabaptism
  changed with some taking greater prominence and
  others fading. (Apocalyptic and prophetic
  interpretations had virtually died out by the end
  of the 16th century).
• The most-prominent interpretive mode among
  Anabaptists at the end of the century was that
  the letter must be the measure of the spirit.

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Romans 131-6 Everyone must submit himself to
the governing authorities, for there is no
authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established
by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the
authority is rebelling against what God has
instituted, and those who do so will bring
judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no
terror for those who do right, but for those who
do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of
the one who is in authority? Then do what is
right and he will commend you. For he is Gods
servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be
afraid, for he does not bear the sword for
nothing. He is Gods servant, an agent of wrath
to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore,
it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not
only because of possible punishment but also
because of conscience. This is also why you pay
taxes, for the authorities are Gods servants,
who give their full time to governing. Give
everyone what you owe him if you owe taxes, pay
taxes if revenue, then revenue if respect, then
respect if honor, then honor.