Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Rightly evaluating Anabaptism

Great quote from Nathan Finn in his post last year: Why I Don’t Freak Out About the Anabaptists

Here’s a good historical axiom we should all heed: one should never define movements by their lunatic fringe or worst moments. Though the analogy is not perfect, it seems to me that those who dismiss all Anabaptists because of the Peasant’s Revolt or the Münster Rebellion are like those who dismiss Calvinism because Servetus was burned at the stake in Geneva. It just doesn’t hold water.

Those who dismiss Anabaptism and what it has to teach the church today by reflexively equating all Anabaptists with a few aberrant movements are either dishonest or too lazy to study the topic before commenting on it. Thanks to Nathan Finn for pointing this out! Again, my point is not that we should all seek to convert to Anabaptism but that instead we should learn from Anabaptism where it helps us to live more faithfully for Christ.

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