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Anabaptism was one of the traditions that arose out of the Reformation. The name comes from the Neo-Latin anabaptista, which meant 're-baptism.' An anabaptist was literally 'one who baptizes again.' The name was embraced by those who believed that infant baptism was not scriptural. Like the Baptists, the Anabaptists believed that only true believers who have declared their faith in Jesus, the Christ should be baptized. Infants were incapable of understanding, and therefore not capable of accepting Jesus as their Saviour, and therefore baptism of infants was a waste of time and effort.
Anabaptist theology took the Sermon of the Mount literally, demanding its adherents to refuse to take oaths, participate in military actions and also to avoid participation in civil government.
The roots of Anabaptism are claimed to stretch back past the Reformation, gaining its tenets from movements in the 1500s such as the Brethren of the Common Life, the Dutch Sacramentists the Hussites and Waldensians. The Anabaptist tradition also traces its roots to the preaching of the theologian Huldrych / Ulrich Zwingli. Some of Zwingli's followers felt that the theologian was not moving quickly enough to bring about changes in the church. The more radical contingent of Zwingli's followers began to meet in private, feeling that he was not supporting their views. Zwingli was leaving the disputation of various theological points in the hands of the city Council of Zurich. After a number of confrontations between Zwingli and the radical contingent, they decided to take their complaints against Zwingli to the Zurich city Council. The Council met on 17 January 1525, and their ruling was that anyone who refused to have their infants baptized within one week would be expelled from Zurich. A meeting of sixteen of the radicals was then held on 21 January 1525. During their meeting, George Blaurock asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him by virtue of his faith in God. He in turn baptized the others. In view of the fact that all of them had been baptized as infants, this baptism was a re- (or ana)- baptism and Anabaptism came into existence.
The Anabaptists were reviled and hated by just about everyone initially. They were persecuted by Roman Catholicism for their role in the Reformation, and the Protestants for their conflicts with Zwingli's teaching. In fact, it was Zwingli's Protestant followers who were the first to attack the Anabaptists. The Anabaptist theologian, Felix Manz, was martyred for his faith in 1527. The degree of violence of the persecutions is what motivated the mass emigrations to the English Colonies in North America by Amish, Mennonite and Hutterites.
In the 1680s, the colony granted to William Penn advertised throughout the Germanic regions that it would be a sanctuary for anyone persecuted for their religious affiliations. The 'Germanic' regions included Switzerland. Of the three Anabaptist groups, the Mennonites were the first to establish large settlements in eastern Pennsylvania. They spread westward as far as the Ohio Valley. Menno Simons began his ministry within the Catholic Church as a priest. He was a resident of Friesland in the Low Countries. Simons was influenced by the Anabaptist teachings, perhaps because he had trouble accepting as literal, the doctrine of transubstantiation (i.e. the doctrine that the Eucharist actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus, the Christ during Mass). In questioning his views on that doctrine, Menno Simons found himself questioning other doctrines. His study of the Bible revealed to him that the doctrine of infant baptism cannot be found in the Holy Scriptures. Menno Simons, on 12 January 1536, embraced the viewpoints of the Anabaptists, and his own teachings led his followers to embrace them also. While some of the Anabaptist groups responded to their persecution in kind by engaging in violence, the followers of Menno Simons advocated peace and pacifism. The new denomination spread southward through Germany and into Switzerland.
A schism developed in 1693 within the Mennonite church in Switzerland. A group led by Jakob Ammann. Known as the Amish, the splinter group advocated shunning, or social rejection of members of the congregation / community who committed any infraction of the church's doctrine. As they immigrated to the English Colonies in North America, the Amish located in close proximity to the Mennonites. As they intermingled the Amish affiliated with the Mennonites and both groups became commonly known as Amish Mennonites.
Over the years, the Amish Mennonites adhered to their resistance to 'modernization.' They strove to maintain a 'plain' lifestyle, rejecting the use of electricity and the many gadgets operated by electricity, and the use of automobiles. But the degree to which they adhered to that plain lifestyle resulted in conference held between 1862 and 1878 and their breaking up into numerous Mennonite sects. The Old Order Amish Mennonites are the most conservative of the factions. They strictly forbid automobiles and farm machinery along with electricity and anything that expresses personal vanity. They do not build church edifices in which to worship. Instead, they meet in their homes. Old Order Amish men are not permitted to cut their beards.
In the 1960s, the New Order Amish Mennonites broke from the Old Order so that they could practice more liberal customs. Although they also advocate a 'plain' lifestyle, they do not forbid the use of electricity and some modern conveniences, such as telephones. New Order Amish men are permitted to trim their beards and clothing in general is allowed to be more 'modern' or contemporary in style. The New Order Amish Mennonites allow the use of automobiles and mechanized farm machinery.
