106 Ch. 3 • The Two Reformationstolerate their views. Some radical reformers who had broken with Zwingli
in Zurich became known as Anabaptists—“anabaptism'' means rebaptism
in Greek. Believing that neither Luther nor Zwingli had sufficiently trans
formed religious morality and community life, they sought to implement
“godly” living on the model of the New Testament. Because they could find
no reference to infant baptism in the Bible, they began baptizing adults in
1525 against Zwingli s advice. They believed that only adults could mani
fest true faith and therefore be worthy of baptism.
Anabaptist groups sprung up in areas influenced by Protestant reform,
including Zurich, the Netherlands, parts of Italy, and Poland. Anabaptists
were a very diverse group. Many Anabaptists advocated a congregational
form of organization, because for them membership was through free will
or voluntary self-selection, rather than through territorial organization of
churches as was true for Catholics, Lutherans, and Zwinglians. Yet there
were major differences between groups. Some Anabaptists in Switzerland
and southern Germany formed communities of believers seeking isolation—
“separation from iniquity,” as they put it—from the struggles and tempta
tions of the sinful secular world. These Anabaptists did not accept temporal
government and refused to take civil oaths, pay taxes, hold public office, or
serve in armies. However, other Anabaptists did seek alliances with local
rulers and sought to be loyal subjects.
Catholic and Protestant states moved to crush these communities of radi
cals, seeing them as seditious rebels against God-given authority in church
and state. At the Diet of Speyer in 1529, Charles V, along with Catholic and
Protestant rulers in the empire, declared Anabaptism a crime punishable by
death, usually by—with intentional irony—drowning, “the third baptism.”
Some of these radical reformers sought refuge in the mountains of the Tyrol
and Moravia, and in the Netherlands, while others accepted a martyr's
death or spoke out against authorities who persecuted them.
In 1534, a radical group of Anabaptists led by a local preacher took over
the town government of Munster by election. Those not sympathetic to
Anabaptism left town willingly or were expelled. Soon several thousand
Anabaptists from as far away as the Netherlands arrived in Munster,
believing it to be the “New Jerusalem,” where God's chosen people would
be protected. The Anabaptists established a council of twelve that expro
priated Catholic Church property, abolished private property, banned the
use of money, and established communally held property and a system of
barter.
Munster's territorial ruler and his allies laid siege to the town. Inside
Munster, John of Leiden, a Dutchman, gained influence as a leader and
prophet. He convinced the ministers and elders of Munster to abolish pri
vate property, which they justified on biblical grounds—upon Christ's
return, believers would not need possessions. Moreover, sharing possessions
helped them ration goods during the siege. They also began to practice