Sawatsky: Four Streams of Anabaptism

[Neoanabaptist]

1992 by Rodney Sawatsky “The One and the Many: The Recovery of Mennonite Pluralism” published in Anabaptism Revisited; Essays on Anabaptist/Mennonite Studies in Honor of C. J. Dyck.
When I first found this I thought that it is the state of scientific knowledge about Anabaptism - that which is taught at colleges and universities. I'm not so certain now - what do you think?

Here is the sketch:
Anabaptist Stream // Emphasis // 16th Century Corollary

Separationist // Social/cultural non-conformity to the world // Swiss Brethren with Schleitheim Conf.
Establishment // Biblical nonresistance/personal holiness // Menno Simons
Reformist // Discipleship of Christ/service to the world // Pilgram Marpeck
Transformationist // Political/ideological nonconformity to the political powers // Hans Hut and apocalyptic
Anabaptists

[Bootstrap]

Among Mennonites and Anabaptists, there is clearly more than one way to understand this history and the relationships among these groups and that's been true all my life. I don't think of history as science, more of an academic discipline that leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

But these streams are clearly different from each other. And you see some of those differences play out here. I have been most influenced by Menno Simons and Pilgram Marpeck, many of the plain people here have probably been influenced more by the Swiss Brethren and Hutterites. I think Sawatsky was writing in response to Bender's Anabaptist Vision, which leans toward seeing the Swiss Brethren as the "real Mennonites." I think there's a lot of good to be learned from each of these strands.

It would be interesting to work through each of these authors / streams one at a time. That table is perhaps a little too high-level for me.

[ohio jones]

This seems like an incomplete list of streams. There are at least three others that I would think deserve their own classifications:
Non-nonresistant (Hubmaier)
Communitarian (Hutterites)
Spiritualist (Denck, Bünderlin, Entfelder)

[MaxPC]

This looks like a good essay for non-Mennonites too. Sometimes the various iterations of Anabaptism can seem like a ball of tangled string.

Question for OJ: Would Hutterites be considered one of the streams of Mennonite pluralism? I may be mistaken but I did not know Jakob Hutter was specifically Mennonite. The only bits I can find on him just say he joined the Anabaptists in a general sense of that word.

[ohio jones]

Hutterites are Anabaptist, but not Mennonite.

[MaxPC]

Hutterites are Anabaptist, but not Mennonite.

Thank you. That's what I thought but I like to always check my facts rather than assume.

[ohio jones]

For additional clarification, only the Menno Simons group was labeled "Mennist" or "Mennonite" in the 16th century. The Swiss Brethren acquired that label after the Amish division and emigration to North America.

Other than the Hutterites, the other streams survive only in terms of theological identity, not historic continuity.

Also, the streams identified above are those that existed in the early 16th century. Others originated later, such as the Anabaptist Pietists (German Baptist/Brethren) and ACC.

[MaxPC]

For additional clarification, only the Menno Simons group was labeled "Mennist" or "Mennonite" in the 16th century. The Swiss Brethren acquired that label after the Amish division and emigration to North America.

Other than the Hutterites, the other streams survive only in terms of theological identity, not historic continuity.

Also, the streams identified above are those that existed in the early 16th century. Others originated later, such as the Anabaptist Pietists (German Baptist/Brethren) and ACC.

It sounds like you would be the ideal author for a comprehensive book on "the streams".
PhD dissertation?

[Josh]

It may be a while before ohio jones can become Dr Jones.

[ohio jones]

Yes, I'll leave the academic titles to my neighbor.

In terms of writing, like Marpeck, I'm more of an editor than an author.