On the 7 of January 1527, Felix Mainz was the first Anabaptist execution in Zurich. His death would be the first casualty in the executions against Anabaptism and adult baptism in that religion but would not be the last. This may not come as quite a shock; there was major religious turmoil during the sixteenth century in Europe, the time of martyrs and burnings. Several new ideas about theology and criticisms of the dominant medieval Catholic religion were consuming Europe. This time period of reformations would be the beginning of the many of the faiths still practiced today such as Calvinism, Lutheranism and the ‘radical ‘Anabaptist religion. However, one must wonder where did this idea of ‘radical’ Anabaptism come from? Around seventy years …show more content…
From historical text it is clear to see that the Anabaptists were condemned by religious reformers such as Luther and Bullinger. James Collins describes this when he discusses in his article that the reformers saw the earth under one universe and to disagree with their ideas, one would be labeled as a heretic. Luther had only planned to reform the Catholic Church, not completely abandon the entire doctrine and tradition of the faith. The Anabaptists in Luther’s eyes by bringing in tolerance and would have been upsetting to them. Luther and Bullinger would have also seen the Anabaptists as would have seemed radical due to their roots from violence and rebellion. According to Collins, “ The Peasants War of 1524-1525 and the Anabaptist takeover of the city of Munster were seen as typical results of Anabaptist doctrine” Luther hated the idea of people uprising and rebelling and to him Anabaptism was the definition of anarchy. Throughout the sixteenth century, the faith would have been seen as radical but in a negative context, due to the fact that most of the thoughts and historiography’s were based off of the writings of Bullinger and Luther and men who considered them to be …show more content…
However, each interpretation has its positive claims and its drawbacks. Collins argues that the change in the reputation of the Anabaptists was started by Marxists communists’ portraying the Anabaptists in a more radical view of being revolutionary and radical in a positive light due to their association with the Peasants War. They viewed the Anabaptists as being their roots for revolution. Abraheem Friesmen argues that the Marxists tried to glorify Thomas Muntzer as the leader and interpreted the Anabaptists to seem more as his followers fighting for his cause. The drawback to this way of interpretation can be that the Anabaptists were not only about revolutionary gain, but they were a religious organization. According to Coggins , looking at the Anabaptists in such a one-sided frame can be detrimental because it takes bit and pieces out of much bigger goal for the Anabaptists. In reality, when evaluating historiography, one has to not only consider the historical context that the historians but also their own backgrounds. This came to show further when Bainton releases his article in the 1941. Placing the Anabaptists on a scale and calling them left wing led to some other interpretations and arguments against that idea of thinking. In 1971, Robert Williams releases his article “ The Radical Reformation” in which he slightly challenges the idea of the