Last year we celebrated the 500-year anniversary of the Anabaptist movement. Now we’ve cycled again past that January 21st date marking those first adult baptisms. So here we are: Anabaptism at 501.
I’ve been reading a bit in Anabaptists: From the Reformation to the 21st Century by German historian Astrid von Schlachta. In one chapter she cites another German historian, Simon Rues, who in 1743 wrote a summary of his observations of Mennonite life. Rues distinguished between two directions the movement had taken, giving them pretty great names: The “refined” and the “coarse.”
The “refined” Mennonites were stricter and separated from worldly affairs. They did not serve in government offices or engage in military service. This included refusing to have their goods transported on ships armed with cannons. They thought of themselves as “defenseless Christians” in their pacifism. They did not wear buttons on their cloaks or buckles on their shoes. They practiced the ban (excommunication), typically did not intermarry with outside groups, and did not relate collaboratively with other Christians.
The “coarse” Mennonites were open to taking governmental offices, and supported science and education. They recognized and related with other confessions, acknowledging the faithful were also gathered in other churches. And, especially interestingly to me, they “refused to be designated as ‘defenseless Christians’ and preferred the name ‘revengeless Christians.’ They were not defenseless, but rejected revenge and violence as means of attack” (von Schlachta, page 204).
I imagine the reality on the ground wasn’t – and never is – quite as clean as two distinct groups. Anabaptism at 501 certainly has many expressions around the world. There are things about the “refined” tendencies that I admire, especially their economics. Surely we can reduce our reliance on a weaponized economy – those boats with cannons that carry our goods all the way to a doorstep delivery.
But there is something truthful in identifying with the direction of Mennonitism once deemed “coarse.” Coarse Anabaptism today is fully embedded in and engaged with the world and all its complexities. We serve in imperfect institutions. We form partnerships with like-minded folks, Christian or otherwise. We seek to defend and protect what is good, but believe Jesus and other teachers have shown us a revengeless path for doing so.
It’s a living tradition, and it’s all a little rough at the edges. God help us find our way in all our coarseness.
Joel