The Anabaptists and the sects

Theological and Secular Meta‐Narratives of Politics: Anabaptist Origins Revisited (Again)

“…The problem with the latter, in Stayer's view, is that it "imposes on the disparate Anabaptist sects a consistency and a system which do not correspond to sixteenth-century realities." 27 His profane perspective is intended to provide a critical distance from such religiously or politically motivated interpretations. Evangelical Anabaptism is "an abstraction of limited utility," containing "within it phenomena which [are] stubbornly different from one another."…”

“…His hope is for a continuing "rationality and progress of knowledge," which begins with a focus on "interacting groups and sects, rather than [the] unified movement" depicted in Evangelical historiography. 29 But what does this mean? When he is confronted with the sixteenthcentury Anabaptists' political doctrines, Stayer acknowledges in a second remark a realpolitical liberalism that regards the Anabaptist doctrine of nonresistance (which finally won the day as the movement coalesced) as quixotic and unpersuasive, but as perhaps the most relevant "to the historical situation of the sixteenth-century Anabaptists."…”

“…When he is confronted with the sixteenthcentury Anabaptists' political doctrines, Stayer acknowledges in a second remark a realpolitical liberalism that regards the Anabaptist doctrine of nonresistance (which finally won the day as the movement coalesced) as quixotic and unpersuasive, but as perhaps the most relevant "to the historical situation of the sixteenth-century Anabaptists." 30 Even though an "absolute rejection of the pragmatic, and of social responsibility … is built into the ethics of non-resistance," the Anabaptist response is an expedient response to their sociopolitical situation. Its political effectiveness and its meaning beyond a pragmatism that insures survival appear to be nil.…”

“…Its political effectiveness and its meaning beyond a pragmatism that insures survival appear to be nil. 31 In a helpful review of Stayer's argument, John H. Yoder takes up this evaluation and shows that "prior theological and world view commitments" will affect the "meaningful unity" Stayer constructs from the data he examines. Yoder does not directly contest Stayer's critique of the evangelical Anabaptist historiography, but he does contend that Stayer's prior commitments lead him to misunderstand some of the variation in Anabaptist criticisms of the political authorities of their time.…”

“…This doctrine does not indicate an immediate concern with "revolution and pacifism" as central theoretical issues; rather, according to Stayer, Anabaptists "were wrestling … with the ethics of coercion," which they referred to as the teaching on the sword. 18 Stayer develops a typology of positions on this question, and he discovers that the Anabaptists can be found on nearly every point of its topography. 19 In Stayer's finding, there is no unified Anabaptist opinion on this question of political coercion, which, according to their evangelical interpreters, most distinguishes Anabaptists from any other Christian tradition.…”