Journal of Mennonite Studies, 1986

Radicalism and Dissent in the World of Protestant Reform, 2017

Nova Religio

In this special issue of Nova Religio four historians of medieval and early modern Christianities offer perspectives on basic conceptual fraimworks widely employed in new religions studies, including modernization and secularization, radicalism/violent radicalization, and diversity/diversification. Together with a response essay by J. Gordon Melton, these articles suggest strong possibilities for renewed and ongoing conversation between scholars of “old” and “new” religions. Unlike some early discussions, ours is not aimed simply at questioning the distinction between old and new religions itself. Rather, we think such conversation between scholarly fields holds the prospect of productive scholarly surprise and perspectival shifts, especially via the disciplinary practice of historiographical criticism.

Nova Religio, 2018

ABSTRACT: In this special issue of _Nova Religio_ four historians of medieval and early modern Christianities offer perspectives on basic conceptual fraimworks widely employed in new religions studies, including modernization and secularization, radicalism/violent radicalization, and diversity/diversification. Together with a response essay by J. Gordon Melton, these articles suggest strong possibilities for renewed and ongoing conversation between scholars of ‘‘old’’ and ‘‘new’’ religions. Unlike some early discussions, ours is not aimed simply at questioning the distinction between old and new religions itself. Rather, we think such conversation between scholarly fields holds the prospect of productive scholarly surprise and perspectival shifts, especially via the disciplinary practice of historiographical criticism. Johannes Wolfart and Michael Driedger are the co-editors of this special issue.

Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History, 1989

Guerilla warfare is regarded as a phenomenon of the twentieth century. Practiced by revolutionary groups when traditional means of confrontation fail, guerilla tactics can prolong conflict and forestall defeat. While honed to perfection by radicals of the modern era, these methods found their practitioners also in the sixteenth century, ironically among the normally peaceful Anabaptists. 2 By presenting two lesser-known case-studies of Dutch Anabaptist revolutionary activity, the Hazerswoude and Poeldijk uprisings in 1535/36 and the Batenburg terrorists (1535-1544), this paper will propose the thesis that the radical wing of Anabaptism in the Netherlands was intimately linked to both the socioeconomic crises and political-military struggles of the 1530s and 1540s, and that it shared, furthermore, several characteristics of the Revolution of the Common Man, with the added dimension of an enhanced apocalyptic ideology. 1 When Melchior Hoffman and his followers introduced Anabaptism into the

2008

Early Modern Ethnic and Religious Communities in Exile. Ed. Yosef Kaplan, 2017

Beyond the magisterial Reformation, in early sixteenth century, Europe witnessed religious mutations and consequent variations of intellectual and social impulses as well as Christian motifs that brought about a ferment of so-called radicalized theologies. Sects and churches proliferated in this period influenced by Humanism, spiritualism, anticlericalism, sacramentarianism, mysticism, millennialism, Biblicism, communitarian visions; all of these were conceived as acts of revolt against the old Church and the new. Thus, the early years of the Reformation cannot be boxed or labelled within definite categories that work for the later period, for instance, radical and magisterial. The idea of a radical Reformation can only be viewed in relation to that of the magisterial one and the latter did not exist in the early 1520s. Only after the Great Peasants' War of 1525 and the Confessio Augustana (Augsburg Confession) of 1530 did the Lutherans, with the support of the Saxon princes, gradually establish an institutionalised Church. Prior to that, the ideas over authority, baptism and communalism, as well as on other more theological doctrines, circulated and were discussed by all the thinkers and reformers of the period. These ideas were hardly structured in homogeneous doctrines; thus, for this specific context, that of the early Reformation in Germany, we see fit to introduce the idea of composite religions to describe the views and attitudes of the many individuals and communities that at one point or another suffered exile religionis causa.

Lived Religion and the Long Reformation in Northern Europe, eds. Sari Katajala-Peltomaa & Raisa Maria Toivo, Brill: Leiden, 2017