In February 1527, an Anabaptist group known as the Swiss Brethren gathered together at Schleitheim, Switzerland, to help solidify and establish this small movement on the brink of disintegration. The movement had begun less than two years earlier one night in the house of Felix Manz when George Blaurock asked to be baptized by Conrad Grebel. Upon receiving baptism, Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others present that night.
The practice of adult believer’s baptism during that time was viewed as treasonous against the state. In the early 16th century, one’s infant baptism into the church also functioned as one’s citizenship into the state. The actions of Blaurock and Grebel that night at Manz’s house began a movement that experienced some of the harshest punishments in Christian History.
Andrew Gardner
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By the meeting at Schleitheim, Grebel had died of illness and only a month prior Manz had been executed. Needing some stability, the Swiss Brethren gathered to create, in my opinion, one of the most peculiar and fascinating confessional statements in all of Christian history.
Penned by Michael Sattler, the Schleitheim Confession addressed seven points regarding baptism, church discipline, the Lord’s Supper, separation from the world, leadership, the use of the sword and the swearing of oaths. The confession places a heavy emphasis on the Christian community as a group of adult believers wholly separated from the secular world.
Perhaps my favorite article within the Schleitheim Confession addresses the use of the sword. The Swiss Brethren believed that the sword was “outside the perfection of Christ.” Rather than use the sword, the Swiss Brethren sought to follow the example of Christ who “is meek and lowly of heart” and who “was to be made King, but … fled.”
At Schleitheim the Swiss Brethren affirmed that the weapons of Christians are not carnal but “spiritual against the fortification of the devil.” This idea of spiritual weapons rather than carnal weapons appears throughout the writings of later Anabaptists, who will eventually become the modern-day Mennonite Church, a not so distant cousin to the Baptist tradition.
There is certainly much that we could criticize and fault within the Swiss Brethren’s Schleitheim Confession. I think, however, their commitment to peace and non-violence stands out within the corpus of Christian history as something to which our modern ears ought listen — perhaps even our modern Baptist ears.
The Swiss Brethren were brutally murdered and offiically executed as punishment for receiving adult baptism. In some accounts, the authorities would send these saints to the next life by a third baptism — drowning. Some accounts are far to graphic to tell in detail.
Despite these punishments, the Swiss Brethren remained committed to following Christ in meekness and humility, refusing to fight back. Striving in all things for peace.
I think that today’s society needs this hope of peace. Violence rampages throughout our society, and we forget what it means to be a people who hold on and cling to the peace of Christ.
Our television news sources engross themselves in incidents such as the Boston Marathon bombing that left three dead and just fewer than 200 injured. These tragic events become sensational stories to increase channel ratings. The explosion of a fertilizer plant in Waco, Texas, leaves 14 dead and around another 200 injured. Violence abounds and we cannot seem to find peace.
Upon the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, we trick ourselves into thinking that peace has arrived. Instead we turn to a vengeful violence, which does not see this young 19-year-old as a person. Dzhokhar Tsarvaev has been transformed from a human being made in the image of God into a possible source of military intelligence.
And then we gaze upon a society and a Senate unwilling to increase the regulations on gun control. We gaze upon a society and a Senate unwilling to relinquish the use of the sword. We hear arguments that suggest increased regulations would only hinder the ability of law-abiding citizens to have weapons and preserve peace in society. We see a people who sleep more soundly knowing a rifle is beneath their bed than knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ is written on the hearts.
Where are the peaceful people of God in the midst of this violent world? Christians have the ability and obligation to speak peace to violence. This peace, however, is not concerned with justice that so easily turns into vengeance or simply constitutional justification that turns into idolatry. This peace is concern with allowing the Kingdom of God to burst into this violent world, like the dawn of a new day, offering hope and rest.
Perhaps in the midst of this violent world, we return to Schleitheim to think about and hope for and remember peace.
Andrew Gardner (abgardner@email.wm.edu) of Yorktown, Va., is a recent graduate of the College of William & Mary and a student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity.