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This is the only accurate translation of the main contemporary historical source for the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster (1534-35). Written by Hermann von Kerssenbrock, a young Catholic eyewitness who later became a schoolmaster, the monumental Latin original was never printed during the author’s life, and circulated only in manuscript format until the editio princeps of 1899/1900; the only previous translation was an unreliable German version written in 1771. This work contains a number of documents not otherwise available, and the author’s conceptions have had a profound influence on later interpretations of the lurid events surrounding one of the most unusual occurrences of the German Reformation. The extensive introduction and notes place the text in its historical context.
This is the only accurate translation of the main historical source for the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster (1534-35). The author's conceptions have had a profound influence on later interpretation of one of the most unusual events of the German Reformation.
In February 1534, a radical group of Anabaptists, gripped with apocalyptic fervor, seized the city of Münster and established an idealistic communal government that quickly deteriorated into extreme inequality and theocratic totalitarianism. In response, troops hired by the city's prince-bishop laid siege to the city. Fifteen months later the besieged inhabitants were starving, and, in the dead of the night, five men slipped out. Separated from his fellow escapees, Henry Gresbeck gambled with his life by approaching enemy troops. Taken prisoner, he collaborated with the enemy to devise a plan to recapture Münster, and later recorded the only eyewitness account of the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster. Gresbeck's account, which attempts to explain his role in the bizarre events, disappeared into the archives and was largely ignored for centuries. Before now, Gresbeck's account was only available in a heavily edited German copy adapted from inferior manuscripts. Christopher S. Mackay, who previously produced the only modern translation of the main Latin account of these events, has adhered closely to Gresbeck’s own words to produce the first complete and accurate English translation of this important primary source.
This fascinating and richly detailed December 2017 study examines the role of apocalyptic narrative in shaping collective identity and collective action to help better understand groups that turn to violence. Because such narratives deal with the ultimate and supernatural, they can be effective in causing believers to disregard worldly consequences and forgo worldly benefits to support transcendent goals. In the Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster (1533-1535), a certain apocalyptic narrative developed that led to brutal acts of violence within the city, and a desire to spread the kingdom to the entire world. Several prominent elements in the kingdom's narrative developed over time to justify the Anabaptists' use of violence: (1) the arrival of the time of judgment, (2) a clear distinction between those who require judgment and those who do not, (3) a divinely sanctioned administration, and (4) a call for the group to administer justice on earth. These elements were not the inevitable result of starting with an apocalyptic narrative but were shaped by both internal dynamics and external conflict. By understanding how such elements develop, defense practitioners will be better able to exploit certain internal dynamics and anticipate (or even alter) how their confrontations with such groups affect the development of the narrative. With the rise of al-Qaeda and its attack on September 11, religiously motivated violence has been the subject of numerous recent academic studies. More recently, the Islamic State (IS) has brought attention to the role of apocalyptic beliefs in motivating violent acts. However, history demonstrates that both religious violence and apocalyptic beliefs are clearly not a new phenomenon, and not isolated to Islam. Thus, it is helpful to examine cases that fall outside our contemporary environment to better understand the causes of religious violence and avoid falsely attributing the violence to factors unique to our situation. The Munster Rebellion during the Radical Reformation in early sixteenth-century Europe provides a case in which an apocalyptic narrative motivated brutality and violence within the city of Munster. This thesis examines this particular apocalyptic narrative to increase our understanding of apocalyptic narratives in general
This volume of essays explores the themes of radicalism and dissent within Protestantism. The comparisons highlight the contingent nature of particular settlements and narratives, and reveal the extent to which the definition of religious radicalism was dependent upon immediate context and show that radicalism and dissent were truly transnational phenomena. The historiography of the so-called radical reformation has been unduly shaped by the hostile categories imposed by mainstream or magisterial reformers during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This volume argues that scholars should adopt an open-ended understanding of evangelical reform, and recognize that the boundaries between radicalism and its opposite were not always firmly drawn. The distinction between the two is an inheritance of the Lutheran Reformation of the 1520s, which shaped not only the later course of the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire but also attitudes towards and writings on religious dissent in the Netherlands and England. Radical critique is immanent within mainstream Protestantism, in a faith that emphasizes the power of the gospel with its unrelenting demands.
He was only a Dutch tailor's apprentice, but from 1534 to 1535, Jan van Leyden led a radical sect of persecuted Anabaptists to repeated triumphs over the combined powers of church and state. Revered by his followers as the new David, the charismatic young leader pronounced the northern German city of Muenster a new Zion and crowned himself king. He expropriated all private property, took sixteen wives (supposedly emulating the biblical patriarchs), and in a deadly reign of terror, executed all who opposed him. As the long siege of Muenster resulted in starvation, thousands fled Jan's deadly kingdom while others waited behind the double walls and moats for the apocalyptic final attack by the Prince-Bishop's hired armies, supported by all the rulers of Europe. With the sudden rise to power of a compelling personality and the resulting violent threat to ordered society, Jan van Leyden's distant story strangely echoes the many tragedies of the twentieth century. More than just a fascinating human drama from the past, The Tailor-King also offers insight into our own troubled times.
This book explores how contemporary approaches to the meaning of time and history follow patterns that are simultaneously political and theological. Even after postsecular critiques of Christianity, religion, and secularity, many influential ways of dividing time and history continue to be formed by providential narratives that mediate between experience and expectation in movements from promise to fulfilment. In response to persistent theological influences within ostensibly secular ways of understanding time and history, Postsecular History revisits and revises the concept of periodization by tracing powerful efforts to divide time into past, present, and future, and by critiquing historical partitions between the Reformation and Enlightenment. Developing a postsecular critique of theopolitical periodization in six chapters, Postsecular History questions how relations of possession, novelty, freedom, and instrumentality implied in the prefix ‘post’ are reproduced in postsecular discourses and the field of political theology.
TWENTY-THREE. The Age of Devils -- TWENTY-FOUR. The Age of Reasonable Doubt -- TWENTY-FIVE. The Age of Outcomes -- TWENTY-SIX. The Spirit of the Age -- EPILOGUE. Assessing the Reformations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Illustration Credits -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Z