ABSTRACT

This chapter traces Anabaptist perspectives on sin and evil that arose from the practical theologizing by which Anabaptist leadership responded to the difficult conflicts that followed in the wake of their struggle to form a defenseless believers church. It examines the antagonism between Christ and Belial that shaped Anabaptist cosmology and ethics. The chapter explores the capacity for the good in human beings Anabaptists attributed in various ways to the empowering work of Jesus Christ. It explores Anabaptist understandings of God's providence, in particular God's tactical permission for evil to discipline itself, outside of the perfection of Jesus Christ. For the Anabaptists, the hope of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ casts a bright and clarifying light amidst the looming darkness, showing the path that Jesus took and making it possible to follow after.