ABSTRACT
This review brings together new research in three areas of Anabaptist studies and the Radical Reformation. Part One focuses on sixteenth-century Anabaptism, re-examining the ’polygenesis model’ of Anabaptism articulated by Stayer, Packull and Depperman. Part Two deals with the connections between Anabaptists and other Reformation dissenters, their marginalisation as social groups and their relations with the intellectual movements of the age. The final section addresses historiographic and comparative issues of writing the history of marginalised groups, investigating some preconceptions which influence historians’ approaches to Anabaptism and their implications for understanding other religious groups.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|62 pages
Polygenesis and beyond? New research into Anabaptism
chapter Chapter Four|18 pages
The ‘Perfection of Christ’ reconsidered: the later Swiss Brethren and the sword
part Two|70 pages
Anabaptists, witches and Reformation radicalism
chapter Chapter Five|18 pages
‘A common future conversation’ a revisionist interpretation of the September 1524 Grebel Letters to Thomas Müntzer
part Three|51 pages
The theory and practice of writing histories of radical or non-conformist religious groups