Protestation and protective letter

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Facsimile of the protective writing written by Manz (1524/25) to the City Council of Zurich (excerpt)

The protestation and protective letter is a so-called proto - Anabaptist defense letter to the city council of Zurich . It is one of the earliest documents of the Anabaptist movement . The protest was written in late 1524 or early 1525. Today, the co-founder of the Anabaptist movement, Felix Manz, is considered the author .

The handwritten original of the protest and protective letter is in the Zurich State Archives. The writing was published among other things in the sources on the history of the Anabaptists in Switzerland . Heinold Fast arranged for the manuscript to be translated into modern German.

Authorship and Name

Felix Manz, author of the protestation and protective letter , is drowned in the Limmat (illustration from the 17th century)

Initially, Konrad Grebel was considered to be the author of the protest and protective letter . The reason was the fact that on the back of the original the comment Con. Greb. de Anabaptismo is located. However, Walter Schmid found in his investigation of the authorship that not Grebel (not even Jörg Blaurock ), but only Felix Manz can be considered as an author. More recently, Calvin A. Pater hypothesized that the protest was to a large extent a copy made by Manz of an inscription by Karlstadt that could no longer be found . Only the opening and closing sections of this publication were written by Manz independently. Andrea Strübind also recognizes strong parallels between Karlstadt's and Manz's baptismal conceptions, but sticks to Manz as the actual author of the protest : "Above all, this speaks against Father's assumption that Mantz used Karlstadt's baptismal treatise as the textual basis for the conception of his protective script meticulous orientation to Zwingli's evidence ".

In the 16th century, the “protestation” was a traditional legal instrument of imperial law with which a minority could raise their concerns and put them on record. The name of the Manz script as a protestation and protective script, which is generally accepted today, goes back to Emil Egli , who gave it this name. This title was intended to take into account both the character of the confession and the defensive intentions of the author.

addressee

The protest is addressed to the City Council of Zurich. Its members are called brothers . In both the Proto-Anabaptist and later Anabaptist writings, the title brother is only applied to people who essentially agree with the basic Anabaptist views. This suggests that Felix Manz does not yet see an insurmountable gap between himself and the council. For Manz, the men of the council are obviously (still) fellow Christians who can spiritually assess the points raised in the letter.

Completion time

The exact dating of the protestation and protective writing creates problems because it has remained without a date. However, an approximate period of time can be determined from the content in which this letter was written and delivered to the addressee. According to Gottfried Locher, the informal Tuesday conversations between Manz and Zwingli took place in the first half of December 1524. It emerges from the protest that it must have been drawn up after the failure of these discussions and before January 17, 1525, the day of the first Zurich baptism disputation .

background

Kind regards Zwingli

The protest and protective letter was preceded by the separation of the circle around Grebel , Manz, Castelberger and others from the Zurich reformer Huldrych Zwingli . On the basis of private discussions with the later Anabaptists, the so-called Tuesday talks , he had written to the city council of Zurich and asked for action. Felix Manz must have heard of this petition and then presented his view of things in the protest . At the same time, he requested a written disputation on the dissent that had broken out within the Zurich Reformation movement. The basis should be the Bible alone . The City Council of Zurich reacted only indirectly to this letter and set up a public discussion for January 17, 1525, which research calls the First Zurich Baptism Disputation . In this disputation, the later Anabaptist leaders Manz, Grebel and Wilhelm Reublin presented their Anabaptist views publicly for the first time. They rejected infant baptism and called for the exclusive practice of believing baptism . They referred to the baptismal instructions of Jesus and the baptismal practice of the apostles . After the disputation, the Zurich council took the side of Zwingli and ordered the following day that all parents who did not have their children baptized within eight days “had to leave the city with their wife, child and their property” . Three days later, on January 21, the council imposed a ban on teaching and preaching against Manz and Grebel and sentenced those outside of Zurich to leave Zurich within eight days. On the evening of the same day, the first baptism of believers was presumably carried out in the house of Felix Manz's mother at Georg Blaurock . After a short but intensive time as a messenger of the Anabaptist movement and a series of stays in prison, Felix Manz was finally arrested and sentenced to death by drowning in an express trial. This death sentence was carried out on January 5, 1527. Manz is considered to be one of the first martyrs of the Anabaptist movement. In addition to the protest , some of his songs have survived.

Go to content

As the first reason for his protest, Manz cites the two failed Tuesday talks that took place with Zwingli and other Zurich pastors in the presence of council members. The central topic of these discussions was the question of whether infant baptism should be justified biblically. He himself is an opponent of infant baptism. He found it incomprehensible that (probably an allusion to Zwingli's request to the council) he was accused of causing a riot because of this theological position. Manz strictly rejects this accusation and declares that the baptismal concept he advocates does not pose a threat to public order and that the council therefore does not have to intervene. The council should also be careful not to shed blood in this connection and to draw its lessons from the case of Klaus Hottinger, who was innocently executed in Lucerne . This letter, as Manz, he wanted above all computing creates give and ursach mine faith illustrate the councilors over.

The failure of the so-called Tuesday talks

Manz starts again when the Tuesday talks failed and accuses the pastors of Zurich that they did not justify their position with the Bible during the talks: You may have brought about an opinion, but not founded it with the scriptures . Also, they, the opponents of infant baptism, had not been given enough time to express their views.

Baptism question

The main part of the protest is about the biblical justification of the baptism of believers. Manz begins with a reference to the baptism practiced by John the Baptist , which presupposed a change of mind of the baptized. This is followed by detailed considerations of the so-called mission and baptismal command of Jesus and the baptismal reports handed down in the Acts of the Apostles as well as other New Testament passages. From these passages, according to Manz, he learned, among other things, that the apostles did not baptize anyone except those to whom Christ had been preached beforehand and who desired to be baptized. Child baptism is "against God", a "disgrace of Christ" and "a step under the feet of his only, true, eternal word". A more detailed analysis of Man's argument shows clear parallels to Karlstadt's doctrine of baptism, as it was developed particularly in his dialogue on the abuse of the sacrament of Jesus Christ (1524). However, Manz does not present a positive presentation of his baptismal view, but rather formulates his position against the background of the Tuesday talks and therefore in the dispute with Zwingli.

literature

  • Walter Schmid: The author of the so-called Protestation and protective writing from 1524/1525 . In: Zwingliana , 9/3 (1950), ISSN  0254-4407 , pp. 139-149. ( online )
  • Ekkehard Krajewski: Life and death of the Zurich Anabaptist leader Felix Mantz. About the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement and the Free Church in the Reformation . Kassel 1962 (3rd edition)
  • Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009 Fast (Ed.): The left wing of the Reformation. Testimonies of faith of the Anabaptists, spiritualists, enthusiasts and anti-Trinitarians , published in the series Classics of Protestantism (edited by Christel Matthias Schröder ), Volume IV, Bremen 1962, pp. 28–35.
  • Andrea Strübind : More zealous than Zwingli. The early Anabaptist movement in Switzerland , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-10653-9 , pp. 296–331.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leonhard von Muralt , Walter Schmid (Ed.): Sources for the history of the Anabaptists in Switzerland , Volume I, Zurich 1952, No. 16, pp. 23-28
  2. ↑ Heinold Fast (Ed.): The left wing of the Reformation. Testimonies of faith of the Anabaptists, spiritualists, enthusiasts and anti-Trinitarians , published in the series Classics of Protestantism (edited by Christel Matthias Schröder), Volume IV, Bremen 1962, pp. 28–35
  3. ^ Compare Emil Egli (Ed.): Huldreich Zwinglis all works , Volume III, Leipzig 1914
  4. ^ Emil Egli: Swiss Reformation History , Volume I, (edited by Georg Finsler ), Zurich 1910, p. 297
  5. ^ Walter Schmid: The author of the so-called Protestation and protective writing of 1524/1525 (PDF) ; accessed on November 6, 2010
  6. ↑ Calvin A. Pater: Karlstadt as the Father of Baptist Movements. The Emergence of Lay Protestantism , Toronto / Buffalo / London 1984, p. 159ff
  7. ↑ Andrea Strübind: Eifriger than Zwingli , Berlin 2003, p. 297
  8. ↑ Compare Ernst Wolf : Protestantism . In: RGG 3 5, Sp. 648
  9. ^ Walter Schmid: The author of the so-called Protestation and protective writing of 1524/1525 (PDF) , p. 139
  10. ↑ Compare, for example, the designation of Thomas Münzer as a brother in the Münzer letter of the Grebel circle (1524); Edited by Heinold Fast: The left wing of the Reformation , Bremen 1962, p. 12ff - The Schleitheimer article , the first declaration of convergence of the Anabaptist movement, probably written by Michael Sattler (1527), names the Anabaptist addressees brothers and sisters .
  11. ^ Walter Klasen: Baptism in Swiss Anabaptism ; in: Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter , No. 46 (1989), p. 84
  12. ↑ Gottfried W. Locher: The Zwinglische Reformation in the context of European church history , Göttingen 1979, p. 244
  13. ^ Walter Schmid: The author of the so-called Protestation and protective writing of 1524/1525 (PDF) , p. 147f
  14. ↑ Gottfried W. Locher: The Zwinglische Reformation in the context of European church history , Göttingen 1979, p. 245
  15. ^ Fritz Blanke : Brothers in Christ. The history of the oldest Anabaptist community (Zollikon 1525) , Zurich 1955, p. 21
  16. ↑ Gottfried W. Locher: The Zwinglische Reformation in the context of European church history , Göttingen 1979, p. 244
  17. ^ Compare Ekkehard Krajewski: Life and death of the Zurich Anabaptist leader Felix Mantz. About the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement and the Free Church in the Reformation . Kassel 1962 (3rd edition), p. 66
  18. ↑ Leonhard von Muralt / Walter Schmid (eds.): Sources on the history of the Anabaptists in Switzerland , Volume I, Zurich 1952, No. 23, p. 14f
  19. ^ Leonhard von Muralt / Walter Schmid (eds.): Sources for the history of the Anabaptists in Switzerland , Volume I, Zurich 1952, No. 24, p. 3f
  20. ↑ Compare to the following the text of the protestation in Heinold Fast (ed.): The left wing of the Reformation. Testimonies of faith of the Anabaptists, spiritualists, enthusiasts and anti-Trinitarians , published in the series Classics of Protestantism (edited by Christel Matthias Schröder), Volume IV, Bremen 1962, pp. 30–34
  21. ↑ Heinold Fast (Ed.): The left wing of the Reformation. Testimonies of faith of the Anabaptists, spiritualists, enthusiasts and anti-Trinitarians , published in the series Classics of Protestantism (edited by Christel Matthias Schröder), Volume IV, Bremen 1962, p. 32f
  22. ↑ Andrea Strübind: Eager than Zwingli. The early Anabaptist movement in Switzerland , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-10653-9 , p. 299ff: The dialogue as a literary model
  23. ↑ Compare: Andrea Strübind: Eifriger than Zwingli. The early Anabaptist movement in Switzerland , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-10653-9 , pp. 331–335