Anabaptist sect
As Baptist sects groups in ancient are Judaism and early Christianity refer to operations where the baptism plays a special role for the remission of sins. This distinguishes them from ritual washing of other religions, especially also from contemporary Jewish groups, where the washing is done itself and ritual purity is in the foreground. On the other hand, it differs from the usual Christian doctrine that baptism is not a one-off act but can be repeated.
The Essenes are not counted among the Anabaptist sects in this sense , since the washing or immersion is carried out by the person to be cleansed himself. Nevertheless, they represent a possible preliminary stage for the development of baptism. The New Testament names disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19 : 1-7 . These represent an Anabaptist sect in the sense described. It is, however, controversial to what extent the disciples of John or groups that emerged directly from them have existed alongside Christianity for a long time .
Some pre-Christian Jewish Anabaptist sects , such as "Baptists" ( Justin ) , "Hemerobaptists" and "Masbutheans" ( Hegesippus ) are only mentioned by Christian heresiographers. The sources here are so poor that only speculations are possible. Disregarding the fact that one could describe the whole of Christianity as a Jewish Anabaptist sect, ancient material has mainly been preserved about the Elkesaiten , where however a strong Christian influence can be ascertained, so that it is controversial to what extent it is independent of the Judaism emerged and only influenced by Christianity or genuinely Christian.
In addition to the question of the roots of Christian baptism , the Anabaptist sects are especially important for the question of the origin of the Mandaean religion. In addition, the descriptions of the ancient Christian heresiographers had an influence on the confrontation with the Anabaptists during the Reformation .
Brief immersion as a religious cleansing ritual ( Tevila ) is an old Jewish tradition that John the Baptist was able to build on.
The concept of the Anabaptist sect comes from the secular, popular scientific sectarian literature of the 20th century. Due to the highly complex diversity of contemporary ideological groups, the modern, scientifically oriented sectarian literature moves away from precise direct terms and uses the general term special communities , followed by a precise description of a group. No modern terms are used here to describe historical processes. In traditional Reformed and Lutheran literature, the term Anabaptist is often used; in traditional, Catholic literature, the term heretic or heretic is often used. These are used for all kinds of groups that are inconsistent with official Catholic teaching.
The Mandaeans and Sabians, who are believed to have pre-Christian roots, worship John the Baptist, but were increasingly alienated from Christianity. In the Koran (Sura 2.62) they are considered to be a permitted community alongside Christians and Jews, but those who are still living in southern Iraq and neighboring Iran feel their identity is threatened and their number is constantly decreasing.
literature
- Kurt Rudolph : The Mandaeans. I Prolegomena: The Mandaean Problem Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1960.
- ders .: On the tradition of early Jewish and early Christian baptismal sects . In: Gnosis and Late Antique History of Religion , collected essays. Brill 1997, ISBN 9004106251
- ders .: The Baptist Sects . In: The Cambridge History of Judaism . Cambridge University Press 1999, ISBN 0-521-24377-7
- ders .: Ancient Baptists. In: Session reports of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, Philological-Historical Class , Vol. 121, Issue 4, Leipzig 1981
Individual evidence
- ^ Arnold Fruchtenbaum: The feasts of Israel and their meaning for the New Testament congregation, Christlicher Mediendienst Hünfeld 2011