Wolfgang Brandhuber

Wolfgang Brandhuber (* in Passau ; † 1529 in Linz ) was a reformer and representative of the Upper Austrian Anabaptist movement . He was martyred for his beliefs .

life and work

Little is known about Brandhuber's early years. He was born in Passau, Bavaria, where he first appeared as a preacher for the radical Reformation Anabaptists in 1527 . He later moved to Styria . After the violent end of the Styrian Anabaptist community, he finally found refuge with Hänslin Mittermeier in Linz, Upper Austria . Here he worked as an elder and preacher for the local Anabaptist community. Under Brandhuber, the community in Linz soon became a regional center for the Austrian Anabaptists and subsidiary communities were founded in Wels , Gmunden , Mauthausen , Lambach , Gallneukirchen , Grein and Vöcklabruck , among others . Brandhuber also had contacts with the Anabaptist community in Rattenberg, Tyrol . In 1528 he baptized the later head of the Thuringian Anabaptists, Jakob Störger, in 1528 near Wels.

Brandhuber's effectiveness was short-lived, however. As early as 1529 he was arrested, tortured and executed a short time later in Linz together with Hänslin Mittermeier and 75 other Anabaptists. Peter Riedemann succeeded him in his work as the leading preacher in Austria . A congregation of the Anabaptist Philippians was able to survive in Linz for a certain period of time .

Theologically, Brandhuber represented a biblically founded pacifism . His Christian ethics were characterized by the rejection of worldly splendor, the endurance of suffering and mutual helpfulness. In his letter to the Church of God from the year 1528 he was one of the first Anabaptists to speak out in favor of community of property , as it was later practiced by the Anabaptists in Moravia and especially by the Hutterites . Under his influence, the Anabaptist movement was able to spread rapidly in Upper Austria.

Web links

• Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online: Brandhuber, Wolfgang (d. 1529)