Early Anabaptist Spirituality

SELECTED WRITINGS

translated, edited and with an introduction by

DANIEL LIECHTY

preface by

HANS J. HILLERBRAND

PAULIST PRESS

new york • mahwah

Cover art: The two cover portraits were painted by Oliver Wendell Schenk, who is also referred to as Tom Schenk. The more prominent portrait is that of Menno Simons, who, as Dr. Liechty points out, “assumed leadership among Dutch Anabaptists at a crisis point in their history, following the Münsterite debacle.” The Simons portrait is used courtesy of Eastern Mennonite Seminary. The less prominent portrait is that of Felix Mantz, a Swiss Anabaptist, who was the movement’s first martyr. The Mantz portrait is used courtesy of Laurelville Mennonite Church Center. It is one of a number of paintings commissioned by Laurelville to communicate an image and the spirit of the church’s founding fathers.

Copyright © 1994 by Daniel Liechty

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Early Anabaptist spirituality: selected writings/translated, edited, and introduced by Daniel Liechty.

p. cm.—(Classics of Western spirituality)

Translation of writing from their original Dutch and German.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8091-0466-0 (cloth)—ISBN 0-8091-3475-6 (pbk.)

1. Spiritual life—Anabaptists. 2. Anabaptists—Doctrines. I. Liechty, Daniel, 1954–. II. Series.

BX4931.2.E37 1994

284′.3—dc20

94-8478

CIP

Published by Paulist Press

997 Macarthur Boulevard

Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

THE CLASSICS OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY

A Library of the Great Spiritual Masters

President and Publisher

Kevin A. Lynch, C.S.P.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

Bernard McGinn—Professor of Historical Theology and the History of Christianity, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Editorial Consultant

Ewert H. Cousins—Professor of Theology, Fordham University, Bronx, N.Y.

John E. Booty—Professor of Anglican Studies, School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.

Joseph Dan—Professor of Kabbalah, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Albert Deblaere—Professor of the History of Spirituality, Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.

Louis Dupré—T. L. Riggs Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Rozanne Elder—Executive Vice-President, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Anne Freemantle—Teacher, Editor and Writer, New York, N.Y.

Karlfried Froehlich—Professor of the History of the Early and Medieval Church, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.

Arthur Green—President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Wyncote, Pa.

Stanley S. Harakas—Archbishop Iakovos Professor of Orthodox Theology, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary, Brookline, Mass.

Moshe ...