June 10, 2017
Devotions: Personalities of the Reformation: Hans Denck

Hans Denck was born in 1500 and died way too young in 1527 from the plague. It is surprising that more of the Reformers were not impacted by the plague – and possibly their families were impacted by this deadly disease. Anyway, even in his short life he was an influential leader in the Swiss and German Anabaptist movement. He was closely associated with Hans Hut (see below). At the age of 23 he was appointed rector in Nuremberg: he was nominated by Oecolampadius (May 26 devotion). Nuremberg was in conflict between the Lutherans, those disappointed with the fruits of the Reformation, and those leaving the Protestant movement and going back to the Catholic Church. Denck would be banned from the city in 1525 for his “conversations” that were overheard where he questioned infant baptism and the doctrine of Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and justification by faith. He was compelled by the magistracy of Nuremberg never to come within ten miles of the city for the rest of his life. He would end up in Augsburg. There he encountered a small group of Zwinglian’s whose members lived a life of strict morality and, eventually he would be bapitzed. Denck would become the leader of the Augsburg Anabaptist group. He would travel to Strasbourg in 1526, but this would make the Protestant Reformers like Capito (May 13 devotion) and Bucer (May 9 devotion) uneasy. He would then be expelled from Strasbourg in 1526 and soon arrived in Basel, Switzerland in 1527, sick in body, mind and spirit. He was tired of the conflict and constant persecution, and looked for some rest and peace in his life. He would write his friend Oecolampadius and ask for permission to meet. They talked often and Oecolampadius would write a pamphlet titled “Hans Denks Widerruf (Recantation). In this document Denck would outline his views on topics such as Scripture, free will, good works, baptism, and communion. His main thrust was that the person’s inner life with G-s is what matters most; everything outside is secondary if not useless. Denck writes:

“The inner Word is the ultimate Truth. This Word is Love, as God is Love. The Word was made incarnate in Christ Jesus. The quest to know and receive the Word is best satisfied through Jesus Christ. The true disciple of Christ must follow in his way, since this is the path of Christ Jesus, God’s Logos for this world. When we walk the way Christ walked, we are friends of God. For whoever supposes he belongs to Christ must walk the way Christ walked. Thus one enters the eternal dwelling of God” (The Spiritual Legacy of Hans Denck: Interpretation and Translation of Key Texts by Clarence Bauman, E.J. Brill, 1991)
(much of this devotion was adopted and adapted from gameo.com, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia online, and Hans Denck: Reclaim the wisdom of Hans Denck, themennonite.org, The Mennonite online)

Hans Hut: Hans Hut was a bookbinder and a salesman. He traveled about Germany distributing pamphlets endorsing the Lutheran faith. For several years he was a visitor in Wittenberg. He would become unsatisfied with the Lutheran teaching of infant baptism and Justification by faith. He would refuse to have his infant child baptized, and was forced to leave his home and family and fled to Nuremberg where he met Hans Denck. Hut would leave to engage those participating in the Peasants War in Frankenhausen, Germany (Thuringia) – hoping to earn money selling his pamphlets and books. Here he heard the preaching of Thomas Muntzer and his message of the imminent coming of Christ.

I think it is interesting how many of the personalities of the Reformation, whether they were with Luther, or the Radical reformation, or even the Counter-Reformation, knew each other – were influenced by one another – and/or eventually openly sought the arrest of someone who once was their friend or colleague. This was a time of not only reformation, but complete change – and it was a matter of life or death.

Pastor Dave

Please collect two items of your choice for Trinity’s Table this week.

June 9, 2017
Devotions: Personalities of the Reformation: Menno Simons

“The error of the cursed sect of the Anabaptists … would doubtless be and remain extirpated, were it not that a former priest Menno Symons … has misled many simple and innocent people. To seize and apprehend this man we have offered a large sum of money, but until now with no success. Therefore we have entertained the thought of offering and promising pardon and mercy to a few who have been misled … if they would bring about the imprisonment of the said Menno Symons.” Thus read a letter that complained of Menno Simons, to the regent of the Netherlands in 1541.

Little is known about Menno’s early life. He was born in 1496 and died on January 31, 1561. He was ordained as a priest at age 28. Though educated in a monastic school and trained for ministry, he had never read the Scriptures. “I feared if I should read them they would mislead me,” he later wrote. “Behold! Such a stupid preacher was I for nearly two years.”

Menno Simons, like many, would have a crisis of faith which would be a seminal moment in his life. His crisis was over the Doctrine of Transubstantiationism. He could not conceive that the bread and wine he dispensed at each Mass did in fact change into Christ’s body and blood as Roman Catholic doctrine taught. He figured such thoughts had been suggested by the Devil, and prayed for God to ward them off. He would go on to write: “Finally, I got the idea to examine the New Testament diligently. I had not gone very far when I discovered that we were deceived, and my conscience, troubled on account of the aforementioned bread, was quickly relieved.”

Three years later he would hear about the beheading of an Anabaptist, sending Menno into another spiritual crisis. “It sounded very strange to me to hear of a second baptism,” he wrote. “I examined the Scriptures diligently and pondered them earnestly but could find no report of infant baptism.” Eventually, he was hit with a final crisis. Three hundred violent Anabaptists, dreaming of the imminent end of the world and attempting to escape persecution, captured a nearby town—and were savagely killed by the authorities. Among the dead was Peter Simons, Menno’s brother. “I saw that these zealous children, although in error, willingly gave their lives and their estates for their doctrine and faith … But I myself continued in my comfortable life and acknowledged abominations simply in order that I might enjoy comfort and escape the cross of Christ.” For nine months after his brother’s death he preached Anabaptist doctrine from his Catholic pulpit, until he finally left the church. A year later he cast his lot with the Radical Reformers.

Upon leaving the Catholic church he met a group of peaceful Anabaptists who strongly opposed Münsterite thinking. He joined them and was ordained. For the rest of his life, Menno and his family would live in constant fear of being labeled heretics. He traveled throughout the Netherlands and Germany, writing extensively and establishing a printing press to circulate Anabaptist teaching. He read the Bible literally, sometimes even legalistically; though he defended the doctrine of the Trinity in a small book, he refused to use the term because it did not appear in Scripture.

In one of his first writings, “The Blasphemy of Jan van Leyden” Menno opposed what he called the “proponents of the sword philosophy”: “It is forbidden to us to fight with physical weapons … This only would I learn of you whether you are baptized on the sword or on the Cross?” The Christian’s duty was to suffer, not fight, Menno believed. “If the Head had to suffer such torture, anguish, misery, and pain,” he asked, “how shall his servants, children, and members expect peace and freedom as to their flesh?”

In his later years, he was occupied with other internal Mennonite struggles, mainly over shunning excommunicated church members. But in each of his writings (more than 40 survive), he began by quoting Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “No other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” He finally laid his pen down at age 66, as he became ill on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his renunciation of the Catholic church. The next day, he died a natural death. Today nearly 900,000 Mennonites follow his teachings. (much of this devotion was adopted and adapted from Menno Simons: Anabaptist peacemaker, christianitytoday.com)

The first Mennonite to arrive in Pennsylvania was Jan Lensen, arriving in October 1683. He came with 12 other German families who were Quaker weavers from Krefeld. They laid out the village of Germantown, north of Philadelphia. Following Jan Lensen’s arrival in 1683, at least 20 other Mennonite families settled in Germantown. They were from northern Germany and the Netherlands. In 1698 they chose papermaker William Rittenhouse as their first minister. Lancaster County is home to nearly thirty different Anabaptist groups in 412 congregations, totaling more than 52,000 members. Nationwide, there are 32 different Mennonite church groups in 2,422 congregations, totaling 252,993 members.

Pastor Dave

Please collect two items of your choice for Trinity’s Table this week.