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Bernhard Rothmann, or Bernard Rothmann, (ca. 1495 - ca. 1535) was a 16th century Reformer and an Anabaptist leader in the city of Münster. He was born in Stadtlohn around 1495. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...
Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo re-baptizers, German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. ...
Town Hall at Prinzipalmarkt Münster: Prinzipalmarkt Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ...
Stadtlohn is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, part of the district Borken. ...
Events February 22 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the citys throne. ...
Overview In the late 1520s Bernard Rothmann became the leader for religious reform in the city of Münster. In his sermons he condemned Catholic doctrines such as purgatory and the use of images, as well as the low morals of the priests. He suffered censure of the Catholic bishop in 1531, and afterwards denied the authority of the Catholic Church and openly aligned himself with the Reformed faith. In January of 1532, he published an evangelical creed, and gained the backing of the city authorities. In the treaty of February 14, 1533, Münster was recognized as a Lutheran city. In the summer of 1533, Rothmann was converted by the Anabaptist disciples of Melchior Hoffman to "anti-pedobaptism". He began to preach against infant baptism from his pulpit at St. Lambert's church. Though censured by the city council, he remained safe through his popularity with the craft guilds. Rothmann strengthened his standing by gaining more converts to his position. ...
Events January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake-- thousands die October 1 - Battle of Kappel - The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. ...
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organizationally independent. ...
February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ...
Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543) was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands. ...
When Melchior Hoffman was imprisoned in Strasbourg, Jan Matthys took over the Anabaptist leadership roll in the Low Countries. He declared Münster to be the place to which Jesus Christ would return and set up his kingdom. In January of 1534, Matthys sent disciples to Münster to declare the city as the "New Jerusalem", and quickly baptized numerous converts, including Bernhard Rothmann. Rothmann was baptized on January 5, 1534. City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Area 78. ...
Jan Matthys (also known as Jan Matthias, Johann Mathyszoon, et al. ...
January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
Events February 27 - Group of Anabaptists of Jan Matthys seize Münster and declare it The New Jerusalem - they begin to exile dissenters and forcible baptize all others May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ...
Matthys arrived in Münster in February of 1534. His "rule" of the city set the stage for the events usually called the Münster Rebellion. While Matthys was the prophet and leader, Rothmann was probably the most important "theological voice". Matthys died in a failed military attempt on Easter Sunday 1534. John of Leiden thereafter became King of Münster until its fall in June of 1535. Rothmann is believed to have died fighting. Though his body was not identified, he was never heard from again. The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a theocracy in the German city of Münster. ...
John of Leiden (Dutch: Jan van Leiden or Jan Beukelszoon, aka John Bockold) (1509? - 1536) was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. ...
Rothmann's Theology
Baptism Unlike many of the 16th century Anabaptists, Rothmann held immersion to be the proper mode of baptism. According to historian Darren T. Williamson, "He based his position primarily on three arguments: first, he argued along grammatical lines, interestingly not Greek grammar but Dutch/German. He contended that the meaning of the Dutch translation of baptism must be taken literally. Fortunately, the Dutch words doepen and dumpelen meant literally to immerse or 'dunk in water'. It is important to note that although Rothmann was technically correct on this point of grammar, it was also as commonly understood that there was a long standing theological exception as practiced by the church, namely sprinkling. Second, the Scriptural explanations of baptism in such passages as Rom 6:3-4 (baptism = burial), Col 2:11-13 (baptism = burial), and 1 Pet 3:21 (baptism = washing of the body, or bath) graphically describe an immersion. Third, he cited a few ancient authorities, Tertullian, Origen, Gratian's Decretum, and Beatus Rhenanus (by which he meant collections of ancient texts edited by Rhenanus, a contemporary of Rothmann), who at least to some degree supported directly or indirectly adult baptism and immersion."¹ Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicized as Tertullian, (ca. ...
Origen ( 182– 251) was a Christian scholar and theologian and one of the most distinguished of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. ...
Franciscus Gratianus, or Johannes Gratianus, known most often simply as Gratian, was a 12th century canon lawyer from Bologna. ...
The Decretum Gratiani is a collection of canon law written around 1140 by Gratian. ...
Bible Rothmann accepted the entire Bible as the word of God. In his Restitution he wrote, "The divine, unquestionably Holy Scriptures which are called the Bible alone have the fame that they are needful and sufficient for teaching reproof, correction and for instruction in righteousness for which purpose also almighty God has given them in order that the man of God be without error and equipped for every good work. Since the apostasy first began through human writing and teaching by means of which the divine Scriptures were darkened the Almighty has among us provided that all writings both new and old which are not biblical should he destroyed so that we should cling only to the Holy Scriptures." The Bible (sometimes The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, plural of βιβλιον, biblion, book, originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material...
Christology The Christology that Rothmann held was the "celestial flesh" idea of Kaspar Schwenkfeld and Melchior Hoffman (and later of Menno Simons). See Theology of Anabaptism. Christology is that part of Christian theology that studies and defines who Jesus the Christ was and is. ...
Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (1490-1561) was a Silesian nobleman who became a Christian Reformer and spiritualist. ...
Anabaptists (re-baptizers, from Greek ana and baptizo; in German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. ...
Church Rothmann believed the church to be a congregation of only baptized believers. In his Confession he wrote, "The church of Christ is a gathering of the believing children of God who praise the name of God. No one else belongs in it...The Scriptures richly testify that faith comes from hearing the Word and that the holy church be built only of those who believe. It cannot be denied that the true proclamation of the holy gospel started the holy church...The second thing through which the holy church is built is holy baptism. Baptism is the entry and gateway to the holy church; therefore according to God's order no one may be allowed into the church except through baptism."
Polygamy Rothmann initially opposed the polygamy introduced to Münster by John of Leiden, but would later write in theological defense of the idea. He wrote, "God has restored the true practice of holy matrimony amongst us." "Marriage is the union of man and wife - 'one' has now been removed - for the honor of God and to fulfill his will, so that children might be brought up in the fear of God." "This was true of the biblical fathers until the time of the Apostles, nor has polygamy been forbidden by God," he said. Rothmann based the legitimacy of the practice on a greater emphasis on the Old Testament than was common among most Anabaptists, as well as the Anabaptist view of marriage for the purpose of procreation. The term polygamy (literally many marriage in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology. ...
Judaism uses the term Tanakh instead of Old Testament, because it does not recognize the New Testament as being part of the Biblical canon The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ...
Rothmann's Legacy The time from Rothmann's believers' baptism until his death was about a year and a half. He had adopted Anabaptist principles less than a year earlier, and had preached "evangelical" and "Reformed" doctrine from 1531. From his beginning to condemn certain Catholic practices until the end of his ministry comprises only about six or seven years. Yet Bernhard Rothmann deserves a place in the foundations of 16th century Anabaptism. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...
Rothmann influenced the south German Anabaptists through Pilgram Marpeck, who borrowed some of his Vermanung from Rothmann's Bekenntnisse of 1533. He was part of the earliest movement, as a disciple of Melchior Hoffman, that laid the foundations of Anabaptism in the Netherlands and northern Germany. Rothmann's view of the incarnation would be the predominant view among Dutch Anabaptists in their first century of history (though Hoffman is much more the source). His connections with the Münster Rebellion place him among those who helped make the name Anabaptist an "anathema" for centuries. To Luther he would have been Schwärmer (a fanatic, enthusiast). Though often even rejected by the descendants of the Anabaptists, recent Anabaptist scholarship has recognized Rothmann's place, for good and bad, in the rise of Anabaptism in 16th century Europe. Pilgram Marpeck (unk-1556) was an important South German Anabaptist leader in the 16th century. ...
Rothmann's Writings - A Confession of Faith and Life in the Church of Christ of Münster (1534)
- A Restitution of Christian Teaching, Faith, and Life (October 1534).
- Concerning Revenge (December 1534)
External links
Reference - Power, Authority and the Anabaptist Tradition, Benjamin W. Redekop, Calvin Redekop, editors ISBN 0801866057
Work of fiction: Q is a novel by Luther Blissett, the nom de plume of four Bolognans identified by Time Magazine as Roberto Bui, Giovanni Cattabriga, Federico Guglielmi and Luca Di Meo. ...
Luther Blissett is a multiple identity, a nom de plume that anyone is welcome to use for activist and artistic endeavour. ...
Footnote - 1. "For the Honor of God and to Fulfill His Will": The Role of Polygamy in Anabaptist Münster, by Darren T. Williamson
- 2. This refers to the destruction of all books in Munster on March 15, 1534.
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