Anabaptism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The doctrine espoused by Anabaptists. countable, uncountable
"1968, Cornelius Krahn, Dutch Anabaptism: Origin, Spread, Life and Thought (1450–1600), Martinus Nijhoff, page 185, Following somewhat the thesis of Vos and Mellink pertaining to the origin of Anabaptism in the Netherlands, J. F. G. Goeters has recently challenged Rembert's approach and conclusions. He points out that the actual practice of re-baptism, or adult baptism, prior to the Münster catastrophe was minimal and concludes that the early reformatory movement of the German Lower Rhine was a popular movement containing humanistic, Lutheran, and spiritualistic-sacramentarian elements. Anabaptism did not stand at the beginning of this reformation movement, according to Goeters, but entered midstream and helped to clarify concepts. It constituted a radicalization of the spiritualistic-sacramentarian movement."
- 2 a Protestant movement in the 16th century that believed in the primacy of the Bible, baptised only believers, not infants, and believed in complete separation of church and state wordnet
Example
More examples"1968, Cornelius Krahn, Dutch Anabaptism: Origin, Spread, Life and Thought (1450–1600), Martinus Nijhoff, page 185, Following somewhat the thesis of Vos and Mellink pertaining to the origin of Anabaptism in the Netherlands, J. F. G. Goeters has recently challenged Rembert's approach and conclusions. He points out that the actual practice of re-baptism, or adult baptism, prior to the Münster catastrophe was minimal and concludes that the early reformatory movement of the German Lower Rhine was a popular movement containing humanistic, Lutheran, and spiritualistic-sacramentarian elements. Anabaptism did not stand at the beginning of this reformation movement, according to Goeters, but entered midstream and helped to clarify concepts. It constituted a radicalization of the spiritualistic-sacramentarian movement."
Etymology
From Latin anabaptismus, from ecclesiastical Koine Greek ἀναβαπτισμός (anabaptismós), from ἀνα- (ana-, “re-”) + βαπτισμός (baptismós, “baptism”) (compare modern Greek αναβαπτισμός (anavaptismós)); cognate with French anabaptisme. See anabaptize.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.