Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
Burge contrasts German Awakening “crisis conversion” (anxiety, dread, casting oneself on Christ’s merits) with Mennonite emphasis on “regeneration” and new birth; what does each model imply about what God is chiefly doing in salvation—declaring righteous, creating new life, rescuing from Satan—and how would early Christians likely have weighed those emphases?
Another way to ask: How is “crisis conversion” different from a focus on “regeneration” and new birth? What does each one suggest God is mainly doing in salvation, and which do you think early Christians would have stressed more?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
According to the transcript, the German Awakening model emphasizes a crisis moment of relying on Christ’s merits and is tied to Protestant concerns like justification, while Mennonites emphasized regeneration—the Spirit creating new birth and a changed life. Burge also highlights older Anabaptist themes of rescue from Satan and cleansing by Christ’s blood rather than satisfying God’s wrath.
- German Awakening conversion: feelings of “anxiety… dread,” then “cast yourself on Christ and his merits.”
- Burge says its theological underpinnings are “essentially Protestant” and “very much concerned with justification,” which he says is “really not an Anabaptist concern.”
- Mennonites are “much more concerned with… regeneration… the new birth and the creation of something new.”
- Older Anabaptist atonement language: Christ’s blood “washes our sins away” and his death “rescued us from the power of Satan.”
- Burge notes they do not stress “Jesus satisfied the wrath of God,” distinguishing their emphasis.