Radical Reformation History is a free course in Anabaptist history taught by Dean Taylor. The lessons move from the early church and the kingdom teaching of Jesus into the problems that shaped later church history, including Constantine, church councils, and the long witness of persecuted believers.
From there, the course follows the Radical Reformation through Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, Conrad Grebel, the birth of the Swiss Brethren, Michael Sattler, the Schleitheim Confession, Hutterite beginnings, Dutch Anabaptist turmoil, Menno Simons, church splits, revival, missions, and Anabaptist migration to America.
A repeated concern in the lectures is practical obedience to the words of Jesus, especially as seen in nonresistance, church discipline, brotherhood, missions, and a kingdom-centered life. The course closes by asking students not merely to remember history, but to consider whether they will be faithful “history makers” in their own generation.
Dean Taylor introduces Anabaptist history as more than a heritage label, urging students to understand the convictions and piety that shaped early Anabaptists. The lecture emphasizes a simple, practical approach to Scripture and the recurring question of whether Jesus meant what he said.
- Why should students care about Anabaptist history?
- What made early Anabaptist piety distinctive?
- How did early Anabaptists approach Scripture and Christian obedience?
This lesson looks at the early church through the lens of kingdom theology, the Sermon on the Mount, separation from the world, and simple obedience to Jesus. Taylor asks students to consider how early Christian life compares with modern assumptions about Christianity.
- Why is the kingdom of God central to this course?
- How did the early church understand obedience to Jesus?
- What did early Christians believe about separation from the world?
- How does the Sermon on the Mount shape Christian life?
This lecture surveys early church problems such as Gnosticism, Donatist questions, Arian controversy, and Augustine’s influence. Taylor warns that necessary theological debate can become unbalanced when it moves away from the center of Jesus and his teachings.
- What kinds of problems shaped the early church?
- Why did theological controversy become so significant?
- How did Augustine influence later Christian thinking?
- How can Christians engage theology without losing the center of Jesus?
Taylor reflects on the church council period and the danger of making disputes the main target of church life. He then introduces the pilgrim church idea, tracing persecuted and reform-minded believers through the centuries, including Waldensian and Bohemian streams.
- What dangers does Taylor see in the council period?
- What is meant by the pilgrim church?
- How did persecuted communities preserve a witness through difficult times?
This lesson sets the stage for the Radical Reformation by discussing reform ideas, Erasmus, Luther, indulgences, and the spread of Reformation controversy. Taylor also points to places where reform disconnected from the teachings and spirit of Jesus.
- How did ideas help shape Reformation history?
- What role did Luther’s protest against indulgences play?
- Where does Taylor see the Reformation moving away from Jesus’ way?
- Why does the course return repeatedly to putting Christ’s words into practice?
Taylor introduces Conrad Grebel and Zwingli, drawing especially on Grebel’s preserved letters and the tensions in Zurich. The lesson traces the early disagreements over whether reform should follow the city council or the direct claims of Scripture.
- Who was Conrad Grebel?
- Why are Grebel’s letters important for Anabaptist history?
- How did tensions develop between the young radicals and Zwingli?
- What role did the Zurich council play in the conflict?
This lecture describes the Zurich disputations, the break with Zwingli, early baptisms, mission activity, arrests, beatings, and martyrdoms connected with the birth of Anabaptism. Taylor frames the movement as a people seeking to put the words of Jesus into practice.
- What happened in the Zurich disputations?
- Why did the early radicals break with Zwingli?
- How did early Anabaptist mission begin?
- What did persecution look like for the first Anabaptists?
Taylor follows the early Swiss Brethren after Zurich, including questions around communion, missionary figures, martyrdom, and differing Anabaptist streams such as those connected with Pilgram Marpeck. The lesson leads toward the Schleitheim Confession as a defining moment.
- What happened to Zwingli after the early Anabaptist break?
- Who were some of the early Swiss Brethren missionaries?
- How did martyrdom shape the movement?
- Why was a confession like Schleitheim needed?
This lesson focuses on figures such as Leonard Schiemer and Michael Sattler, Sattler’s trial and charges, and the Schleitheim Confession. Class discussion turns to the ban, church discipline, and how a called-out brotherhood hears and applies the voice of God.
- Who was Michael Sattler?
- What charges were brought against Sattler?
- What did the Schleitheim Confession clarify?
- How should church discipline be understood in a brotherhood?
Taylor reviews the course’s first sections and then follows the Swiss Brethren as they spread through regions such as the Alsace, Palatinate, and Holland. The lecture also uses discussion and examples to raise questions about obedience, authority, and church discipline.
- How did the Swiss Brethren spread after Zurich?
- Why does Taylor organize the history by people movements rather than only by dates?
- What questions arise around obedience and authority?
- How does church discipline become a living issue for later Anabaptists?
This lecture introduces the background of the Amish division, including revival-like renewal among the Oberlanders, Jacob Amman, and disputes over discipline and fellowship. Taylor presents the story with concern for both the spiritual energy and the painful division that followed.
- What circumstances led to the birth of the Amish?
- How did renewal and evangelism factor into the Amish story?
- What role did Jacob Amman play?
- Why did discipline and apology become so difficult in the division?
Taylor turns toward Moravian Anabaptists by emphasizing their mission drive, kingdom focus, and desire to disciple people in all the teachings of Christ. The lesson contrasts settled religious systems with urgent efforts to spread and embody the kingdom of God.
- How did early Anabaptists connect missions with the kingdom of God?
- Why does Taylor call the Moravian Anabaptists especially mission-driven?
- What does it mean to teach people to observe all Christ commanded?
- How did early Anabaptists understand true conversion?
This lesson begins the story of Moravian Anabaptists and the Hutterites, including persecution in Tyrol and the development of brotherhood life. Taylor discusses leaders, conflicts, shared possessions, and biblical reasoning used to describe the gathered people of God.
- How did Anabaptism spread into Tyrol, Austria, and Moravia?
- What kinds of persecution did early Hutterite-related groups face?
- How did the Hutterites reason from Scripture about shared life?
- What did brotherhood mean in this movement?
Taylor continues Hutterite history through hardship, war, exile, and repeated attempts to preserve a disciplined, mission-minded brotherhood. He draws lessons from their ability to share material blessings, act together, and spread the kingdom of God amid suffering.
- What happened to the Hutterites during war and exile?
- How did persecution affect Hutterite communities?
- What strengths does Taylor identify in Hutterite brotherhood?
- What lessons does the course draw from Hutterite mission zeal?
This lecture shifts to Holland and Northern Germany, explaining the background to the Münster tragedy and Melchior Hoffman’s influence. Taylor distinguishes this violent and chaotic movement from the Anabaptist stream centered on Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and nonresistant discipleship.
- Why does the course call Münster a tragedy?
- How did events in Münster differ from Swiss and Moravian Anabaptist convictions?
- What role did Melchior Hoffman’s influence play in the northern setting?
- Why must Anabaptist faith keep returning to Jesus?
Taylor introduces Menno Simons and the difficult Dutch context after Münster. The lesson highlights Menno’s call for true conversion, nonresistance, faithful preaching, and a visible Christianity that looks like Christ.
- Who was Menno Simons?
- Why was the Dutch Anabaptist setting so difficult after Münster?
- What did Menno emphasize about true evangelical faith?
- How did nonresistance and visible discipleship shape his message?
This lesson examines Dutch Mennonite church splits and asks what later believers can learn from them. Taylor uses Scripture and practical counsel to discuss conflict, apology, brotherhood decisions, and the danger of strife in the church.
- Why does Taylor say church splits grieve God?
- What can later churches learn from Dutch Mennonite divisions?
- How should believers approach apology and reconciliation?
- How can a brotherhood make decisions without falling into strife?
Taylor reflects on the decline of Dutch Mennonites, warning about intellectualism, materialism, division, and loss of vision. He also tells stories of faithful witness, including Dirk Willems, and traces Dutch Mennonite movement into the Vistula Delta and later Russian Mennonite experience.
- What factors contributed to Dutch Mennonite decline?
- Why does Taylor think Holland around 1700 is important for later Anabaptists to study?
- What does the story of Dirk Willems illustrate?
- How did Dutch Mennonite history connect with later Russian Mennonite experience?
This lecture follows Anabaptist groups as they come to America, carrying both strengths and weaknesses from Europe and Russia. Taylor discusses peoplehood, brotherhood, nonresistance, martyrdom, and stories such as Jacob Hostetler and World War I Hutterite suffering.
- How did Anabaptist groups bring their histories to America?
- What challenges did America create for peoplehood and brotherhood?
- What does the Jacob Hostetler story teach about nonresistance?
- How did some Anabaptists suffer for nonresistance during World War I?
Taylor surveys revival history among Anabaptists, arguing that true revival should bear fruit in a called-out people shaped by Christ. The lesson includes figures such as John Funk and later revival efforts while warning that revival must make believers look more like Jesus.
- How does Taylor define the purpose of revival?
- Why does he connect Pentecost with the birth of the church?
- Who was John Funk in this revival story?
- How can revival lose balance if it does not return to Jesus?
This lesson surveys Anabaptist missions and missiology, connecting early Anabaptist mission energy with later twentieth-century mission movements. Taylor stresses community-based witness, the dangers of broken social structures, and the need to build and plant as well as tear down false ways.
- How were missions present from the beginning of Anabaptist history?
- What examples does Taylor give of early Anabaptist mission growth?
- Why does he emphasize community-based mission?
- What does it mean to build and plant in mission work?
The final lecture reviews the sweep of the course, from early Christianity through the Radical Reformation, Hutterites, Dutch Mennonites, Russian Mennonites, America, revival, and missions. Taylor closes with the challenge to follow Jesus, obey his words, and become history makers rather than history stoppers.
- How do the different streams of Anabaptist history fit together?
- What does Taylor mean by being a history maker?
- Why does the course end with the words “Follow me”?
- How should the Great Commission and obedience to Jesus shape the church today?
This lesson is listed as a survey for the Anabaptist History course, but no transcript sample was provided. Its exact contents should be checked against the course materials.
- What review or survey questions does the course ask?
- How does the survey help students reflect on Anabaptist history?
This lesson is listed as additional readings for Anabaptist History, but no transcript sample was provided. Editors should confirm the reading list before adding specific titles or claims.
- What additional readings are assigned for this course?
- How do the readings support the lectures on Anabaptist history?
