Lecture 2: The Early Church

The Anabaptists did not emerge out of a vacuum. Though the immediate cause of their formation could be framed as dissatisfaction with the compromises of the sixteenth-century Reformers, their thinking was in some ways a return to church tradition rather than a departure from it. In particular, they shared attitudes common to the early church, such as a radical Christocentrism. Outward expressions of this include commitment to nonviolence, modesty in dress, and separation from worldly spheres of influence. Under further examination, all “kingdom” movements seem to share these and other similarities.

(Note: For reference to some of the excellent early Christian quotes Dean uses in this lecture, see the lesson materials page)

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