The Anabaptist-Mennonite Traditions: Inculcating and Implementing the Sermon on the Mount
I found Dr. Michael King’s essay on the Anabaptist-Mennonite traditions to be fascinating. I have known very little about these faith traditions in the past, and so I was delighted to be able to learn more. The concept of “rebaptism” was of particular interest to me as a Latter-day Saint. From the time of the organization […]
A Near-Total Convergence: Baptist Responds to Anabaptist
Michael King’s post found striking resonance with my understanding of discipleship as a Baptist. These resonances include 1) a resolute focus on Jesus, with the Sermon on the Mount functioning as the locus classicus in defining the Way of Jesus. Closely related is 2) the emphasis on the kingdom or reign of God as the apocalyptic-ethical […]
The Anabaptist-Pietist Dialectic
One of my jobs at Bethel University is to help coordinate and teach Christianity and Western Culture, a one-semester general education course that takes first-year students on a sprint through over 2,500 years of history. There’s a lot to cover — we also help introduce the disciplines of philosophy and theology — so I remember […]
Can Lutheran Dialectical Thinking and Living Counter-Culturally be Considered an Appropriate Gospel Witness by Anabaptists?
What led me to fall in love with God, Christian faith, and the church of my youth was the awareness that ours is a faith for rebels, for people who are committed to living counter-culturally – going against the grain of what society expects. My high-school years in Pennsylvania led me to sense that Mennonites and the […]
Not Quite So Simple…Or is it?
Response to Michael King, Anabaptist TraditionBy Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Reformed Tradition “Not Quite So Simple…Or is it?” A Reformed response to the ways that the Anabaptist tradition tries to faithfully follow Jesus should begin with confession. The history of our relationship is blighted with deadly sin. When I was in the process of seeking ordination as […]
Shared Values, Different Expressions
As someone who lives in Ohio, I am very grateful for the description of complexities in the Anabaptist heritage. I am also very grateful for the clear values expressed by Michael King. Wesleyan Methodists can find much to affirm in those values even though I also see some differences. Value 1: Like Anabaptists, Methodists […]
Those Countercultural Anabaptists
I open with thanks to Michael King for reminding us of the virtues of the Anabaptist tradition. It is indeed a movement with a colorful and distinguished history, populated as it is with remarkable individuals, many of whom suffered for their convictions. Because this tradition takes its cues from the Sermon on the Mount, the […]
Amid Complexities, Five Things Many Anabaptist-Mennonites Emphasize
Yes, I will summarize five Anabaptist-Mennonite emphases. But I don’t dare try before addressing complexities of doing so when so many groups stress so many different things. We can link some Anabaptist-Mennonitisms back to Swiss Anabaptism. Even as approaches to Anabaptist origins and contemporary implications vary (as historians contest whether “polygenesis,” “monogenesis,” or some blend […]
Is Spontaneity and Freedom from the Law a Legitimate Option in the Church Catholic?
IS SPONTANEITY AND FREEDOM FROM THE LAW A LEGITIMATE OPTION IN THE CHURCH CATHOLIC? I really appreciated the dialogue with all my partners (the new friends I’m making), and my personal responses to each which you can read will indicate in more depth my appreciation and thoughts about your insightful reflections. I am struck by how two elements […]
The Relevance & Significance Of The Sources Used When Following Jesus
When reading the reflection on what it means to follow Jesus from the Lutheran framework, I was struck by the range of different sources used in the tradition to construct a life that models Jesus’ own. Through a combination of scripture, the Sacraments, the liturgy, and the communion of all saints, Lutherans develop an understanding […]
Lutheran Fun?!
Mark Ellingsen had me hooked with the words freedom, spontaneity, and fun, terms he uses to round out his explanation of what it means to follow Jesus along Lutheran paths. Quite honestly when I hear “Lutheran,” those are not the first words that come to mind. Bach chorales, perhaps, but that’s a rather rarefied form […]
Can Mennonites and Lutherans Experience Grace, Faithfulness, and Even Fun Together?
Can Mennonites and Lutherans, once bitter enemies, have fun together? Though the journey is challenging, that’s a question Mark Ellingsen’s take on Lutheranism in “Lutheranism: An Evangelical Catholic Way to Follow Jesus” stirs for me. Noting that, as was true for Anabaptists, the label Lutheran was originally applied by critics, Ellingsen wants to highlight such […]
The “Freedom, Spontaneity, and Fun” of Following Jesus
One problem with trying to serve as the representative of “the Pietist tradition” is that Pietism is not so much an ecclesial or even theological tradition as a religious ethos that leavens other Christian traditions. That includes the Baptist denomination that sponsors my rather pietistic university, the Brethren churches that draw on Pietism and Anabaptism […]
On the Real Possibility of Theosis
Dear Mark, Thank you for your well thought out and articulate description of how people in various strands of Lutheranism understand how to follow Jesus. I appreciate how you are always trying to find points of contact with other expressions of Christianity. It certainly is interesting to learn that Luther allowed a continuation of more […]
The Lutheran Way: Blending the Confessional and the Pietistic
I found Mark Ellingsen’s essay on Lutheranism to be both informative and fascinating. I certainly identify with Mark’s early acknowledgement that Lutheran is a title, a label attached to his faith by critics of the movement early on. The followers of Joseph Smith came to be known as the “Mormonites” or the “Mormons.” Unfortunately the […]
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