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Anabaptists


Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin anabaptista, from the Greek ἀναβαπτισμός: ἀνά- "re-" and βαπτισμός "baptism") is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in Europe. Traditionally this movement is seen as an offshoot of European Protestantism, but recently this view is challenged, mostly by Anabaptists themselves.

Anabaptists are Christians who believe that baptism is only valid when the candidate confesses his or her faith in Christ and wants to be baptized. This believer's baptism is opposed to baptism of infants, who are not able to make a conscious decision to be baptized. Anabaptists are those who are in a traditional line with the early Anabaptists of the 16th century. Other Christian groups, like Baptists, who also practice believer's baptism but have different roots, are not seen as Anabaptist. The Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites are direct descendants of the early Anabaptist movement. Schwarzenau Brethren, Bruderhof, and the Apostolic Christian Church are considered later developments among the Anabaptists.

The name Anabaptist means "one who baptizes again". Their persecutors named them this, referring to the practice of baptizing persons when they converted or declared their faith in Christ, even if they had been "baptized" as infants. Anabaptists required that baptismal candidates be able to make a confession of faith that is freely chosen, so rejected baptism of infants. The early members of this movement did not accept the name Anabaptist, claiming that infant baptism was not part of scripture and was therefore null and void. They said that baptizing self-confessed believers was their first true baptism:


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