Tracing the story
Depending on your research interests in Anabaptist studies, you may require in depth familiarity with the historical origins of the movement.
The links and resources provided on this page include a range of primary and secondary material useful for tracing the theological and social development of the Anabaptists. Web links include sites that contain many first generation documents of ecclesiastical import, including early Anabaptist confessions.
The list of historical surveys of Anabaptism and the Mennonites on this page provide comprehensive introduction to 16th century Anabaptist origins and early development.
Websites with primary source content
- Anabaptist visionGood site for primary documents of Anabaptist religious history (mostly confessions of faith) and (dated) secondary material. The link to the complete works of Menno Simons does not work. But otherwise the material is accessible and scholarly.
- Digital library of classic Protestant texts This link opens in a new windowProvides access to a full-text searchable database of primary source Protestant documents covering the 16th and 17th centuries only. The collection includes the theological writings of more than 300 Protestant authors, as well as a wide range of confessional documents, biblical commentaries, polemical treatises, and Bible translations. Published by Alexander Street Press (publishers of the Digital Karl Barth Library), this resource has the same interface and the same searchability options and benefits as the aforementioned work, together with its clunky page advancing interface. This is a great resource for anyone seeking accessible primary source material on mainline Reformation intellectual and clerical leaders of the period. Coverage is broad and ecumenically representative, with one glaring exception: no Anabaptist/Mennonite representation whatsoever. If you are seeking primary sources in the Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican, Quaker, Unitarian/Socinian, or Arminian traditions, this is a fruitful resource to search. If you are seeking Anabaptist primary sources, you will need to look elsewhere. Alexander Street Press.
Print Primary sources
- Spiritual and Anabaptist writers. Documents illustrative of the Radical Reformation byCall Number: Moody General Collection BR301 .S67
- Sources of South German/Austrian Anabaptism byCall Number: Moody General Collection BX4933.G3 S68x 2001ISBN: 1894710150
- The Reformation--Luther, the Anabaptists byCall Number: Moody General Collection BR301.R43ISBN: 0805465375
The Radical Reformation by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX4931.2 .R23 1991ISBN: 0521379482- Österreich byCall Number: Moody General Collection BX4931 .Q84x
Secondary sources: Historical Introductions
Anabaptist history and theology : an introduction by Call Number: BX4931.2 .S63x 1995ISBN: 0969876203
The Anabaptist story : an introduction to sixteenth-century Anabaptism by Call Number: BX4931.2 .E83 1996ISBN: 0802808867Primarily 16th century history of the movement. However, three of its eleven chapters deal with Anabaptist doctrinal distinctives, including a chapter on "Anabaptism and Reformation Theology."
The author was an emeritus professor of Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
An Introduction to Mennonite history : a popular history of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites by Call Number: BX8115 .I57 1993ISBN: 0836136209- From Anabaptist seed : exploring the historical center of Anabaptist teachings and practices byCall Number: BX4931.2 S66 1999ISBN: 096855430X
