Pentecostal aspects of early sixteenth century Anabaptism

Byrd II, Charles Hannon (2018). Pentecostal aspects of early sixteenth century Anabaptism. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Early sixteenth century radical Anabaptism emanated in Switzerland during Huldrych Zwingli's protest against the Roman Catholic Church. Much like Martin Luther, Zwingli founded his reform effort on the Bible being the final arbiter of the faith, sola scriptura, and the sufficiency of the shed blood of Christ plus nothing for eternal salvation, sola fide. Based on these principles both adopted the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer which recognized every believer's Spirit empowered ability to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. These initial theological tenets resulted in the literal reading of the Bible and a very pragmatic Christian praxis including a Pauline pneumatology that recognized the efficacy of the manifestation of the charismata. Radical adherents of Zwingli rejected infant baptism as being totally unbiblical and insisted upon the rebaptism of adults but only on a personal confession of faith, thus the term Anabaptist. Notwithstanding any knowledge of the Anabaptist movement, early twentieth century Pentecostalism had a similar response to a literal reading of Paul with the same results, the manifestation of the charismata. This thesis identifies the similarities between Anabaptism and Pentecostalism notwithstanding the lack of knowledge of the early Anabaptist movement on the part of early Pentecostals.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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