| Sixteenth-century Anabaptism is often assumed to have been, and is frequently labelled, an apolitical movement in the secondary literature. Such an interpretive framework does not do justice to the thought or actions of sixteenth-century Anabaptists, and therefore, does not provide an adequate understanding of sixteenth-century Anabaptism. The purpose of this thesis is to challenge the "apolitical" labelling of Anabaptism, and provide an alternate interpretive framework for understanding sixteenth-century Anabaptist thought and actions.;Through the application of recent theory to two Anabaptist mechanisms of power, the ritual of Anabaptist baptism and the Anabaptist act of writing, evidence of their political interests, and their active political engagement become obvious. Such a theoretically refrained interpretive perspective makes better sense of sixteenth-century Anabaptist literature, theology, and actions. As a corollary benefit, such an interpretive perspective also provides a better solution to questions surrounding the severe persecution of sixteenth-century Anabaptists. |
