Comments on: Who are These New Anabaptists?

By: ChrisMorton82

ChrisMorton82 — Wed, 29 May 2013 01:25:57 +0000

@tristaanogre @ChrisMorton82 I’ll check it out! Thanks, Robert!

By: tristaanogre

tristaanogre — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:42:05 +0000

@ChrisMorton82 @tristaanogre Couple of minor items. #1 my name is Robert…tristaanogre is just a ‘net handle I use. #2 I am a Mennonite so the critique I give above comes from internal observations of folks coming into the tradition, attracted by a doctrine, but without an understanding of the rooting. So, I said what I did to be clear about what Anabaptism is: it’s a Jesus-centric stream, not just a list of beliefs…
All that said, those of us within the traditionally Anabaptist denominations need to recognize that we cannot simply be satisfied within our enclaves and denominations but that we have something important to contribute to the shifting culture around us.
Humbly, I offer you to check out my own blog (http://abnormalanabaptist.wordpress.com/) as well as a network of bloggers I’m involved in at http://mennonerds.com
Looking forward to lots of conversation.

By: ChrisMorton82

ChrisMorton82 — Tue, 28 May 2013 21:39:05 +0000

@tristaanogre Thanks, Tristan! All traditions have their baggage, and I’m not looking to trade one denomination for another. If you have a chance to read the articles, you’ll see that I’m not just attracted to the theology, but the way in which it is positioned for this next season of being the Church in this increasingly post-Christendom world. There are a lot of us asking questions, and we’re finding the anabaptist tradition has wrestled with them for years.

By: tristaanogre

tristaanogre — Tue, 28 May 2013 14:35:56 +0000

I think you’re pretty right on here with your discovery of Anabaptism.However, I would like to give one caveat. Even historically-connected Mennonites, brought up as “anabaptists” fall into a trap. It is a trap of following a particular PART of their theology without grounding themselves in Jesus. For example, declaring themselves a “peace church” and acting on that ends up in being a church primarily focused on political activism. Additionally, it brings in a strain of judgmentalism where, if you claim to be a Christian and are in the military, well, you certainly MUST not be “as good of a Christian as we Mennonites are… “… not in so many words, but I’ve seen it happen. Add to that the sectarianism of defining themselves as a “peace church” against all other churches (“they are not as peace oriented as we are”) and you see where I’m going……so, while I agree that, yes, Anabaptists are about being counter cultural and counter-statist, the starting point must be with the person, Jesus, who lived against the predominant culture and against the assumptions of the power of the state. If your allegiance is first with Jesus, then the natural next step is to be counter-cultural… but if you start with the counter-cultural, what is to distinguish you from the other dime-a-dozen anarchist groups around the world?Welcome to the party, BTW… :-)Robert Martin, Abnormal Anabaptist, born Mennonite, but reborn Jesus follower…