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Article: Anabaptism
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
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ANABAPTISM
ANABAPTISM.
Anabaptism is the name for several related branches of continental European lay Protestantism. These groups first began emerging after 1525 and were most prominent in (but not limited to) German- and Dutch-speaking territories. In German and Dutch the terms
Wiedert
ä
ufer
and
wederdooper
(rebaptizers) carry old, negative connotations. By contrast,
T
ä
ufer
or
dooper
(baptists),
Taufgesinnten
or
doopsgezinden
(the baptism-minded), and Mennonites (strictly speaking a group-specific term that is sometimes applied loosely as an umbrella category for all later Anabaptists except the Hutterites) are used more widely today. In current scholarly English the name ...