Radical Reformation

The Anabaptist movement started with Conrad Grebel in Switzerland and spread over many countries and ran as a side current to the main stream of the Reformation. This movement was in part a reaction against the close ties of Church and State. Also, although the Anabaptists were quite in accord with the theology of the Reformation as expressed by Luther and Zwingli, they believed the Reformation had not gone far enough in its return to the early church teachings of the Apostles. As a result of their teachings, they were persecuted by Zwinglians, Lutherans, Calvinists and Catholics, especially at the massacre in Munster in 1535. The Dutch reformer, Menno Simons, joined the Anabaptists in 1536 and because of his teachings the Anabaptists became known as Mennonites.