Scott’s Column: A Cold Night in Zurich

A cold night in Zurich.  As historian William Estep describes it, “the chill of the winter wind [was] blowing off the lake” as a dozen men “slowly trudged through the snow.”  The date was January 21, 1525.  The men, a group of young humanists on fire by all the ideas generated by the Protestant Reformation.

A few days before this group of radical Christians had been denounced by the local Protestant authorities and told to conform, go into exile, or face prison.  They chose the latter.

And on this night, while they gathered in the home of Felix Manz (later the first Anabaptist martyr) to discuss what to do, one of them, George Blaurock turned to another, Conrad Grebel, and asked for Grebel to baptize him.  The rest of the group then asked Blaurock to baptize them.  According to Estep, “The newly baptized then pledged themselves as true disciples of Christ to live lives separated from the world and to teach the gospel and hold the faith.”

No ecclesiastical authority had authorized the sacrament–the group did it themselves.  Estep calls it “the most revolutionary act of the Reformation.”

A rather heroic image of George Blaurock

That was the modern origin of “believer’s baptism” and the official start of the Anabaptist Movement, the five hundredth anniversary occurring this month.  The groups directly descended from this historical moment, such as the Mennonites, have planned celebrations this year to mark the occasion.

I was born into the Southern Baptist Convention, part of the Baptist movement that later sprang as an offshoot of the larger Anabaptist movement.  We practiced believer’s baptism and my own baptism (though at the very young age of five) was officially at my own discretion and a profession of my own belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Currently we are in a season of baptisms here at First Central.  Two in December, four more currently scheduled, and a potential for four others on top of that.  What a wonderful sign of congregational vitality and strength!  And to me it is the best part of the pastoring gig–holding beautiful babies on their day of blessing and initiation into the Church.

Which means my own views on baptism have evolved over my career.  When I made the change from a tradition that baptized believers to one that baptized infants, I spent some time thinking through the change, and here’s how I understood it.  My 16th century Anabaptist forebearers were not just making a theological statement, they were making a political one.  In that time, the church you were baptized into upon birth was the state church of the place where you were born.  If your prince or magistrate was a Protestant or a Catholic, so were you, generally.  The Anabaptists were insisting on freedom of conscience and religious liberty in the act of being rebaptized.

Given the hard won separation of church and state (a fight the Anabaptists and Baptists contributed much to), that particular political aspect of baptism is not a factor in the United States.  Plus, the UCC’s rite of baptism insists upon the freedom of conscience of the child to make their own choices later in life, recognizing that they will be on their own journey.  And so I was personally able to embrace my new understanding of baptism as the blessing of this child, welcoming them into the community, and setting them off on their own adventure with God.

I remain proud of the believer’s baptism heritage I came from and the importance of those radical reformers in helping to bring about religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and modern, pluralistic democracy.  And so I’ll pause to commemorate the 500th anniversary of that snowy night in Zurich and the radical act of those brave souls.