Constructing a Bernard-Hubmaier Trinitarian Model of Prevenient Grace

This article constructs a Trinitarian model of prevenient grace based on the insights of Bernard of Clairvaux and Balthasar Hubmaier. Accordingly, the three persons of the Trinity play roles in prevenient grace’s calling, convicting, illuminating, and enabling aspects. The model proposes that the Holy Spirit serves for all persons as the functional equivalent of a good cognitive faculty lost to humanity in the Fall. Hence, the Spirit suggests to each person that they enter into spiritual marriage with Christ and suggests good thoughts to unbelievers and believers alike. Without the Spirit, no one could be saved or do anything good.

Sacramentarian Diversity

The division of the Zurich reformation over the issue of infant baptism posed the problem of authority within the sacramentarian camp. Balthasar Hubmaier rejected Zwingli’s exegesis of scripture and accused him of inconsistency; Zwingli responded by asserting his position as called pastor and attacking the character of his Anabaptist opponents. Hubmaier’s pamphlets highlighted the links between baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and excommunication in creating and maintaining a separate, purified church. Spiritualists such as Ludwig Hätzer and Hans Denck, who downplayed the importance of external ceremonies, fit more easily with other sacramentarians. Kaspar Schwenckfeld and Martin Cellarius would contribute to Wolfgang Capito’s attraction to spiritualism.

Prophecy and the Radicals

Several radical groups—particularly Anabaptists and Spiritualists—in Wittenberg, Zurich, and Strasbourg proffered different performances of prophecy that emphasized its visionary, ecstatic forms and even affirmed the possibility of new revelation above and beyond Scripture. Luther, Zwingli, and Bucer responded to Andreas Karlstadt, Gabriel Zwilling, the Zwickau Prophets, Thomas Müntzer, Swiss Anabaptists, Melchior Hoffman, Balthasar Hubmaier, Hans Denck, Caspar Schwenckfeld, and Pilgram Marpeck by casting many of them as false prophets and often lumped them together under their most extreme forms rather than recognizing the variations among them. Radical groups differed on the topic of prophecy: some prioritized Scripture, while others prioritized the Spirit. Luther and Zwingli reframed their view of the prophet and prophecy in direct response to these radical threats to tighten the parameters of lay participation and identify the prophet more closely with the Protestant pastoral office.

Balthasar Hubmaier and His Eighteen Articles

The paper talks about the renowned Anabaptist reformer, Balthasar Hubmaier, whose works were a significant contribution to the development of the early Anabaptist movement. In 2018 we mark the 490th anniversary of his death of being burned at the stake for his religious beliefs. In the paper, we see an outline of Hubmaier’s biography and an overview of his creative work. Special attention is given to his first work from June 1524, which contains 18 articles, and is called, “Achtzehn schluß rede so betreffende ein gantz Cristlich leben.” The articles show Hubmaier’s view on theology, ecclesiology, and pastorology at the beginning of his reformation work.

Balthasar Hubmaier i njegovih osamnaest teza

U radu se govori o istaknutom anabaptističkom reformatoru Balthasaru Hubmaieru koji je svojim djelima dao značajan doprinos razvoju ranoga anabaptističkog pokreta. 2018. godine se prisjećamo 490. godišnjice njegove smrti spaljivanjem na lomači zbog vjerskih uvjerenja. U radu se predstavlja Hubmaierova biografija i daje pregled njegova stvaralaštva. Posebna pažnja posvećuje se njegovu prvom radu koji sadrži 18 teza, iz lipnja 1524., pod nazivom “Achtzehn schluß rede so betreffende ein gantz Cristlich leben“. U tezama je vidljiv Hubmaierov pogled na teologiju, ekleziologiju i pastorologiju na početku njegova reformacijskog djelovanja.

Balthasar Hubmaier: The Theologian of the Anabaptists. Nikolsburg and Catechetical Instruction: A Labor of Love

Balthasar Hubmaier is often called ‘the theologian of the Anabaptists’ for he was the only early Anabaptist leader with an earned doctorate. The former Catholic priest embraced the reforming thought of Erasmus, Zwingli, and eventually Zwingli’s former pupils (the Anabaptists) and led the Moravian city of Nikolsburg to become a bastion of Anabaptist thought and practice. The multi-dimensional religious landscape both afforded Hubmaier the opportunity and compelled him to author the first Anabaptist catechism. Through the work, Hubmaier articulated a clear and succinct portrayal of Anabaptist theology and ecclesiology summed up in the Erasmian tenet of the love of God and neighbor.

Calm amidst the Storm

The convulsions which seized southern Germany and Switzerland between 1520 and 1540 included the expulsion of Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (an ally of the Swiss) from his duchy of Württemberg; his intrigues to recapture his duchy by raising peasants in the Black Forest already in the throes of popular rebellion; and the beginnings of Reformed Protestant preaching by Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich. Any of these circumstances could easily have led to outright war on both banks of the Rhine. The Swiss were reluctant to give any support to Duke Ulrich, or to the peasants, though Zürich came to the aid of the Forest Town of Waldshut where Balthasar Hubmaier preached the new doctrines (and later Anabaptism). Konstanz, too, embraced Protestantism, to the chagrin of the Catholic Inner cantons. That effectively put an end to the city’s hopes of joining the Confederation.