Dutch Anabaptism - Hardcover

by Cornelius Krahn (Author)

Krahn avoids the hero worship which is common among many rehabilitators of Anabaptism. In his presentation the giants of Anabaptism as well as those of the Magisterial Reformation turn out again and again to have clay feet. No attempt is made to rationalize these apparent weaknesses.... Out of Dutch mysticism there grew a spiritualizing tendency...which could not be confined to the question of the Lord's Supper. Frank C. Roberts in 'Calvin Theological Journal' Krahn's greatest service is in the distilling more than a century of Dutch scholarship, and he performs it judiciously.... Especially interesting is his argument that both Reformed Protestantism and Anabaptism had their roots in the Sacramentarian movement of the 1520s. Alastair C. Duke in 'Journal of Ecclesiastical History' [The author's] extensive and accurate knowledge of both the modern and the sixteenth-century Dutch language, together with his careful and competent evaluation of the conflicting interpretations of the events, make his survey of Dutch Anabaptism a reliable source of information. Krahn has made a serious attempt to immerse himself in the issues and to assess fairly the clashing opinions. H.W. Meihuizen in 'Mennonite Quarterly Review'

Author Biography

Cornelius Krahn was born in Chortitza, Ukraine, which was the first settlement established by Mennonites in Russia. He experienced the Russian Revolution of 1917-20. He went to Germany in 1926 and studied theology, and particularly church history, at the universities of Berlin (D. Bonhoeffer), Bonn (K. Barth), Amsterdam, and Heidelberg, where he met and studied with H.S. Bender. Here Krahn received his Th.D. degree in 1936 with a dissertation on Menno Simons.

In view of the political conditions in Germany, Krahn moved to the United States in 1937 and became Professor of Church and Mennonite History at Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas. He also became director of the Mennonite Library and Archives there and editor of 'Mennonite Life'. The September 1977 issue of 'Mennonite Life' was devoted to his scholastic and educational work. It lists his most significant writings in some 15 periodicals as well as the books he has written. Most outstanding among the latter is his editorship of the four volume 'Mennonite Encyclopedia', his 'Dutch Anabaptism', and his revision of the 'Story of the Mennonites' by C. Henry Smith.