Meaning & use
Anabaptism
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablereligion
A Christian movement from the 1500s whose followers held that only adults who have chosen their faith should be baptized.
Grammar: Capitalized as the name of a movement and used without an article.
Patterns
- the rise of Anabaptism
Anabaptism began in Switzerland during the Reformation.
Historians study how Anabaptism spread across central Europe.
Many early supporters of Anabaptism faced persecution.
noununcountablereligion
The beliefs and practices of later groups, such as the Mennonites and Amish, that grew out of this movement.
Grammar: Used when speaking about the continuing tradition.
Patterns
- modern Anabaptism
Mennonite churches belong to the Anabaptist tradition.
She wrote a thesis on peace and Anabaptism.
Some forms of Anabaptism avoid military service.
Common combinations
- early Anabaptism
- Early Anabaptism faced fierce opposition.
- Swiss Anabaptism
- Swiss Anabaptism started in Zurich.
- radical Anabaptism
- Radical Anabaptism challenged both church and state.
- the roots of Anabaptism
- The roots of Anabaptism lie in the 1520s.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Radical Reformation
- The Radical Reformation is the wider movement of which Anabaptism was the largest part.
- believer's baptism movement
- This description names the central teaching rather than the historical group.
Word family
Commonly confused: Anabaptism or Baptist?
Anabaptism vs Baptist
Baptists are a separate later denomination that also practice believer's baptism, but they are not the same as Anabaptists.
Practice
Anabaptism is best described as
Choose one answer.
Anabaptists held that baptism should follow a personal profession of faith. The other options do not describe the movement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Anabaptism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.