Footnotes to the Schleitheim Confession

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1. A most significant concept in the thought of Michael Sattler is that of Vereinigung, which, according to the context, must be translated in many different ways. In the title we render it "Union"; here in the salutation it can most naturally be translated "reconciliation" or "atonement"; later in the text, in the passive participle form, it will mean "to be brought to unity." Thus the same word can be used for the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, for the procedure whereby brothers come to a common mind, for the state of agreement in which they find themselves, and for the document which states the agreement to which they have come. Heinold Fast suggests that here, in connection with "the blood of Christ,' the meaning might be "fellowship"; cf: 1 Corinthians 10:16.

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2. Or, literally, "ordered"; the rendering of J. C. Wenger, "scattered everywhere as it has been ordained of God our Father," is a good paraphrase if "ordained" may be understood without sacramental or predestinarian connotations.

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3. This term "aliens" or "foreigners" was interpreted by Cramer BRN, 605, note 1, in the geographic or political sense, as referring to non-Swiss. Kiwiet, Pilgram Marpeck, Kassel, 1959, p. 44, takes for granted the same meaning and says more sharply that at Schleitheim the Swiss Anabaptists broke communion with the German ones. This understanding is impossible for several reasons: 
   • There was no such strong sense of national identity, divided on clear geographic lines, in the 1520s; 
   • Sattler and Reublin, leaders in the meeting, were not Swiss; 
   • The libertines whom Schleitheim had in mind, although Denck (or Bucer) might have been included, were (if Anabaptist) surely mostly Swiss; namely, the enthusiasts of St. Gall (H. Fast "Die Sonderstellung der Täufer in St. Gallen and Appenzell," Zwingliana XI, 1960, pp. 223 ff.), and Ludwig Hätzer. 

   This term has a quite different reference; it is an allusion to Ephesians 2:12 and 19, testifying to the reconciling effect of the gospel on men who previously had been alienated by unbelief.

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4. "Direct" and "teach" have as their object "the same," i.e., the "work of God partially begun in us." Wenger's paraphrase, "direct the same and teach [us]" is smoother but weakens the striking image of a "work of God" within man which can be "partially begun," "cast down," "directed," and "taught." There is, however, ground for Böhmer's conjecture that the original may have read keren (guide) rather than leren (teach).

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5. The "Langer Randen" and the "Hoher Randen" are hills overlooking Schleitheim and not, as a modern reader might think, a reference to the fact that Schleitheim is near the (contemporary, political) border. 

   The original reads "Schlaten am Randen." A good halfdozen villages in southern Germany bear the names Schlat, Schlatt, or Schlatten. One, near Engen in Baden, also is identified as "am Randen," and until recently was held by some to have been the place of origin of the Seven Articles. The evidence, now generally accepted, for Schleitheim near Schaffhausen, is easily surveyed: 

   • J. J. Rüger, a Schaffhausen chronicler, writing around 1594, identifies Schleitheim with the Seven Articles; 
   • In the local dialect, the equivalent of ei in modern German is long a as in Schlaten, whereas the other villages Schlatten or Schlat have a short a; 
   • Being subject to overlapping jurisdictions and therefore hard to police, the Klettgau, and Schleitheim on its edge, were relatively safe and accessible for Anabaptists and thus a most fitting meeting place linking the major centers in southwest Germany and northeast Switzerland. This was the first area where Sattler's colleague W. Reublin had been active after his expulsion from Zürich early in 1525. This juridical situation continued through the century; Anabaptism was still alive in the Kühtal above Schleitheim as late as Ruger's writing. 
   • Professor F. Blanke reviews the question of place in Z, VI, pp. 104 f.; cf. also Werner Pletscher, "Wo Entstand das Bekenntnis von 1527?" MGB, V, 1940, pp. 20 f.

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6. According to Bohmer, one line of print was misplaced in imprint A. The text seems to say literally, "we were assembled in points and articles." The verb here is again "vereinigt." The "points and articles" may well have stood elsewhere in the sentence in the original text: "we have been united in points and articles" or "to stand fast in the Lord in these points and articles." Wenger's translation, "we are of one mind to abide in the Lord" is the best paraphrase but sacrifices the passive verbal construction which is important to the writer.

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7. Beginning with the parenthesis "(the praise and glory be to God alone)," the closing phrases of this paragraph refer not simply to a common determination to be faithful to the Lord, but much more specifically to the actual Schleitheim experience and the sense of unity (Vereinigung) which the members had come to in the course of the meeting. "Without contradiction of all the brothers" is the formal description and "completely at peace" is the subjective definition of this sense of Holy Spirit guidance. Zwingli considered the very report that "we have come together" to be the proof of the culpable, sectarian, conspiratorial character of Anabaptism (Elenchus, Z, VI, p. 56).

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8. 1 Corinthians 14:33.

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9. Ds. H. W. Meihuizen has recently asked with great thoroughness "Who were the `False Brethren' mentioned in the Schleitheim Articles?" (MQR, XLI, 1967, pp. 200 ff.). Meihuizen s method is to survey the entire Reformation scene, Anabaptists of all shadings as well as Reformers, especially those at Strasbourg whom Sattler had recently left. Comparing the known theological positions of these men with the Schleitheim statements, Meihuizen concludes that Schleitheim must have been aimed against Denck, Hubmaier, Hut, Hätzer, Bucer, and Capito. One can agree with this description of the positions in question, without being convinced that the meeting was this clearly directed  against a few particular men who were specifically not invited. If any one person was meant, if would most likely be Hätzer, whom Sattler had just been with in Strasbourg, and who was the only one of these who could be accused of libertinistic leanings. For present purposes, i.e., in order to understand the meaning of this document, it suffices to be clear from the internal evidence (in agreement with Meihuizen): 
   • That some persons previously attached to some of the positions condemned were present at Schleitheim in order to be participants in the event of "being brought to unity"; the "false brothers" referred to by the cover letter were therefore not only state-church Reformers but at least some of them were within Anabaptism;
   • That the greatest emphasis in the Seven Articles themselves falls on those points of ultimate theological separateness from the Reformed: baptism, relation between ban and the supper, sword, oath. Here the list is so parallel to the document from Strasbourg that one surmises that Sattler may have been developing his outline already when he was at Strasbourg; 
   • That in the juxtaposition of the cover letter and the Seven Articles, Sattler affirms an inner linkage between the positions of the marginal Anabaptists and Spiritualists who differed from the Zurich-Schleitheim stream, and those of the evangelical Reformers.

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10. H. W. Meihuizen reads the phrase "to their own condemnation" as meaning that the Schleitheim assembly took action to excommunicate the libertines whom the text here refers to. "The Concept of Restitution in the Anabaptism of Northwestern Europe," MQR, Vol. XLIV, April 1970, p. 149. This is not possible. The verb ergeben refers to the libertines' abandoning themselves to lasciviousness, not to the Anabaptists' action. In order to enable this interpretation Meihuizen must omit the parentheses which are in the original.

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11. "Glieder" (members) has in German only the meaning related to the image of the body; the overtone of "membership" in a group, which makes the phrase "members of God" unusual in modern English, is not present in the original.

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12. Galatians 5:24.

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13. The use of the first person singular here is the demonstration that the introductory letter was written, probably after the meeting, by an individual.

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14. This is the conclusion of the introductory letter and of the epistolary style. The "cover letter" is not in the Bern manuscript, and the Seven Articles probably circulated most often without it.

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15. With one exception, every article begins with the same use of the word vereinigt as a passive participle, which we have rendered thus literally as a reminder of the meaning of Vereinigung for Sattler.

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16. Here the printed version identifies the following Scripture texts (giving chapter number only): Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36; Acts 16:31-33; 19:4.

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17. Nachwandeln, to walk after, is the nearest approximation in the Schleitheim text to the concept of discipleship (Nachfolge) which was later to become especially current among Anabaptists.

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18. Two interpretations of this phrase are possible. "To be inadvertently overtaken" might be a description of falling into sin, parallel to the earlier phrase "somehow slip and fall." This would mean that sin is for the Christian disciple partly a matter of ignorance or inattention. Cramer, BRN, p. 607, note 2, and Jenny, p. 55, seek to explain that all sin is somehow inadvertent; i.e., that at the time of a sinful decision one is deceived and not fully aware of its gravity. Calvin (with some grounds in the phrasing of the French translation) misunderstood this text to mean that the Anabaptists would distinguish between forgivable and unforgivable sins, with only the inadvertent ones being within the scope of the congregation's reconciling concern. Or the reference may be to the way the guilty person was discovered.

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19. The printed version inserts" or banned."

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20. This reference to Matthew 18 is the only Scripture reference in the earliest handwritten text. "Rule of Christ" or "Command of Christ" is a standard designation for this text. Cf. J. Yoder: "Binding and Loosing," Concern 14, Scottdale, 1967, esp. pp. 15 ff. Other Scripture allusions identified in the footnotes are not labeled in the text. This abundant citation of scriptural language without being concerned to indicate the source of quotation is an indication of the fluency with which Anabaptists thought in biblical vocabulary; it is probably also an indication that they thought of those texts as expressing a meaningful truth rather than as "proof texts."

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21. At this point Walter Köhler, the editor of the printed version, suggests the text Matthew 5:23. If "the ordering of the spirit" relates specifically to "before the breaking of bread" and means to point to a Scripture text, this could be a likely one; or 1 Corinthians 11 could also possibly be alluded to; but "ordering of the spirit" is not the usual way in which the Anabaptists refer to a Bible quotation. The phrase can also mean a call for a personal and flexible attitude, guided by the Holy Spirit, in the application of the concern for reconciliation.

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22. This is the one point at which the word vereinigt is not used at the beginning of an article, presumably because it occurs later in the same sentence.

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23. Vereinigt: here the word has none of the meanings detailed above, but points to still another; to the work of God in constituting the unity of the Christian church.

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24. 1 Corinthians 10:21. Some texts have here "Saint Paul."

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25. Most ecumenical debate about the validity of sacraments focuses upon either the sacramental status of the officiant or the doctrinal understanding of the meaning of the emblems. It should be pointed out that the Anabaptist understanding of close communion refers not to the sacrament but to the participants. It is invalidated not by an unauthorized officiant or an insufficient concept of sacrament, but by the absence of real community among those present.

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26. Note the shift from "world" to "they." "The world" is not discussed independently of the people constituting the unregenerate order.

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27. 2 Corinthians 6:17.

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28. Revelation 18:4 ff. Some texts read "which the Lord intends to bring upon them."

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29. Vereinigt.

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30. The printed version adds "and flee."

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31. The prefix wider can mean either "counter" or "re-" (modern wieder-). Both meanings of course apply to the Reformation churches of Strasbourg and the Swiss cities, which are meant here; they are both anti-popish (having broken with the Roman communion) and re-popish (having retained or reinstated certain characteristics of Catholicism). Earlier translations have chosen the rendering "papist and anti-papist," but the other reading carries a greater pointedness of meaning and is supported by Zwingli's translation. Thus the claim that the new Protestant churches are at some points copies of what was wrong with Catholicism is already taken for granted in early 1527.

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32. Götzendienst. The Bern manuscript and the early prints read Gottesdienst ("worship"); but Zwingli, who had other manuscripts as well, translated "idolatry." Since the next two words both deal with church attendance, "idolatry" is less redundant. "Idolatry" was a current designation in the whole Zwinglian movement for the place of statues and pictures in Catholic worship.

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33. Kirchgang, literally meaning church attendance, has no congregational dimension to it but refers to the conformity to established patterns of those who, while perhaps sympathizing with the Anabaptists, still avoided any public reproach by regularly being seen at the state church functions.

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34. The Bern manuscript reads Burgschaft, i.e., a guarantee or security supporting a promise, and belongs in the economic and social realm. If "unbelief" here refers to a lack of sincerity, then the "guarantees and commitments of unbelief" would mean such matters as signing notes and mortgages and affidavits in less than good faith. Martin Luther held strongly that such guarantees, even in good faith, were not only unwise but immoral since the guarantor puts himself in the place of God. ("On Trading and Usury, 1524," in Works of Martin Luther, Muhlenburg, Philadelphia, 1931, Vol. IV, pp. 9 ff). His argument is thus very parallel to that of the Anabaptists on the oath. A more likely view is that "unbelief" is synonymous with "worldly," and the reference is rather to guilds and social clubs. Zwingli translates with foedera, "covenants." Bullinger bears out this interpretation by reprimanding the Anabaptists at length (Von dem unverschampten Fräfel. . . , pp. cxxi to cxxviii) for their opposition to associations and societies (pündtnussen and gselschafften), concord and friendship (vertrag unnd früntschafft) with unbelievers, and seemly temporal joy (zymliche zytliche fröud). The later printed text changed Burgshaft to Bürgeschaft (citizenship), which is less in place in Art. IV. In April 1527 Zwingli was unsure what it meant but leaned toward "serving as a guarantor" (Z, IX, p. 112); by August when he wrote the Elenchus he interpreted it as "citizenship," perhaps as referring to the Anabaptists' refusal to perform the citizen's oath. But if Bürgerschaft should mean citizenship, the "commitments of unbelief" still must mean some kind of involvement, legal, economic, or social, with unbelievers (Z, VI, p. 121). Luke 16:15's reference to "abominations" may be alluded to.

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35. The printed version adds "doubtless."

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36. The printed version reads "unchristian and."

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37. Matthew 5:39.

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38. 1 Timothy 3:7. Interpreters are not clear where the focus of Art. V lies. Its first thrust is a call for the shepherd to be a morally worthy person, i.e., a critique of the practice of his being appointed on the grounds of his education or social connections without regard to moral stature. Zwingli's translation moves the accent by translating "the shepherd should be one from the congregation," i.e., not someone from elsewhere. As Zwingli knew, the Anabaptists also rejected the naming of a minister to a parish by a distant city council, and he let that knowledge influence his translation.

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39. The printed version adds, "to lead the brothers and sisters in prayer, to begin to break bread ...."

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40. 1 Corinthians 9:14.

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41. The change in number here from "a shepherd" to "if they sin" is explained by the fact that this sentence is a quotation from 1 Timothy 5:20.

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42. "Cross" is already by this time a very clear cliché or "technical term" designating martyrdom.

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43. Perhaps "installed" would be less open to the sacramental misunderstanding. Verordnet has no sacramental meaning.

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44. "Law" here is a specific reference to the Old Testament. Significantly the verb here is not verordnet but merely geordnet; conveying even less of a sense of 27 permanence or of specific divine institution. It should be noted that in this entire discussion "sword" refers to the judicial and police powers of the state; there is no reference to war in Art. VI; there had been a brief one in Art. IV.

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45. "Without the death of the flesh" is the clear reading of the earliest manuscript. Zwingli, however, understood it "toward the putting to death of the flesh," a possible allusion to 1 Corinthians 5; the difference in the original is only between a and o.

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46. Matthew 11:29.

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47. John 8:11.

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48. John 8:22.

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49. Luke 12:13.

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50. Two interpretations are possible for "did not discern the ordering of His Father." This may mean that Jesus did not respect, as being an obligation for Him, the service in the state in the office of king, even though the existence of the state is a divine ordinance. More likely would be the interpretation that Jesus did not evaluate the action of the people wanting to make Him king as having been brought about (ordered) by His Father.

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51. Matthew 16:24.

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52. Matthew 20:25.

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53. Romans 8:30.

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54. 1 Peter 2:21.

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55. Philippians 3:20.

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56. Here the printed version adds Matthew 12:25: "For every kingdom divided against itself will be destroyed."

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57. Matthew 12:25.

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58. Matthew 5:34-37.

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59. Hebrews 6:7 ff.

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60. Matthew 5:35.

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61. Zwingli's translation fills in the argument here: "if it is bad to swear, or even to use the Lord's name to confirm the truth, then the apostles Peter and Paul sinned: for they swore. "

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62. Luke 2:34.

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63. The difference in tense between "taught" and "says" is in the original; it results from the fact that Scripture references are always given in the present: "Christ says," "Paul says," "Peter says."

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64. This concludes the Seven Articles.

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65. Vereinigt.

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66. A second reference to 2 Corinthians 6:17.

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67. Titus 2:11-14.

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68. February 24.

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69. This document has no title; the title chosen here reflects the label given it in the (modern) table of contents of the volume of archival materials UP 80 in the State Archive of Bern. No earlier full translation into English has been published; the text has been digested by Delbert Gratz, Bernese Anabaptists, Scottdale, 1953, p. 25, and by Robert Friedmann, Mennonite Quarterly Review, 1955, p. 162. Jean Seguy published a translation and commentary in Christ Seul (journal of the French Mennonites) No. 1 (p. 13) and No. 2 (p. 5), 1967. The text seems to be in the same hand as the copy of the Seven Articles so that it may be assumed to have circulated together with them and been seized at the same time. 

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70. May mean either: "in the providence of God the Word is preached to us," whereby "Ordnung" would refer to the workings of God in bringing about Reformation and gospel preaching; or "the Word of God is preached according to the divine pattern," with the emphasis on the rediscovery of the true divinely willed church order. The following "whereby" may accordingly refer either to the preaching or to the proper ordering.

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71. 1 John 2:8.

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72. Sich üben: perhaps includes an element of rote learning of gospel narrative and teaching, since literacy and the possession of Bibles was still rare.

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73. "Read" includes exposition. "Readings" had been one of the earliest names given to the study meetings held in Zürich and St. Gall prior to the foundation of Anabaptist congregations.

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74. "The one to whom God has given the best understanding shall explain it" may mean that, for every particular passage, whoever understands its meaning should speak up. Then we would have a picture of a meeting with no settled leadership, with no controlling role for the "shepherd" who was called for by Schleitheim Article V. Then one might infer, as does Jean Seguy, that this text testifies to a time before the Schleitheim decisions, when congregations functioned without a named leader. It is, however, also possible that "the one to whom God has given the best understanding" may be a circumlocution for a spontaneously recognized leader in the local group.

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75. This "reading" may well be rote recitation. This reference to the Psalter is one of the very rare early Anabaptist references to non-congregational devotional exercises. It may be a further trace of an inheritance from monasticism.

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76. 1 Timothy 2:8.

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77. Matthew 18:15, cf. above note 20.

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78. The common fund is seen here as a special purse for specific needs, not as a total communism of consumption such as was established not much later in Moravia. It is significant that the non-Hutterian Anabaptists also considered themselves to be following the economic example of the early Jerusalem Christians.

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79. Romans 14:17. The assumption that the congregation would frequently gather around a simple meal may be linked to their avoidance of social clubs and guilds (Art. IV.)

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80. The Lord's Supper, specifically identified as such, is evidently distinguished from the rest of the meal, even though both were practiced as often as the brothers met. (Cf. Art. 1).

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Augsburger, Myron S. Pilgrim aflame. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1973.

The story of Michael Sattler and the Schleitheim Meeting written in fictionalized form, but based on the historical data.

Bender, Harold S. The Anabaptist vision. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1944 (many reprints).

The classic interpretation of sixteenth-century Anabaptism by a great scholar.

"Brüderlich Vereinigung." Mennonite Encyclopedia. Scottdale, Pa. : Mennonite Publishing House, 1955-59, v. 1, 447-448.

An account of the Schleitheim Confession, its background and significance, written by J. C. Wenger.

Burkholder, John Richard, and Redekop, Calvin (eds.), Kingdom, cross, and community: essays on Mennonite themes in honor of Guy F. Hershberger. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1976.

An attempt to test the winds and discern the Mennonite vision and direction during the 1970s in those areas where disciple meets disciple, and church meets world. A companion volume to the distinguished classic, The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision (see listing below under "Hershberger" ), both of which are consciously based upon a common faith and experience.

Friedmann, Robert, "The Schleitheim Confession (1527) and other doctrinal writings of the Swiss Brethren in a hitherto unknown edition," Mennonite Quarterly Review, 16 (April 1942), 82-98.

Friedmann was one of the first North American scholars to recognize the true value of the Schleitheim Confession: J. C. Wenger soon followed with an English translation of the Confession three years later (MQR, 19 [October 1945], 244-253).

Good, Merle. These people mine. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1973.

Within a handful of beautiful vignettes, the author sketches poetically and dramatically the whole spectrum of Anabaptist and Mennonite history. One vignette is an eloquent testimonial, "The Birth at Schleitheim."

Gospel herald (22 February 1977).

A special section on "Schleitheim" prepared in cooperation with the Mennonite Historical Committee.

Hershberger, Guy F. (ed.). The recovery of the Anabaptist vision. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1957.

This volume contains a strong set of interpretive essays on the historical significance of Anabaptism and the meaning of this movement for the present time.

Martyrs mirror (edited by Thieleman J. van Braght). Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1951

Contains the story of Michael Sattler (pp. 416-420). Van Braght's inclusion of the Sattler story in this Dutch work would suggest some influence of Sattler-and of the Schleitheim Confession-upon Low Country Mennonitism. (Indeed, the Schleitheim Confession was translated and published into the Dutch language in 1560, and again in 1565 another clue to the significance of the Schleitheim Confession for Dutch and North German Mennonitism. See above, "Brüderlich Vereinigung," for this documentation.)

"The Radicals." Worchester, Pa. : Gateway Files-Vision Videos, 1990?

Video based on Myron Augsburger's Pilgram aflame. Produced by Sisters and Brothers, Inc., a small Mennonite film company. 99 minutes.

"Sattler, Michael." Mennonite Encyclopedia. Scottdale, Pa. : Mennonite Publishing House, 1955-59": v. 4, 427-434.

This lengthy account is a moving story of the life and significance of Sattler for the development of the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement.

"Schleitheim." Mennonite Encyclopedia Scottdale, Pa. : Mennonite Publishing House, 1955-59: v. 4, 460-461.

This essay presents the background material to the meeting itself of those who created what later would become known as the Schleitheim Confession.

Snyder, C. Arnold. The life and thought of Michael Sattler. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1984.

The standard biography on Michael Sattler. It includes analysis of the Schleitheim Confession.

Wenger, J.C. Conrad Grebel's Programmatic Letters of 1524. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1974.

Here is the first synthesis of Anabaptist thought, containing the kernel ideas of what later would be incorporated into the Schleitheim Confession.

Yoder, John H. The Legacy of Michael Sattler. Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1973.

Contains excellent background information to the Schleitheim Confession, which places this most important Confession in its historical and theological setting (see especially pp. 27-34 and 47-48 for an appraisal of how the Schleitheim Confession has been interpreted historically and theologically over the centuries). Also includes other writings of the significant Anabaptist thinker and martyr, Michael Sattler. The volume is central in understanding the idea and setting of the Mennonite faith.

Published by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania.  All rights reserved. Translated and edited by John Howard Yoder. Reprinted from The Legacy of Michael Sattler (Scottdale, Pa. : Herald Press, 1973) For information on ordering print copies of the book or this statement visit the Herald Press website.