1525

The Anabaptists and believers' baptism: the dispute over infant baptism

The Anabaptist movement arose in Zurich among those who considered Zwingli too moderate: Christianity is a matter of personal decision, so infants must not be baptized. On 21 January 1525 George Blaurock asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him and then began baptizing others; opponents called them "Anabaptists," though they themselves regarded their baptism as the only valid one. In his treatise Baptism, Rebaptism and Infant Baptism Zwingli defended infant baptism as a sign of the covenant, analogous to circumcision, but rejected the teaching of regeneration in baptism; the Zurich council moved against the radicals. The ancient laws imposing death for rebaptism, issued against the Donatists, were applied to them, and hundreds were killed. Menno Simons taught that regeneration by the Word precedes baptism rather than being produced by it.