1523–1527

The origins of Anabaptism and the Schleitheim Confession

Radical followers of Zwingli – Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and others – broke with him over infant baptism and the union of church and state. They demanded a "church of believers" founded on a personal confession of faith.

On 21 January 1525 in Zurich, the former priest Georg Blaurock asked Grebel to baptize him as an adult. He then began baptizing others himself. This was the first "rebaptism" and the birth of the movement its opponents called Anabaptism.

The authorities applied ancient laws prescribing death for rebaptism. In February 1527 at Schleitheim, under Michael Sattler's leadership, seven articles were adopted. They are the most authoritative Anabaptist confession: believers' baptism, separation from the world, refusal of the sword and of oaths. Sattler himself was soon burned at the stake.