It was wonderful to have Lloyd Pietersen with us for a couple of days last week. While he was here, he took a couple of sessions with our undergraduates discussing Anabaptist hermeneutics and the Schleitheim Confession (1527). On Monday evening he presented an illustrated paper on the lessons that can be learnt from Münster 1534-1535.  In it, he explored how a marginal group, who espoused pacifism, could give rise to an event that ended in so much bloodshed and violence… and what might its lessons be for us today?

Anabaptist Apocalypticism, Sex and Violence:          Lessons from Münster

Dr. Lloyd Pietersen

Newman Research Centre for the Bible and its Reception
25th April 2016

(Full text of paper available to download below)

In this lecture I shall briefly rehearse the origins of sixteenth century Anabaptism before turning to a summary of the events leading up to Münster. After describing the events at Münster between 1534-1535 I shall examine the role of apocalypticism on the movement and finally reflect on some more contemporary examples of apocalypticism, sex and violence and ending with some cautionary comments on Donald Trump.

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