Brian Hamilton-Vise

Sattler’s Discipline

Sattler’s ‘radicality’ was not opposed to structure, not a ‘radicality’ that would be lost once it was ‘institutionalized’; Sattler’s ‘radicality’ demanded structure and demanded institution. Sattler was most radical, most offensive to ‘mainstream’ Protestant authorities, most powerfully set against the atrocities of the passing age precisely in his zeal to organize a confession and a discipline–in short, “the ordering of the Spirit of God”–for those made new in Christ. It was this confession and discipline that made the community itself radical, that made its opposition to worldly powers recognizable as opposition. Without their discipline, the Swiss Brethren wouldn’t have been radical at all: just another magisterial reform movement.

17 August 2007 | Comments (0)
Tags: Reformation, Schleitheim Confession