During the upheavals of the Reformation, one of the most significant of the radical Protestant movements emerged — that of the Anabaptist movement. Profiles of Anabaptist Women provides lively, well-researched profiles of the courageous women who chose to risk prosecution and martyrdom to pursue this unsanctioned religion — a religion that, unlike the established religions of the day, initially offered them opportunity and encouragement to proselytize. Derived from sixteenth-century government records and court testimonies, hymns, songs and poems, these profiles provide a panorama of life and faith experiences of women from Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Austria. These personal stories of courage, faith, commitment and resourcefulness interweave women’s lives into the greater milieu, relating them to the dominant male context and the socio-political background of the Reformation. Taken together, these sketches will give readers an appreciation for the central role played by Anabaptist women in the emergence and persistence of this radical branch of Protestantism.

Previously untold stories of women persecuted for their faith during the early years of the Reformation are revealed in the Austrian Anabaptist court records. In the turbulent years of the early 1500s, women chose to express their personal faith publicly through adult baptism, which was outlawed by the state. They took the initiative to proselytize among family members and neighbours. Their commitment to the Anabaptist movement in the Austrian territory of Tirol demonstrates profound faith and courage which still speak to us today. These stories, translated from the court records, add considerably to our knowledge of early Anabaptist history and of religious women in general. "Anabaptist women were the mainstay of the early baptizing movement - a fact generally obscured by most historical narratives describing the movement. In this book, Linda H. Hecht opens a unique window through which we can glimpse the life, faith and practice of people to whom history has generally denied a voice. She does this by gathering and translating the records of judicial proceedings against Anabaptist women in Austria from 1527 to 1531. The translated records published here are contextualized with helpful historical introductions and commentary throughout. Contemporary illustrations and woodcuts enrich the historical texture of the collection. This book shines much needed light on the variety and extent of women's participation in the baptizing movement." - C. Arnold Snyder "This book represents the culmination of a long-term project by one of the very few scholars to focus sustained attention on the subject of Anabaptist women. The result is as detailed a picture as the sources allow of Anabaptist women in the Austrian Tirol from 1527 to 1531, the period when Anabaptism was established there and persecution was the heaviest." - Mary S. Sprunger in the Mennonite Quarterly Review

With Bibles and baptism, a movement was born. From renegade gatherings of Christian believers in the 1500s to a global communion of more than 2.1 million members, the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement has been marked by faithfulness and failure, continuity and conflict, radicalism and reformation. In this engaging history, Radicals and Reformers traces the origins and development of the Anabaptist and Mennonite movements from their beginnings in Europe through their spread across the globe. In this new authoritative introduction to Anabaptist history, historian Troy Osborne reflects on the ways that Anabaptists have defined their identity in new settings and in response to new theological, intellectual, geographic, and political contexts. Drawing from current scholarship and a range of written and visual sources, this book provides an overview of how Mennonites from Zurich to Zimbabwe have adapted to or resisted the world around them.

This handbook of Anabaptism and Spiritualism provides an informative survey of recent scholarship on the Radical Reformation, from the 1520s to the end of the eighteenth century. Each chapter offers a narrative summary that engages current research and suggests directions for future study.