Diverse primary sources bring out unique characteristics of one branch of the Radical Reformation. The South German/Austrian branch of the Anabaptist family was unique in its mystical origins, spiritualist emphases, fascination with the end times, and communal forms of Anabaptism. These newly translated sources--from influential pre-Anabaptist writings by Jörg Haugk von Jüchsen and Hans Hergot, through writings of Hans Hut and confessions of Ambrosius Spitelmaier in the 1520s, to the experiences of the Hutterite missionary Hans Schmidt in 1590--shed light on this part of the Anabaptist world. The collection includes testimonies of Anabaptist leaders, writings by Protestant clerics, and testimonies and hymns from Anabaptist women including Katharina Hutter and Helena von Freyberg. This is the tenth volume in the Classics of the Radical Reformation, a series of Anabaptist and Free Church documents translated and annotated under the direction of the Institute of Mennonite Studies.

Primary sources reveal that despite severe persecution and expulsion, an underground Anabaptist movement continued to flourish in its birthplace, Switzerland. The story of Anabaptist origins in Switzerland is well known. By contrast, the life and thought of the Anabaptists who continued to live in Switzerland over the last two-thirds of the sixteenth century has remained in relative obscurity. One reason for this is that Swiss Anabaptists after 1530 communicated their ideas by circulating handwritten writings rather than by printing books. This present volume contains a selection of those writings that were being copied and circulated among the later Anabaptists in Switzerland. The text that dominates the present collection, both in terms of length and complexity, is the massive 466-page Codex 628, copied in 1590 and containing a wide sampling of material considered significant by the Swiss Anabaptists at the end of the century. Readers of this volume thus have the opportunity to peruse, in translation, significant archival holdings that document the development of Swiss Anabaptist thought over the course of the sixteenth century. These writings reveal a maturing religious and social movement whose members continued to reflect biblically on their call to discipleship while living in a world that designated all adult baptizers heretics and disobedient, dangerous citizens. This is the thirteenth volume in the Classics of the Radical Reformation, a series of Anabaptist and Free Church documents translated and annotated under the direction of the Institute of Mennonite Studies.

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.

C. Arnold Snyder's biography and analysis of the thought of Michael Sattler, noted Anabaptist leader and author of The Schleitheim Articles. Paperback, 264 pages.

Das "Handbuch Evangelische Spiritualitat" erarbeitet in drei Banden die Vielfalt und den Reichtum evangelischer Spiritualitat. So werden die verschiedenen Facetten des wesentlich von Luthers Entdeckung der Rechtfertigung des Sunders allein aus Gnaden bestimmten Glaubens in das offentliche Gesprach eingebracht und Wege zu seiner erfahrungsmassigen Aneignung eroffnet. Band 1 (Geschichte) widmet sich den historischen Wurzeln evangelischer Spiritualitat in der Reformation und ihren unterschiedlichen Gestaltungsformen bis heute. Band 2 (Theologie) konzentriert die evangelische Lehre auf ihre spirituelle Relevanz. Band 3 (Praxis) entfaltet die reiche Praxis evangelischer Spiritualitat in der Okumene und Ortgemeinde bis hin zu Kunst und sozialer Verantwortung. Im ersten Band des Handbuches liefern renommierte Autorinnen und Autoren historische Beitrage mit Gegenwartsbezug und Praxisrelevanz. An Beispielen von Personen, Gruppen und Stromungen wird die evangelische Spiritualitatsgeschichte erarbeitet.