Tucked away in the 16th century lies a seldom-discussed phenomenon that worked its way through—and out from—the reforms of Luther and Zwingli. In his academic work, Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism, Charles Hannon Byrd II undertakes the fascinating labor of bringing to light various similarities and the ethos for which modern Pentecostalism and Anabaptism share.
For most familiar with the events of the Reformation Movement, pneumatology is not an ecclesiastical feature most would attribute to the time period. Yet, amidst the fervor of Luther’s calls for sola scriptura and sola fide a less formidable but influential effort toward the restoration of the Primitive Church began to burgeon among the more radical of Luther’s followers. These followers, influenced by an early Rhenish mysticism and a Pauline pneumatology that marked the early stages of Luther’s ministerial life, were labeled negatively by Luther as Schwärmers and, despite Luther’s protests, would emerge as a vivid backdrop to events of the Reformation.
The foundational Schwärmers, Karlstadt, Müntzer, and Schwenckfeld, would prove as a thorn in Luther’s side due to their rejection of Luther’s “turn away from his initial reform theology, particularly the Petrine doctrine of the priesthood of the believer and a Pauline pneumatology combined with his inclusion of the magistracy”[i] Byrd, referencing the praxes of Karlstadt in Wittenberg in 1523, writes that he (Karlstadt) “began to encourage his congregants to prophecy in services according to I Corinthians 14, and gave some credence to dreams and visions, which were early Pentecostal-like practices” [ii] Müntzer, more radical than the others and keeping in line with a limited understanding of the Pauline pneumatology of I Corinthians 14, continued to propagate the idea of an ongoing prophetic articulation by God to believers just as the Primitive Church had observed.
Dreams, visions, and prophecy are certainly not a commonly discussed feature of the 16th-century reformation, yet, as Byrd outlines, a blossoming tension between the word and the Spirit would play backstage. The tension is no more pronounced than in Switzerland following the emergence of the Anabaptists of St. Gallen in 1525, who would be charged with “rank spiritualism of charismatic vagaries.”[iii]
Anabaptism, emerging in Switzerland with startling presence as an offshoot of Zwingli’s reforms, is most known for its dogmatic rejection of pedobaptism, a mutual position shared with Luther’s Schwärmers. However, alongside the commonly known doctrines of Anabaptism was also a robust effort to reclaim practices that are deeply connected to the first century and modern Pentecostal praxis. According to Byrd, “early manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to I Corinthians 12-14, particularly speaking in tongues and prophecy, as well as other Pentecostal-type phenomena such as being slain the spirit, were prevalent.” [iv]
Review
At 217 pages, fortified by an additional fifty-plus pages of references, Charles Byrd brings to the table an invaluable addition that spotlights—through the lens of Pentecostal scholarship—the enduring tension found in church history where individuals and groups continued to exist in the margins who sought for the restoration of Primitive Church (first century) praxes. The significance of this is not lost on the fact that Charles Parham, as a key figure of the modern Pentecostal movement, would also seek to restore what he often referred to as primitive Christianity. [v]
Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism is a tour de force of immense importance for the Apostolic Pentecostal community. Byrd strategically weaves together a seldom-known backdrop to the Reformation and the emerging doctrines and beliefs of the Anabaptists, who faced terrible persecution at the hand of Protestant and Roman Catholic antagonists. The last chapter, Pilgram Marpeck and Early Pentecostalism, develops a robust understanding of the ethos between Anabaptism and early Pentecostalism, and Byrd does an exceptional service to the comparison between 16th-century Anabaptism beliefs and Early Pentecostalism.
In conclusion, Charles Byrd’s Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism is a must-have book for any student of church history, especially those whose involvement with church history is viewed through the lens of a Pentecostal hermeneutic. We continue to see, even today among non-Pentecostal communities, an ongoing tension for a restoration of the Primitive Church remains, and only the Apostolic Pentecostal church is poised to connect the world to a first-century paradigm of a Spirit-filled and empowered Ecclesia.
[i] Byrd, C.H. (2019) Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth Century Anabaptism, 18
[ii] Byrd, Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth Century Anabaptism, 21
[iii] Williams, G.H. (1962) The Radical Reformation, 1290.
[iv] Byrd, Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth Century Anabaptism, 99
[v] Goff, J. (1988) Fields White unto Harvest: Charles Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism