January
1495-1544 A.D. Melchior Hoffman—1st a Lutheran; Then, an Anabaptist Enthusiast &
Apocalypsist—Predicted 2nd Return of Christ for 1533; Died in Prison
Editors.
“Melchior Hofman.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 8
Aug 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/268771/Melchior-Hofmann. Accessed 5 Dec 2014.
Melchior Hofmann, Hofmann also spelled Hoffmann (born c. 1495, Schwäbisch-Hall, Swabia [Germany]—died 1543/44, Strassburg
[now Strasbourg, France]), German mystic and lay preacher noted for contributing a
zealous eschatology to the religious doctrine of the Anabaptists, a Reformation movement that advocated adult baptism.
A furrier by trade,
Hofmann worked as a Lutheran lay missionary in Livonia (modern Latvia and Estonia), Sweden, and northern Germany. His fervour made him a competitor of the educated clergy, and he was
forced from Wolmar (now Valmiera, Latvia) in 1524 and from Dorpat (now Tartu,
Estonia) in 1526. He preached to the German community in Stockholm for two years and later received an appointment as minister in Kiel (now in Germany) from Frederick
I of Denmark.
At the colloquy in Flensburg (1529), Hofmann alarmed the Lutheran reformers by rejecting the Lutheran
doctrine of the Eucharist, and he was consequently banned from Denmark. Converted to Anabaptism in Strassburg, he preached doctrines
that went beyond both Lutheranism and Anabaptism; he stressed the
eschatological aspects of Christian belief, predicting that the end of the
world would occur in 1533 and that he would ride into Strassburg with Christ in
the clouds to establish the New Jerusalem. Hofmann greatly influenced the
development of Anabaptism in Münster, where a group of his Dutch followers took
control in 1533. Their radical apocalypticism and persecution of their
opponents, however, led to their destruction by the forces of the local
margrave and exiled bishop of the city in 1535.
Traveling to the Netherlands in 1530, Hofmann won converts, who became known as Melchiorites;
but upon his return to Strassburg (1533), where he was unpopular with the
Anabaptists, he allowed himself to be arrested and imprisoned. Hofmann died in
prison, his prophecy unfulfilled. For a short time afterward, Melchiorite
groups persisted in Europe and England, but they eventually disappeared in the
larger Anabaptist movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment