German Anabaptist
Hans Hut
Hans Hut
(c. 1490 – 6 December 1527) was a very active
Anabaptist
in
southern Germany
and
Austria
.
Life
[
edit
]
Hut was born in
Haina
near
Romhild
, South
Thuringia
, and became a travelling bookseller. Hut was for some years
sacristan
in
Bibra
to the knight Hans
von Bibra
(the brother of Bishop
Lorenz von Bibra
). He early came under the influence of
Thomas Muntzer
and, refusing to have his child baptized, was driven from the community in 1524.
[1]
He took part in the decisive battle of Thuringia during the
German Peasants' War
on 15 May 1525 at
Bad Frankenhausen
. About a week later at Bibra, Hut preached "subjects should murder all the authorities, for the opportune time has arrived." In his later years Hut distanced himself from Muntzer, saying that he (himself) "had clearly erred" and that he "had not understood him (Muntzer)."
[2]
After the battle he managed to flee and traveled throughout the region.
On
Pentecost
1526 he was
baptized
in Augsburg by
Hans Denck
, who had previously been baptized by
Balthasar Hubmaier
. Some feel that Hut and Denck taught
universal salvation
,
[3]
but others question whether this was so.
[4]
He expected the 1528 coming of the
Kingdom of God
in the form of a violent
apocalyptic
imposition of the rule of
Christ
. For this reason, he curtailed his extensive missionary activity to await
Pentecost
1528 and be among the
144,000 elect
. In addition to baptizing with water, he sealed the baptism with a sign of the cross on the forehead.
His mission activity extended from the Thuringian-French border in the north to
Tyrol
and
Moravia
and in his mission journeys he often seemed to seek former Peasants' War participants. His preaching was strongly influenced by
Thomas Muentzer's
mysticism. Gottfried Sebaß, an expert on Hut's life and theology, calls him simply "Muentzer's heir." Among those influenced by Hut were
Augustin Bader
.
In May 1527,
Hans Schlaffer
and others joined Hut in a notable theological controversy taking place in
Mikulov
(Czech) (in German
Nikolsburg
), in
Moravia
, present day Czech Republic. Unfortunately, the exact subject of the debate has been lost to history, but it may have involved the question of whether or not a committed Christian could hold a job, e.g. as a soldier, in which he would be required to use violence.
[5]
In August 1527 Hans Hut was a key participant at the
Martyrs' Synod
in
Augsburg
, a gathering of 60 Anabaptists from the surrounding region, trying to come to a common understanding about various teachings. When the Augsburg town council learned of the meeting, they attempted to arrest the group. Hut was arrested along with the major Augsburg Anabaptists. Though the arrest did not end Hut's teaching, after a trial he and the others were sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. Hut was tortured horribly and accidentally died as a result of a fire that caused his
asphyxiation
in the Augsburg prison on 6 December 1527. The next day, the authorities sentenced his dead body to death and burned him.
Hut is the author of
Ausbund
no. 8, “O Thou Almighty Lord and God” (O Allmachtiger Herr Gott), which is still in the hymnal used today by North American
Amish
congregations.
[6]
Works
[
edit
]
- Von dem geheimnis der tauf, baide des zaichens und des Wesens, ein anfang eines rechten wahrhaftigen christlichen Lebens
(1527)
- Ein christlicher Underricht, wie gottliche geschrift vergleicht und geurtailt solle werden. Aus kraft des heiligen geists und zeuknus der dreitail christlichen Glaubens sambt iren verstand
(1527)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Albert Henry Newman .
A manual of Church history
. American Baptist Publication Society, 1903, page 161
- ^
Williams, George Huntston. The Radical Reformation, 3rd Edition. Truman State Univ Press, 2000. p. 168
- ^
Charles Steven Seymour.
A Theodicy of Hell
. Springer. 2000.
- ^
Morwenna Ludlow
, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History (2004), Cambridge University Press ? "Why Was Hans Denck Thought to Be a Universalist?
- ^
Robert Friedmann (December 1967). "The Nicolsburg Articles: A Problem of Early Anabaptist History".
Church History
.
36
(4): 391?409.
doi
:
10.2307/3163068
.
JSTOR
3163068
.
S2CID
162438424
.
- ^
"O Allmachtiger Herr Gott"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-12-24
. Retrieved
2009-04-08
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Gottfried Sebaß:
Muntzers Erbe. Werk, Leben und Theologie des Hans Hut.
Gutersloh 2002.
- Werner O. Packull:
Mysticism and the Early South German - Austrian Anabaptist Movement.
Scottdale 1977.
- Hans-Jurgen Goertz:
Die Taufer. Geschichte und Deutung.
Munchen 1988, 2. Auflage
- Gottfried Sebaß:
Das Zeichen der Erwahlten : zum Verstandnis der Taufe bei Hans Hut
- in:
Umstrittenes Taufertum : 1525 - 1975; neue Forschungen
(Hrsg. Hans-Jurgen Goertz), 1975, S. 138 - 164.
External links
[
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]
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