Compare and Contrast Lutheranism and The Rise of the Swiss Anabaptists

COMPARE AND CONTRAST LUTHERANISM AND THE RISE OF THE SWISS ANABAPTISTS
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Introduction
Over many years now, Anabaptism and Lutheranism have both existed as some of the most dominant denominations in the Christian religious society. Whereas both Lutherans and Anabaptists were founded in the 16th century, the former has continued to expand in its scope and theology recruiting and converting more and more believers into its faith whereas the latter has continued to struggle with persecutions and other internal and external religious and political conflict within itself.[Gonzalez, J. The Story of Christianity. (United States of America, Haperone, 2010), 80]
The two groups were both founded in the 16th century and have since shared some history both in comparison and by contrast. This paper seeks to examine the history of both Anabaptism and Lutheranism and the Anabaptists and Lutheran view of religion as a whole. While dividing the sections into two parts, the paper will in the first section outline some o the remarkable similarities that are shared between these two religious communities while primarily focusing on what led to the rising of Lutheranism as what is now considered a state church whereas the Anabaptists continued to receive massive challenges and criticism amidst widespread persecution of both its followers and leaders.[Dillenberger John, Martin Luther: Selections. (New York, Doubleday, 2010), 23]
In the second section of this paper, the theological similarity and differences will be closely examined, beginning from the very simple one that they are both Christian denominations. Similarly the major differences between the two groups such as the theological perspective when it crimes to receiving and administering sacraments will also be discussed so as to show the basis of each individual approach and the reason as to why the religious groups today favors the one and not the other.
The rise of Lutheranism
Lutheranism can be simply defined as the belief in the teachings and theological standpoint of Martin Luther and the practice of Lutheran faith. This religious group was founded by Martin Luther who was a German reform leader and a great critic of the Catholic Church as awhole. His criticisms led to the rise of Protestants as he boldly and widely contested the beliefs held dear by the catholic leaders and followers. This lead to a wide international protests and disjointed opinions among both Germans and the regional countries and later a split to form the Roman Catholics and the Lutheran church.[Kerr Hugh, Readings in Christian Thought (Nashville, Abingdon, 2010), 56]
In the year 1521, the roman empire excommunicated Martin Luther and his followers from the church and further dictated that their property be split between the imperial government of Germany and the church who implicated the charges against Luther. It has been widely observed that the Lutherans major difference with most of the liberal churches today is that the Lutheran church has a very stringent and strict obedient to the church leaders and the church rules as set apart by the church laws and rituals. This include strong observance of the church practices such as the lord`s supper in which all the believers have to partake and the law of the lord which every believer is expected to strictly obey.[Kerr Hugh, Calvin`s Institutes: A New Commend, (Westminister, John Knox, 2005), 9]
It was during the 16th century that the spread of Lutheran faith started to extend to northern Europe in regions like Denmark and Norway and Finland. The Lutheran faith was quickly gaining recognition and adoption even in Sweden and Baltic regions and generally nearly in all the member countries of Scandinavia, during these massive spread of the Lutheran faith, there emerged renowned preachers of the Lutheran church, the likes of Han of Denmark who preached during the period between fifteen twenty three and fifteen thirty three.
It was also during this period that the Lutheran faith saw a widespread acceptance in Denmark among both the ordinary Danish and the high society of Denmark including the king himself. However, during this time, there was still a lot of dispute between the Lutheran church and the larger roman catholic church and the Catholics looked down upon the Lutherans hence there was widespread despise and religious skeptics. This is the reason why the son of Frederick who was a Lutheran could not be accepted as the heir of his father`s throne.
The church of Denmark had a constitution which stipulated that their faith would be based on the pure God`s word and nothing else and they would not even accept parallel teachings from any individual or group of people who professed to be prophets if they did not present the word of God in its purest form. In the year 1532, the Danish bible, the first of its kind in the region and written by Martin Luther was adopted in the mainstream church readings and quickly gained acceptance and circulation. Before long, there were over three thousand copies of this bible in circulation by the mid 1550s and was arguably the most used copy among the Lutherans in that time.
On the other has, the Swedish population received the Lutheran Christianity much later after the migration of the two German brothers, Laurentius and Olaus Petri, in to Sweden for the purpose of the gospel. The two brothers led successful campaigns for the Lutheran faith and ended up converting so many believers into Lutheranism including the-would be king of Sweden, Gustav, in the year fifteen twenty three. It was during the same year that the Swedish government detached itself from the papal connections it had earlier. The king further succeeded in making all the church is under him thus making him uphold and highly speak of the Lutheran faith and practice in his country. He also made sure he was involved in the selection of church leaders such as the priests and the clergy and fought hard to make Lutheran church a national Christian denomination among the Swedish people, a quest which succeeded four years down the line.[Roland Bainton, Here I Stand (New York, Oxford University Press, 1950), 6]
Reasons for the rise of the Lutheran church
There are many factors that led to the rise and persistence of Lutheranism as a whole amidst the strong roman catholic opposition during the time.
The willingness of the Lutherans to share and spread their gospel: - many people who had learnt under Luther were eager to share their new found knowledge both within their nations and abroad. This includesthe Petri brothers who solely migrated into...