Peace of AugsburgThe Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Schmalkaldic League, signed in September 1555 at the imperial city of Augsburg. It officially ended the religious struggle between the two groups and made the legal division of Christianity permanent within the Holy Roman Empire, allowing rulers to choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as the official confession of their state. Calvinism was not allowed until the Peace of Westphalia.
Plain dressPlain dress is a practice among some religious groups, primarily some Christian churches in which people dress in clothes of traditional modest design, sturdy fabric, and conservative cut. It is intended to show acceptance of traditional gender roles, modesty, and readiness to work and serve, and to preserve communal identity and separation from the immodest, ever-changing fashions of the world. For men, this often takes the form of trousers secured by suspenders, while for women, plain dress usually takes the form of a cape dress along with a headcovering (normatively a kapp or an opaque hanging veil).
Peace churchesPeace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: Church of the Brethren, including all daughter churches such as the Old German Baptist Brethren, Old Brethren and Dunkard Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonites, including the Amish, Beachy Amish, Old Order Mennonites, and Conservative Mennonites In addition to the Schwarzenau Brethren and Mennonites, other Anabaptist Christian fellowships, such as the Hutterian Brethren, River Brethren, Apostolic Christian Church and Bruderhof teach pacifism as well.
WartburgThe Wartburg (ˈvaʁtbʊʁk) is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German, the site of the Wartburg festival of 1817 and the supposed setting for the possibly legendary Sängerkrieg. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle.
BatenburgersThe Batenburgers were members of a radical Anabaptist sect led by Jan van Batenburg, that flourished briefly in the 1530s in the Netherlands, in the aftermath of the Münster Rebellion. They were called Zwaardgeesten (sword-minded) by the nonviolent mainstream Anabaptists. Jan van Batenburg was born around 1495, the illegitimate son of nobleman Dirk van Batenburg from Gelderland, and became mayor of a town in the Oversticht, present-day Dutch province of Overijssel.
Baptist successionismBaptist successionism (or Baptist perpetuity) is one of several theories on the origin and continuation of Baptist churches. The theory postulates an unbroken lineage of churches (since the days of John the Baptist, who baptized Christ) which have held beliefs similar to those of current Baptists. Groups often included in this lineage include the Montanists, Paulicians, Cathari, Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards, and Anabaptists. However most scholars agree that the Baptists originated within 17th-century puritanism.
Brethren of the Common LifeThe Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religious experience and preached a life of simple devotion to Jesus Christ. They believed that Christianity should be practiced not only in formal religious settings, but also in everyday life, and they sought to promote a practical spirituality that emphasized personal piety and devotion.
Christian communismChristian communism is a theological view that the teachings of Jesus compel Christians to support religious communism. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity began, many Christian communists argue that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles in the New Testament, established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection.
