Review of Menno Simons' Life and Writings: A Quadricentennial Tribute, 1536-1936, by Harold Stauffer Bender

Bender, Harold Stauffer. Menno Simons' Life and Writings: A Quadricentennial Tribute, 1536-1936. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald, 1936.


     This is an old little copy that comes out of the nascent period of modern Anabaptist studies. It is illustrative of the strong idealism that was characteristic of that first generation of Anabaptist scholars, especially among Mennonite scholars. This book was written at the popular level and the idealism expressed helps explain why later generation reacted so strongly as to become perhaps too critical of the radical reformers.
     This sometimes comes out laughably, as when Bender explained how Grebel, Mantz and Blaurock founded a "Mennonite" congregation in Zürich in 1525, a decade before Simons left the Catholic church. Such an obvious anachronism does not seem too unreasonable since Bender's purpose was to give the Mennonite church of his day a look at their heritage rather than to give an academic description of Simons' biography. For today's reader, the value of this book may serve as an introduction for others looking at their Mennonite or Anabaptist heritage or those looking to gain a rough understanding of a figure from that period.
     Scholarship on Simons has been more intensive than most, if not all, of the other radical reformers and the material here is undoubtedly dated in places.The second half of the book is excerpts from Simons' writings. They are organized by various doctrinal and practical matters. One misgiving in this section is that there is no reference as to where these samples were excerpted. Beyond that, in the excerpt on the incarnation Simons questions the height of the mystery involved in the event and the impossibility of speculation as a means of discovering the truth of the matter. Choosing this excerpt masks the more definitive statements of Simons that followed Hofmann's Christology. With the later publication of the critical edition of Simons' writings, Simon's positions are more widely available for survey. An identification of the passages in this section would make it much more useful.