"The Naked Anabaptist" Core Conviction #2

Last week, I looked at the first of seven core convictions of Anabaptism that Stuart Murray discusses in his book The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith. This week, I will be continuing my look at these core convictions.

Murray describes the second core conviction of Anabaptism as “Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centered approach to the Bible and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implication for discipleship.”[1] There are two essential elements in this core conviction. First, as we are reading and interpreting the Bible, the story of Jesus is the central, one might even say most important, part of the Bible. The rest of the texts must be read in light of the revelation of the Gospels. Second, the reading and interpretation of the text takes place in the midst of the community of faith. Rather than relying on our own interpretation, as Anabaptists we seek to test our interpretations in the context of our community of faith.

When we look back at the start of the Church of the Brethren in Schwarzenau, Germany, the dual forces of this core conviction become plain. The early Brethren gathered as a community to interpret the Bible, and were deeply moved by the Gospels. It is clear that the stories of Jesus in the Gospels informed the interpretation of the rest of the scriptures in that early group of Brethren.

In our own congregation, we live out this core conviction in several ways. Both of our Sunday School classes look to spend time interpreting the Bible together, in community. The group that meets together for Bible studies on Tuesday mornings embodies this desire to interpret the Bible as a community of faith as well. Time and again, when we turn to the Bible, as a group, and individually, we use the stories of the Gospels to help us interpret other, less familiar texts.

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[1] Stuart Murray, The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith, Scottdale, PA: Herald Press 2010, 178.