European Baptist = not US Baptist

[Esdra]

Hi all,

this is an attempt to explain you what the differences between US and European Baptists are. - As I have been asked the one or other occasion.

I am in an (European) Baptist Church. [That’s important, as Baptists in the US and those in Europe are completely different!].

I have recently studied the Heidelberg Catechism and the Helvetic Confession.
And I have to admit that I can go with all the points there (except maybe infant baptism).
I was astonished how near the Reformed Evangelical Churches are to the Baptists. (Not the US Baptists, as I can’t speak for them!)

Esdra

I am curious what are the differences between European and US Baptists?

Well first of all European Baptists are minority Churches. [The German wikipedia is good on this. The English, sadly enough, less…]
Secondly they are normally not anti-Catholic.
Thirdly, they don’t see themselves as “American Sects” (meaning descendents from US Baptists) but that they are descendents of the “Baptism-movement” which arose during the Swiss Reformation in Zuerich in the 16th century.

Especially in the Tyrol, the county I live in, the “Baptists” there are proud to say that they are descendents of the Hutterites and Jakob Hutter (which you certainly know, as they migrated in the 18th century from Europe to North America). Jakob Hutter lived in South Tyrol (which is in the meantime a part of Italy; but was in the 16th century part of the Tyrol and the Empire of Austria-Hungary).

Also in the Austrian government European and US Baptists are differentiated. Have a look here.

 

[Nine_Two]

I think the difference is that European Baptists came through the Anabaptist movement. American Baptists like to trace their lineage through this movement as well (and there are Anabaptist churches in North America, so not all are wrong), but mostly they came out of the Great Awakening, having splintered off of the Established Church (i.e. Anglican Church). Mainstream Baptists fall in the category.

 

[Esdra]

I think the difference is that European Baptists came through the Anabaptist movement. American Baptists like to trace their lineage through this movement as well (and there are Anabaptist churches in North America, so not all are wrong), but mostly they came out of the Great Awakening, having splintered off of the Established Church (i.e. Anglican Church). Mainstream Baptists fall in the category.

So you could say the European Baptists are together with the Anabaptists in North America the “original” Baptists. - Arisen during the Swiss Reformation. .