Featured Student Essays Archives - Sattler College https://sattler.edu/blog/category/featured-student-essays/ Equipping Jesus' Peaceful Revolution Sat, 21 Mar 2026 02:59:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://sattler.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/favicon.png Featured Student Essays Archives - Sattler College https://sattler.edu/blog/category/featured-student-essays/ 32 32 Concerning Scholars and Those Who Burn Them: A Study of the Early Anabaptists’ Rejection of Higher Education https://sattler.edu/blog/concerning-scholars-and-those-who-burn-them/ https://sattler.edu/blog/concerning-scholars-and-those-who-burn-them/#respond Sat, 21 Mar 2026 02:58:03 +0000 https://sattler.edu/?p=1016136 A Movement Born from Scholars When one surveys the early Anabaptists, it is almost shocking how many early leaders were educated and knew a multitude of languages. Among them are well-known names – Felix Mantz, Conrad Grebel, Balthasar Hubmaier, and Michael Sattler – all of whom are recorded as being knowledgeable of at least Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, showcasing that they had spent quite a few years in study. However, this educated start did not last, and instead, many of the later Anabaptists would have only a lower-level education, only able to read and write (in their native tongue) sufficiently to study Scripture, but not much else (despite exceptionally strong Bible memorization, as exemplified in their testimonies). This vast disconnect should cause us to ask: What happened? Why did these initially highly educated leaders not encourage education among those they brought to believe as they did? What thought process caused these humanistically trained leaders to form a group that would popularize the saying, “Die Gelehrter, die Verkehrter” and hang onto it even to the present day? An analysis of several Anabaptist and Protestant documents shows that there were three primary theoretical motivations for their avoidance of higher education, all of which dealt with then-current problems among the scholarly class. Firstly, they saw scholarship and hierarchical clergy as a scheme seeking money, fame, and titles, which they considered unbiblical. Secondly, and relatedly, they equated being well educated with being rich and thus considered that the more educated one was, the harder it would be to enter the kingdom of heaven. Finally, they saw scholars as deviating from a treasured simplicity of faith, causing corruption and alienating the lay people. These three factors, when combined with practical concerns such as persecution and the need to provide for their families despite oppression, are the primary reasons that Anabaptists, by and large, did not attempt to keep their leaders and themselves highly educated. It would not be fair to continue without mentioning that while these decriers of higher education painted with a broad brush, they did mention that it was good to be educated enough to read and write. In addition, some who were well educated were innocent of the abuses and attacks and were carefully excluded from the anti-education rhetoric. Pious leaders such as Paul, Luke, Michael Sattler, Felix Mantz, and Conrad Grebel, who happened to be well educated, were not the target of these sayings and opinions, but unfortunately, they were the exception rather than the rule. Why Early Anabaptists Distrusted the Learned The quest for fame, riches, and titles is nothing new to scholarship, and Anabaptists identified this trend quite well. In a document by Menno Simons titled “Foundations,” he addresses his learned companions as follows: “And I turn to you, O learned ones, you who think that you have the keys of heaven and are the eyes and light of the people. … I see plainly that both you and those you teach run confidently into the eternal destruction of your poor souls.” His critique of them was essentially that as “learned ones,” they thought that they were secure from error, and since Menno believed them in error, he pointed out that this was a false view. While he doesn’t directly accuse them of seeking fame here, he argues against a common understanding amongst them that being learned would allow the clergy to be the “eyes and light of the people.” Since Anabaptists considered many clergy to be in error, it could easily make for some measure of dissatisfaction with scholarship. A problem more obvious than seeking fame in the Anabaptists’ eyes, however, would be seeking riches, in opposition to Matthew 19:24. This subject comes up a few times in a poem written by Valentin Ickelsamer that was likely well circulated among the Anabaptists. For example, it reads, “Who collected the treasures of this world, / with indulgences and Turkish money? / Indeed, none other than the scribes.” The practice of indulgences, of course, referred to the oft-decried practice of buying one’s way out of purgatory that caused Martin Luther’s 1518 head-to-head with Cardinal Cajetan, both learned men, which would soon lead to his excommunication. Ickelsamer, then, was feeding off of this widely known problem and pointing out that the clergy were the ones responsible for collecting those indulgences, and since the clergy tended to have the best education, it seemed like an easy tie to make. Ickelsamer would also point out another problem with higher education specifically – that of seeking titles, (supposedly) in violation of Matthew 23:8. Tying in the earlier theme of fame, he writes, “likewise be masters of God’s congregation,thinking they are the only ones that know anything.Because they have the proper title,they are called master and doctor,even though it is writtenthat all Christians are taught of God.Among them no one should be called master; Mt 23 (8)” It seems clear that Ickelsamer considered the pursuit of titles to be vanity and an attempt for those who had the titles to dictate what was being taught in the church. In opposition to this, reformers like Grebel had early on already refused to use titles when addressing others, expecting that since both were brothers, that should be enough to go on for them to correspond as equals – no title(s) should be needed nor sought. Their interpretation of Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers was at play here, causing the comment that “all Christians are taught of God” – it shouldn’t take a special education to see basic biblical truths, as some clergy seem to have been claiming. When Education Became Spiritually Suspicious Another major reason for the Anabaptists’ aversion to higher education was their equation of being highly educated with being rich, making it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. Ickelsamer points this out, saying, “What Christ says of the wealthyalso applies to the learned ones and their ilk,that they can enter the kingdom of heavenonly with much difficulty and grief. Mk […]

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]]> https://sattler.edu/blog/concerning-scholars-and-those-who-burn-them/feed/ 0 The Process of Becoming https://sattler.edu/blog/the-process-of-becoming/ https://sattler.edu/blog/the-process-of-becoming/#respond Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:49:27 +0000 https://sattler.edu/?p=1016061 Angelica reflects on her first experience in medical research and the slow process of discovering her calling in healthcare. Through lab work, personal history, and faith, she learns that God often shapes us through the journey itself.

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]]> https://sattler.edu/blog/the-process-of-becoming/feed/ 0 The Poisoning of the Soul https://sattler.edu/blog/the-poisoning-of-the-soul/ https://sattler.edu/blog/the-poisoning-of-the-soul/#respond Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:31:11 +0000 https://sattler.edu/?p=515878 Micah Barnard explores consumerism, identity, and spiritual erosion in 19th-century Russia through Gogol’s The Overcoat, and what it reveals about the modern soul.

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]]> https://sattler.edu/blog/the-poisoning-of-the-soul/feed/ 0 Women and Anabaptism https://sattler.edu/blog/women-and-anabaptism/ https://sattler.edu/blog/women-and-anabaptism/#respond Fri, 21 Nov 2025 20:27:21 +0000 https://sattler.edu/?p=515398 Elijah Zimmerman argues that while many Protestant reformers restricted women’s roles to marriage and domestic life, the early Anabaptists expanded them by creating close communities where women were educated in Scripture, active in service, and bold in evangelism.

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]]> https://sattler.edu/blog/women-and-anabaptism/feed/ 0 Words of Life: an Anabaptist Humanism https://sattler.edu/blog/words-of-life-an-anabaptist-humanism/ https://sattler.edu/blog/words-of-life-an-anabaptist-humanism/#respond Sat, 01 Nov 2025 02:35:26 +0000 https://sattler.edu/?p=515054 Conrad Stoltzfus explores how Anabaptists redefined ad fontes, shifting from a return to biblical texts to a renewal of the spiritual life of Scripture.

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