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Several religious organizations in the United States have chosen the biblical designation “Brethren.” Although diverse in origin, they share a basic biblicist orientation. None of them is related to the Plymouth Brethren (Dispensationalism). 1. One of the older movements of this sort is the Church of the Brethren, which originated in central Germany in 1708. Its eight founding members had moved from a radical Pietist position within their Reformed and Lutheran churches to separatism heavily influenced by Anabaptism through conta…

1. History The Philadelphian Society was a dissenting movement in England in the late 17th and early 18th century, with adherents and patrons in the Netherlands and the Germanies. Its name derives from the Philadelphian church described in the Book of Revelation (3:7–13). In 1652 the Anglican clergyman John Pordage (1607–81) gathered a circle of seekers in Bradfield (Berks) to study the writings of Jakob Böhme (1575–1624; Mysticism 2.5.2); they did not separate from the church (Anglican Communion). By 1674 Jane Leade (1624–1704), a wido…

[German Version] (also called Dunkers, Dunkards) is the largest of the denominations that began in 1708 in the county of Wittgenstein. It originated from radical Pietism (I) of primarily Reformed character and Anabaptist (Anabaptists) ecclesiology. Congregations arose in Wetterau, the Lower Rhein, Altona, and in the vicinity of Basel. In 1719, 20 families emigrated to Pennsylvania, followed in 1729 by the Wittgenstein congregation. The Church of the Brethr…

1. Subject, Tasks, and Problems of Ecclesiology 1.1. The Church of Faith The early confessions, following the NT, relate the church to the Holy Spirit as an object of the faith that is the Spirit’s work (“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy church …”). The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed characterizes the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, while the Apostles’ Creed ¶ speaks of “the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.” Theological reflection in dogmatics develops these statements of faith into the doctrine of the church (ecclesiology…