Southwestern Ph.D. students Katie McCoy and Candi Finch stop in front of a memorial to Elisabeth Hubmaier, who was tied to mill stone and drowned.
“My flesh is not too good to be burned
were limited—knew their Bibles well.
for the name of Christ,” Ursula said. Elisabeth Dirks, a nun-turned-Anabaptist, whose story Finch says stands out to her among Anabaptist women, also faced incredible torture before she was tied into a bag and drowned on May 27, 1549. When asked if she had been rebaptized, Dirks answered, ‘No.’ “My Lords, I have not been rebaptized.
“We have testimony after testimony of
Further Reading on Anabaptist women
Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-Century Reforming Pioneers
to believers,” Dirks said. After fruitless torturing, the captors gave up and drowned her. “I just really admire their pluck under the circumstances,” Finch says. “They knew their faith, which is something that men and women today can really learn from. It’s important for us to know the scriptures— why you believe what you believe.” Finch says the Anabaptist women—in a time when copies of the Bible and literacy
back Scripture,” Finch says. “They didn’t have any problem answering questions.” Finch said the stories of the Anabaptists impact her daily walk with the Lord. “Martyr stories are really humbling
- C. Arnold Snyder and Linda A. Huebert Hecht, eds.
to me because we don’t face anything
“Chapter Two: Anabaptist Women Martyrs: Images of Radical Commitment” in Noble Daughters: Unheralded Women in Western Christianity, 13th to 18th Centuries
around the world today are facing that,”
I have been baptized only once upon my faith. For it is written that baptism belongs
women, when they’re interrogated, quoting
– Marie A. Conn
like that in the United States, but people Finch says. “Knowing that brothers and sisters are willing to die for their faith is very convicting to me.” Christians ought to get familiar with their stories, Finch says. “We need to know our faith, and the
On Fire for Christ: Stories of Anabaptist Martyrs
Anabaptists are a chapter in Christian
– Dave and Neta Jackson
our mistakes as well as our triumphs. But
history,” Finch says. “We should learn from for the grace of God, that is where we could be.” Fall 2012 SouthwesternNews 35