Editing Menno Simons (section)

==Theology==
[[Image:Meno simonis.jpg|thumb|Menno Simons (1854)]]
Menno Simons' influence on Anabaptism in the [[Low Countries]] was so great that Baptist historian [[William Roscoe Estep|William Estep]] suggested that their history be divided into three periods: "before Menno, under Menno, and after Menno". Menno is especially significant because of his coming to the Anabaptist movement in the north in its most troublesome days, and helping not only to sustain it, but also to establish it as a viable [[Radical Reformation]] movement.

===Excommunication===
Girolimon (1995) compares the teachings of Menno Simons with those of Protestant reformer [[John Calvin]] (1509–64), focusing on the issue of excommunication. This theological analysis stresses sharp contrasts between the two leaders on four basic principles: on procedures leading to excommunication, on the severity of sanctions on the excommunicant, on the restoration of a repentant individual, and on civil punishment. Calvin and Menno, each a leader of distinct wings of the Reformation, both believed this extreme form of discipline to be essential to the function of the church in society, agreeing on the basic grounds for excommunication as expressed in the New Testament. Menno, however, envisioned the application of reprimand as a process administered by the entire church body against any sin; Calvin reserved excommunication for especially severe transgressions as identified by the [[Company of Pastors]] and the [[Genevan Consistory|Consistory]]. Among other disagreements, Calvin approved civil punishment for certain forms of unorthodoxy while Menno advocated strict church/state separation.  They differed most profoundly in their views on why church discipline was necessary. Simons saw human perfectability as attainable after conversion, while Calvin stressed an Augustinian theology of human depravity.<sup>[9]</sup><sup>[10]</sup>

===Bride of Christ===
Menno Simons drew heavily from Biblical images of the bride of Christ when envisioning a new church. He found in the Biblical ''Song of Solomon'' a description of the relationship between a purified church and Christ that not only applied to a reformed church but also to the earthly marriage between man and woman. Like the bride in the songs, the woman must come in total love and devotion and will be cleansed of her natural evil by contact with her husband. He did not alter the conventional view of relations between men and women but idealized the woman's subordinate and asexual status.<sup>[11]</sup>

===Infant baptism===
The Anabaptists insisted on adult baptism. By contrast, [[Martin Luther]] defended infant baptism; his belief in it stemmed from his view of the church as ideally an inclusive reality in a Christian society. Menno Simons based his rejection of infant baptism on the concept of the church as a disciplined group of individuals who have voluntarily committed their lives to Christ. He viewed sanctification as a lifelong process that does not completely rid the presence of sin from one's life.<sup>[12]</sup>

===Peace===
Although some Anabaptists in Amsterdam and Münster in the 16th century engaged in violence and murder, Dutch Mennonites generally became pious and peaceful. In his 1539 ''Christian Baptism'' Menno Simons stated his reluctance to engage in disputes, which may have stemmed from his reluctance for years to announce his true convictions.<sup>[13]</sup> Simons' relationships with the radical Münsterites and peaceful Melchiorites may offer additional clues.

===Asceticism===
Menno Simons rejected [[asceticism]] in terms of its traditional practices of social withdrawal, mortification, and self-denial. Historical theologian Richard Valantasis, however, has suggested that asceticism should not be defined as these physical practices but as a group of activities designed to re-establish social relations between the individual and the dominant social environment through a new subjectivity, different social relations, and an alternative symbolic universe. Simons' theology is ascetic by Valantasis's definition since it used these methods to restructure Anabaptists' relationship with 'worldly' society.<sup>[14]</sup>