I doubt if you will get a consensus on that Wayne.
I suppose you are right, but it would be good to find out what people think.
Anabaptism is a very wide spectrum of practices. Some Anabaptist churches are very liberal and don't even practice the peace witness. Some are even Calvinistic.
Others are very conservative and even legalistic.
So you see Anabaptists as any church with a lineage to the 16th century Anabaptistsd, regardless of what they believe? If someone is not a member of one of these churches can he be Anabaptist? Can a person believe in the Dortrecht Confession or the Schleitheim confession and not be Anabaptist?
I doubt if there is even one single doctrine that every Anabaptist can agree to.
Let's discuss it then.
And in this forum, anyone can use the Anabaptist icon without having to ever have any contact with a single anabaptist in their entire life. Several people who use the icon read a book or website about Anabaptists and claimed the icon as their own without really knowing what it's all about. All that's needed is a desire to acquire the icon and it's handed out like candy around here.
As you are undoubtedly aware, we had this discussion a month or so ago in an attempt to determine who can use the icon to prevent non-anabaptists and pseudo-anabaptists from thwarting the forum and chasing away the people who are at the liberal end of the spectrum. All of Anabaptism should be accepted here, not just the conservatives and the ones who idolize the Amish.
Yes, I read that thread. You proposed eliminating the forum. Why not instead determine what is distinctively Anabaptist (the links Mr Jim provided when starting the group give some indication of what defines Anabaptist) . I know you do;'t like excliusiveness, but CF is divided into a number of exclusive forums, all with distinguishing characteristics. Anabaptist, for the sake of CF forums, certainly have some distinctions.
this forum chased away the wider Anabaptists to make room for the bullies who adhere to conservative practices, even though those people didn't live the anabaptist life themselves. Someone who once drove by a Hutterite community and bought a book about them at a gas station should not be allowed to chase away the liberal anabaptists and Quakers who rightfully belong here. A man who dresses his daughter in a demin sack is not more anabaptist than a man with gender identity issues who has been a life-long Mennonite. But that man with the gender-identity issues was chased away by the man who thinks he's anabaptist because he makes his daughter wear a denim sack to exert control over her.
Hmmm... it actually seems that the conservative minded folks, including the man who started this forum, were the ones driven away, looking at the posts since January.
And by the way, Quakers are not Anabpatists. Our commonality is as "Historic Peace Churches" -both groups refuse miliary service. Historically and doctrinally they are quite different movements and I imagine it is very confusing for people outside Anabaptist circles to see the two associated with each other.
Instead of focusing on who to exclude, maybe it would be good to examine ways we can be more inclusive of the wider spectrum of anabaptist practice around here.
That of course has to include a respect for Conservative Anabpatists and a manner of representing them fairly, or letting them represent themselves without facing ridicule and personal attacks.
BTW, you are interested in credentials.
My wife and I joined a Lancaster Conference Mennonite church in Massachusetts in 1989 (we were old "Radical Evangelicals of the Ron Sider, John Howard Yoder "Politics of Jesus" crowd previously), which we left later when we became novice members of the Bruderhof communities until they split with the Bruderhof. We settled in Lancaster county where we fellowshipped with the River Brethren (our neighbors were OO Amish, OO River Brethren, MC Mennonites, Church of the Brethren and Horning Mennonites -quite a mix of Anabaptist groups!). We returned to New England and attend a conservative Church of the Brethren congregation (our choices are limited here in Maine). I won't detail our friendships and contacts and cooperative efforts with other groups -they are numerous.
So you see, we did not merely drive through a Hutterite community or read a few books. In fact I turned aside an effort to recruit me (by John Oyer and J. C. Wenger) to study church history at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart. I told them that I wanted to "do" Anabaptism rather than merely study it, and went off to the Bruderhof instead.