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 A 1685 illustration byJan Luyken, published inMartyrs Mirror, ofDirk Willems saving his pursuer, an act of mercy that led to his recapture, after which he was burned at the stake nearAsperen in the present-dayNetherlands |
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TheDordrecht Confession of Faith is astatement of religious beliefs adopted by DutchMennonite leaders at a meeting inDordrecht, the Netherlands, on 21 April 1632. Its 18 articles emphasize belief in salvation throughJesus Christ,baptism,nonviolence (non-resistance), withdrawing from, orshunning those who are excommunicated from the Church,[1]feet washing ("a washing of the saints' feet"),[2] and avoidance of takingoaths.
It was an influential part of theRadical Reformation and remains an important religious document to many modernAnabaptist groups, such as theAmish. In 1725,Jacob Gottschalk, a Mennonite bishop, met with sixteen other ministers from southeasternPennsylvania and adopted the Confession. They also wrote the following endorsement, which Gottschalk was the first to sign:[3]
We the hereunder written Servants of the Word of God, and Elders in the Congregation of the People, called Mennonists, in the Province of Pennsylvania, do acknowledge, and herewith make known, that we do own the foregoing Confession, Appendix, andMenno's Excusation, to be according to our Opinion; and also, have took the same to be wholly ours. In Testimony whereof, and that we believe that same to be good, we have here unto Subscribed our Names.
The Confession's articles are as follows:[4]
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