Conrad Grebel: Father of the Anabaptist

Conrad Grebel wrote 69 letters, 3 poems, a petition to the Zürich council and portions of a pamphlet against infant baptism. In his writings he sheds some light on his ministry as an Anabaptist. Grebel is responsible for the practice of an adult baptism. He did not believe it was enough to be baptized as an infant. He believed that in order to truly be baptized it needed to be a choice, it was not a choice during infancy; Thus, causing the need for a second baptism upon reaching adulthood.

To the Anabaptist this made perfect sense, it caused great tension between the Christian world and the Anabaptist world. The split between the two groups was catastrophic for the Anabaptist. Christians considered them to be radicals and heretics. The Christians views of the Anabaptist lead to the death of many Anabaptists. The Christians would give them their “third baptism,” by drowning them (as shown in the picture)