Who Are You?
by Leonard Verduin, 1976Are you part of the hybrid Corpus Christianum, persecuting church? Or are you an Anabaptist – part of the persecuted Corpus Christi? Or have you lost your way in the amalgamation of modern Christianity? This journey through history will revolutionize your life, and help you reclaim your identity as a true follower of Christ.
The tragic union of church and state in the fourth century brought forth the birth of an ungainly hybrid. That for which King Saul had been rejected by God was reintroduced with much acclaim by Emperor Constantine. It was a fusion of conflicting beliefs, mixing the gospel with paganism. In view of the circumstances which surrounded the birth of Christendom, that its architect was an emperor, it comes as no surprise that the hybrid became an instrument of war.
Consequently, ever since the days of Constantine, the “church” has supported all kinds of wars in the name of the Prince of Peace. The meek and peaceful Jesus has become a God of battle, and the cross has become a banner of bloody strife. Constantine and Augustine viewed the Old Testament in the context of a flat theology which embraced coercion, of which the New Testament is totally uncooperative, thus they opened the way for a persecuting church. Centuries of martyr-blood flowed. The church as Corpus Christi (the body of Christ) gave way to Corpus Christianum (the body of the christened). The novel vision of authentic Christianity and its structuring of human society nearly disappeared, and in its place reappeared the structuring to which the world was accustomed. The Corpus Christianum structurization fit neatly into the oneness of religion, of culture, and of state – a distinguishing feature of virtually all non-Christian religions.
Yet, in spite of the amalgamation of cristendom, there was always a Remnant body of believers who would not compromise, called Anabaptists (rebaptizers). They continued to believe the church is Corpus Christi, in sharp contrast to Constantine, Augustine, and later Luther and Calvin, who viewed the church as Christianum. The heart of the controversy between them was where this body was located, that is, where the church is to be found. The Anabaptists continued to see the church as a small body of the saved surrounded by the unregenerate, believing that a church who embraced a total citizenry was no longer the church of Christ.
They believed that in order for a person to be fully human, he must be able to exercise choice in the presence of genuine options and be part of a composite society, in which there is room for diversity of conviction and thought. But ever since the Hebrews’ desire for a king, the Judeo-Christian world has tried to set up sacral societies, where all members of the nation are automatically members of the religious unit, and where the sword of the state is employed to enforce the creeds of the church.
This book traces the history of the conflict between the church-state alliance (the hybrid) and the rival church – those seeking to follow Christ’s criterion that decision and commitment, not mere birth into a society are marks of membership in His body. Down through the centuries, the Anabaptists suffered persecution and death rather than compromise their God-given freedom to choose, paving the way for the evil union of church and state to be broken by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
=========================== [From the back cover of the book The Anatomy of a Hybrid by Leonard Verduin, 1976, re-print 1990. Paragraph marking have been added for easier reading. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall.
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