The Admonition

One of the sixteenth century's most complete defences of believer's baptism, now available in a new English translation for the first time in decades.

Pilgram Marpeck (c. 1495-1556) was a mining engineer, a city leader, and one of the most formidable theological minds of the Radical Reformation. Against both Rome and the Protestant reformers, he insisted that baptism belongs to believers alone - those who have personally confessed faith, died to sin, and pledged a newlife in Christ. The Admonition is his masterwork: a thorough, patient, and deeply scriptural examination of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the nature of the visible church.

In this book, Marpeck addresses: • The distinction between the baptism of John and the baptism of Christ • Why infant baptism has no foundation in Scripture - and how it has corrupted the church for centuries • What the Lord's Supper truly is: a covenant-gathering of believers, not a sacrifice or a mere symbol • How to understand Christ's words "This is my body" - and why neither Rome, Luther, nor Zwingli fully gets it right • The three things every true church needs: preaching, baptism, and the Lord's Supper Marpeck wrote in the shadow of persecution. His communities faced execution. Yet his writing is measured, charitable where possible, and always anchored in Scripture. He argues not from tradition or authority, but from the plain testimony of Christ and the Apostles.

This new translation renders the complete text directly from the 1542 Early New High German, making Marpeck's thought accessible to English readers who have long relied on an out-of-print 1978 edition. It preserves the theological precision and rhetorical force of the original, with translator's notes explaining key term choices.

Essential reading for: students of the Reformation, Anabaptist and Mennonite history, believers' church theology, the theology of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and anyone seeking the deepest roots of the free church tradition.