Pacifismo

Soon after the Reformation began to take ground throughout Europe, ideas and practices that can be subsumed under the broad category of ‘pacifism’ became a significant part of the political ideology of the so-called Radical Reformation. Focusing on two of the most famous groups that developed a pacifist ideology – namely the Anabaptists and the Socinians – this essay traces the history of non-resistance theories from the early years of the Reformation to the mid-seventeenth century, revealing that opinions against the legitimacy of a Christian magistrate or against warfare were an integral part of early modern political debates.