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The Schwenkfelder Church is a small American Christian body rooted in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation teachings of Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (1489–1561). ==History== Though followers have held the teachings of Schwenkfeld since the 16th century, the Schwenkfelder Church did not come into existence until the 20th century, due in large part to Schwenkfeld's emphasis on inner spirituality over outward form. He also labored for a fellowship of all believers and one church. By the middle of the 16th century, there were thousands of followers of his "Reformation by the Middle Way". His ideas appear to be a middle ground between the ways of the Reformation of Martin Luther, John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli, and the Radical Reformation of the Anabaptists. Originally calling themselves Confessors of the Glory of Christ (after Schwenkfeld's 1541 book ''Great Confession on the Glory of Christ'', the group later became known as Schwenkfelders. These Christians often suffered persecution like slavery, prison and fines at the hands of the government and state churches in Europe. Most of them lived in southern Germany and Lower Silesia. They tell a story about their origins in which the devil is taking a group of Schwenkfelders to Hades and the bag broke over Harpersdorf. By the beginning of the 18th century, the remaining Schwenkfelders lived around Harpersdorf in the German province Silesia.〔(Geography )〕 As the persecution intensified around 1719–1725, they were given refuge in 1726 by Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf in Saxony. When the Elector of Saxony died in 1733, Jesuits sought the new ruler to return the Schwenkfelders to Harpersdorf. With their freedom in jeopardy, they decided to look to the New World; toleration was also extended to them in Silesia in 1742 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The immigrant members of the Schwenkfelder Church brought saffron to the Americas; Schwenkfelders may have grown saffron in Europe—there is some record that at least one member of the group traded in the spice. A group came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1731, and several migrations continued until 1737. The largest group, 180 Schwenkfelders, arrived in 1734. In 1782, the Society of Schwenkfelders was formed, and in 1909 the Schwenkfelder Church was incorporated. The Schwenkfelder Church has remained small: there are five congregations〔(Churches listing )〕 with about 2,500 members in southeastern Pennsylvania. All of these bodies are within a fifty-mile radius of Philadelphia: two in the city itself, and one each in East Norriton Township, Palm, and Worcester. The Schwenkfelder Church meets annually at a Spring General Conference. Sometimes Conferences are also held in the fall. The Society of the Descendants of the Schwenkfeldian Exiles is a related lineage society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schwenkfelder Church」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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