Diggers
The Diggers were a group of the Levellers, an important political party in the time of Cromwell in England. Their name indicates their effort to convert idle land into a farm for the establishment of a colony of a religious communistic brotherhood. This is not the only aspect in which they resembled the Hutterian Brethren in Moravia. The Diggers, or "True Levellers" as they also called themselves, were, with the entire group of Levellers, a part of the great Anabaptist movement that emanated from Central Europe. Like the Anabaptists, who were principally of the lower social strata, the Diggers were also landless, and again like them, they were concerned with religious and social renewal. It was in their manner of achieving this aim that they differed from the Anabaptists.
Bibliography
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: I, 448.
Troeltsch, Ernest. The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches. London: Allen & Unwin; New York: Macmillan, 1931.
| Author(s) | Ernst H Correll |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Correll, Ernst H. "Diggers." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Diggers&oldid=120147.
APA style
Correll, Ernst H. (1956). Diggers. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Diggers&oldid=120147.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 61. All rights reserved.
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