Funk, Stephan (17th/18th century)
Stephan Funk, a preacher of the Mennonite congregation near Thorn, West Prussia, presumably an immigrant from Moravia, became known through his contact with King Charles XII of Sweden in connection with the siege of Thorn in 1703. When the king heard of Funk and learned that the Mennonites rejected warfare, he ordered Funk to preach a sermon in the camp in his presence and prove his principle of nonresistance from the Bible. Funk complied. After the sermon the king inquired whether all wars were unconditionally condemned in the Scriptures. Funk answered, "If anything could be allowed in the Holy Scriptures, it must be that a king who is attacked in his own realm might defend himself; but that a king march into another realm to conquer and devastate it, for that there is no freedom in the Scriptures; on the contrary, it is absolutely opposed to Christ's teaching." This is recorded by W. Mannhardt on the basis of the church record kept by Heinrich Donner at Orlofferfelde.
Bibliography
Brons, Antje. Ursprung, Entwickelung und Schicksale der altevangelischen Taufgesinnten oder Mennoniten: in kurzen Zügen übersichtlich dargestellt. Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1912: 312.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 19.
Mannhardt, Wilhelm. Die Wehrfreiheit der altpreussischen Mennoniten Eine geschichtliche Erörterung. Marienburg: Im Selbstverlage der Altpreussischen Mennonitengemeinden, 1863: 43 f.
| Author(s) | Christian Hege |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hege, Christian. "Funk, Stephan (17th/18th century)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Funk,_Stephan_(17th/18th_century)&oldid=161273.
APA style
Hege, Christian. (1956). Funk, Stephan (17th/18th century). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Funk,_Stephan_(17th/18th_century)&oldid=161273.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 424. All rights reserved.
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