IBTS - International Baptist Theological Seminary

The International Baptist Theological Seminary Institute of Baptist and Anabaptist studies and the German Baptist Seminary (Theologisches Seminar Elstal, are embarking on a new project that will make Balthasar Hubmaier’s writings available for online research. Balthasar Hubmaier was an outstanding leader of the early Anabaptist movement. His career culminated with the Anabaptist reformation of the town and territory of Nikolsburg, today Mikulov, in South Moravia. Hubmaier left an important legacy in his numerous printed writings. After his short one year activity in Mikulov (Nikolsburg), he was arrested by order of King Ferdinand I. and burned at the stake in Vienna in 1528.

The original 16th century prints of Hubmaier’s writings are scattered throughout various libraries all over Europe. Few copies have survived the disturbances of Europe’s troublesome history of the last 500 years from the systematic suppression of the Anabaptist movement in the 16th and 17th centuries to the destructions during the Second World War. IBTS Library holds photographic reproductions of original prints of all of Hubmaier’s works, produced in the 1930s based on a BWA initiative. These will now be scanned into digital images and made available for research through the Internet. It is expected that the digital edition will be met with great enthusiasm by many Anabaptist and Baptist historians and will give a new impetus to research on Hubmaier and early Anabaptism.

Hubmaier’s lifelong motto was "Truth is immortal". It is hoped that renewed interest in his legacy will also stimulate a continuous striving for the truth.