Waldeneses?

Question

Have you ever heard of this group and their bible?

Answer 1

Waldenses, Waldensians, Vaudois

Banned from Unauthorized Preaching: 1184
Joined Protestant Reformation: 1532
Granted Religious Freedom: 1848

Named after Peter Waldo (d. 1218), the Waldenses emphasized reliance upon the Bible over organized church institutions. Waldo was a wealthy merchant who, like Francis, took inspiration from the New Testament and renounced his wealth, preferring instead to enter a life of preaching and poverty. He attracted much attention, but unlike Francis he did not receive official recognition or permission to found a religious order from Rome.

So, he simply ignored church officials and continued to preach, always with followers along with him. Eventually his movement developed a radical anti-clerical stance, attacking the authority and privileges which the clergy had accumulated over the centuries as un-Christian. They also allowed women to preach, rejected the doctrine and purgatory and criticized the practice of selling indulgences. Aside from those and a few similar issues, they were surprisingly orthodox in their teachings.

The response by the Roman Catholic Church was, as in so many similar cases, persecution and oppression. Despite the problems they encountered they persevered and, in 1532, they joined the Protestant Reformation. Eventually, they were officially recognized and granted religious freedom. Although persecutions eliminated most of them, there are still a few pockets of Waldenses left in the Alps and Piedmont and their numbers are estimated at around 20,000.

Answer 2

They were a small group of Christians living in what is now Czech Republic, dating back to the 12 century. They withdrew from the Catholic Church. In the 13th & 14 century they were found in France, Germany, Italy, Austria. 1494 AD was about the time they ended.

Waldo, who may or may not been an actual member of this group, did start translating the bible from Latin to the languages of his day.

They separated into groups Major and Minor groups.

Some of their belief were:

The following quotes from the 15th- and 16th-century Acta Unitatis Fratrum show some of the beliefs held by the Minor Party. The statements, written by leaders of the Minor Party, are primarily directed to the Major Party.
Trinity: “If you glance throughout the entire Bible, you will not find that God is divided into a kind of Trinity, three persons by names, as people fabricated in their fancies.”
Holy spirit: “The holy spirit is God’s finger and a gift of God, or a comforter, or God’s Power, which the Father gives to believers on the basis of Christ’s merits. We do not find in the Holy Scriptures that the holy spirit should be called a God or a Person; nor do the apostolic teachings show that.”
Priesthood: “They falsely give you the title “priest”; if you take away your tonsure and finger ointment, you do not have anything above the most common lay person. Saint Peter calls on all Christians to be priests, saying: You are the holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices. (1 Peter 2)”
Baptism: “The Lord Christ told his apostles: Go into all the world, preach the Gospel to all creation, to those who would believe. (Mark, chapter 16) And only after these words: and being baptized, they will be saved. And you teach to baptize little children who lack their own faith.”
Neutrality: “What your early brothers viewed as bad and unclean, to join the army and murder or to walk the very roads clothed with weapons, all that you consider to be good . . . So we feel that you, along with other teachers, look only with your left eye at the prophetic words that point out: Thus he broke the power of the bow, the shields and the sword and the battle. (Psalm 75) And again: They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the Lord’s earth shall be full of the divine knowledge, and so forth. (Isaiah, chapter 11).”
Preaching: “We well know that, initially, females have brought more people to repentance than all the priests along with a bishop. And now the priests settled at their places and their apportioned rectories. What a mistake! Go into the entire world. Preach . . . to all creation.”

Answer 3

Walden... not a writer. It is actually the name of a book by Thoreau.

I doubt they have a Bible, rather they probably use Walden for inspiration, and I bet they live simple lives in nature as practice of the religion if you could call it one.

Answer 4

Original Christians--never knew of the Vatican and the poop.

VERY GOOD PEOPLE! Anabaptist's-still some in Switzerland and Italy..The catholic Inquisition did not find them all.

Answer 5

Does this have to do with the writer Walden?