In these lectures, C. Arnold Snyder offers an important historical study on the subject of religious toleration in the period of the Reformation, breaking new ground based on his own careful reading of Lutheran and Swiss Anabaptist sources. Snyder sheds new light on the nature of Swiss Anabaptism in the latter half of the sixteenth century, demonstrating that by the end of the century, the Anabaptists of Switzerland were no longer running from "the world" but actively engaging those in power and courageously lobbying for religious toleration. This historical inquiry also provides an occasion for contemporary reflection on faith and toleration today, in the context of rising social, political and religious tensions.

C. Arnold Snyder is Professor Emeritus of History, University of Waterloo. He has taught at Conrad Grebel University College from 1985 until his retirement in 2011. He has written numerous books and articles in the field of Anabaptist studies including Anabaptist History and Theology: an Introduction (1995). He has also contributed as editor of two translation volumes of the Classics of the Radical Reformation series - Sources of South German/Austrian Anabaptism (2001), and Later Writings of the Swiss Anabaptist 1529-1592 (2017).