A Minister at Dordrecht
Thieleman Janszoon van Braght was born at Dordrecht in the Dutch province of Holland on 29 January 1625, into a Mennonite family. The Netherlands of his lifetime was the Dutch Republic in its golden age, wealthy, powerful, and, by the standards of Europe, tolerant. The Mennonites who had once been burned and drowned there now lived in peace, and many had grown prosperous.
In 1648, at twenty-three, van Braght was chosen a preacher of the Flemish Mennonite congregation at Dordrecht, and he served it until his death. Like most Mennonite ministers of his day he was not a university-trained cleric but a member chosen by the church. He was a determined defender of the Dordrecht Confession of 1632, the confession of faith of the conservative Mennonites, and he opposed those among the Dutch Mennonites who were loosening its teaching. He also wrote a book of instruction in Christian virtue and other works for his people.
Loading the rest of this biography