Check.Church

Schwarzenau Brethren

Anabaptist · 1708 · Germany; Pennsylvania and beyond

Radical Pietists who concluded a gathered, disciplined church was necessary and received believer's baptism in 1708, fusing Pietist inwardness with Anabaptist practice — the origin of the Church of the Brethren family. NOT related to the Plymouth Brethren (see the name-collision note, companion §7).

Schwarzenau Brethren was formed in 1708. Schwarzenau Brethren continues today. Schwarzenau Brethren's institutional line runs back through Lutheran, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Schwarzenau Brethren stand 3 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1708
Family
Anabaptist
Region
Germany; Pennsylvania and beyond
Key figures
Alexander Mack
Cause tags
Doctrine
Also known as
German Baptist Brethren; Dunkers; New Anabaptists; Church of the Brethren (largest successor)

What it separated from

  • Separated from Lutheran. Radical Pietist separatists from the Lutheran and Reformed state churches.
  • Began as a renewal within Anabaptist.

On the tree

Schwarzenau Brethren and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33today1004244314511054151715251708The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchThe spineChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchThe spineThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchThe spineOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismCatholicLutheran (Lutheran)LutheranLutheranAnabaptist (Anabaptist)AnabaptistAnabaptistSchwarzenau Brethren (Anabaptist)Schwarzenau BrethrenAnabaptist

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.

Adherents

About 98,680 adherents (official census, as of 2019).

Source: Church of the Brethren Yearbook 2019 (largest successor body only)

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.