<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article examines the utopian vision present in the eponymous work by Thomas More and in the early Anabaptists. In the light of the discussion on the power and dangers of utopian thinking in liberation theology it seeks to show how More struggled with the tension between the positive possibilities of a different world and the destructive criticism of the present reality. A similar tension is found in early Anabaptist practices, especially in terms of their relationship to the state and their practice of commonality of goods. The article shows that that all attempts to reduce visions of a better world to a particular setting end up as ideological.</p></abstract>

This article examines the utopian vision present in the eponymous work by Thomas More and in the early Anabaptists. In the light of the discussion on the power and dangers of utopian thinking in liberation theology it seeks to show how More struggled with the tension between the positive possibilities of a different world and the destructive criticism of the present reality. A similar tension is found in early Anabaptist practices, especially in terms of their relationship to the state and their practice of commonality of goods. The article shows that that all attempts to reduce visions of a better world to a particular setting end up as ideological.

Nowhere is Better than Here: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Early Sixteenth Century Utopias

International Baptist Theological Study Centre

Perichoresis

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

This article examines the utopian vision present in the eponymous work by Thomas More and in the early Anabaptists. In the light of the discussion on the power...

Nowhere is Better than Here: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Early Sixteenth Century Utopias

Published Online: Apr 16, 2018

Page range: 3 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2018-0001

Keywords
Anabaptists, Thomas More, utopianism, liberation theology, hope

© 2018 Tim Noble, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Nowhere is Better than Here: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Early Sixteenth Century Utopias

Published Online: Apr 16, 2018

Page range: 3 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2018-0001

KeywordsAnabaptists, Thomas More, utopianism, liberation theology, hope

© 2018 Tim Noble, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Anabaptists, Thomas More, utopianism, liberation theology, hope