Menno's writings

Title page of Menno's Opera OmniaMuch of Menno's influence is due to his prolific writings. His first writing was The Blasphemy of Jan van Leyden. He wrote this pamphlet around 1535 but it was not printed until 1627. In the pamphlet Menno criticized Jan van Leyden, who had assumed the role of a second David of the New Jerusalem at Münster. Menno opposed the use of the sword to establish the kingdom of God on earth.

Other important writings were The Spiritual Resurrection (Van de Geestlijke Verrijsenisse, ca. 1536), The New Birth (De nieuwe Creatuere, ca. 1537) and the Meditation on the Twenty-Fifth Psalm (Christelycke leringhen op den 25. Psalm, ca. 1538).

Menno's magnum opus was Foundation of Christian Doctrine (Dat Fundament des Christelycken leers, 1539-40). The title of the book is taken from I Corinthians 3:11: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." The Foundation Book was almost immediately accepted by Menno's followers as a guide book for the life of faith.

List of all his known works:

Books and tracts

Letters and other writings

All these works appear in The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, translated by Leonard Verduin and edited by John C. Wenger, with a biography by Harold S. Bender (Scottdale, PA, 1956). This volume also includes an extract from a letter in Menno's handwriting and two hymns by Menno.

Menno Simons has been the subject of dozens of books. Even today, almost 450 years after his death, new titles are regularly published. Among the most important are:

Read more about Menno's Foundation-Book or go to his complete works.