Menno's contemporaries

Adam Pastor

Adam Pastor (real name Roelof Martens or Martin) was born at Dorpen in Westphalia. Originally a Catholic priest, he gave up the office in 1533 to join the Anabaptists. Somewhere between 1542 and 1545 he was ordained as an Anabaptist elder by Menno Simons and Dirk Philips.

Adam had received a broad education and was inclined to independent thinking. He disagreed with Menno and Dirk regarding the doctrine of the incarnation. He emphasized the humanity of Jesus and taught that Jesus was not divine but ordained by God to become the Savior. According to historian H.E. Dosker, Adam Pastor "denied the trinity, the pre-existence of Christ, and the personality of the Holy Ghost ... He sided with the other Anabaptists in the rejection of infant baptism; but was against the overvaluation of adult baptism on faith" (from: H.E. Dosker: The Dutch Anabaptists, Philadelphia, 1921).

Because of his liberal views Adam was excommunicated. He died between 1560 and 1570, probably in Münster.

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