Pietism
A
recurring tendency within Christian history to emphasize more the
practicalities of Christian life and less the formal structures of theology or
church order. Its historians discern four general traits in this tendency: (1)
Its experiential character, pietists are people of the heart for whom Christian
living is the fundamental concern; (2) its biblical focus, pietists are, to
paraphrase John Wesley, "people of one book" who take standards and
goals from the pages of Scripture; (3) its perfectionistic bent, pietists are
serious about holy living and expend every effort to follow God's law, spread
the gospel, and provide aid for the needy; (4) its reforming interest, pietists
usually oppose what they regard as coldness and sterility in established church
forms and practices.
Spener
and Francke. The German Lutheran Church at the end of the seventeenth century
labored under manifold difficulties. Its work was tightly confined by the
princes of Germany's many sovereign states. Many of its ministers seemed as
interested in philosophical wrangling and rhetorical ostentation as in the
encouragement of their congregations. And the devastating Thirty Years War
(1618-48), fought ostensibly over religion, had created widespread wariness
about church life in general. To be sure, the picture was not entirely bleak.
From Holland and Puritan England came stimulation for reform. And in
German-speaking lands signs of Christian vitality remained, like the writings
of Johann Arndt, whose True Christianity (1610) was a strong influence on later
leaders of pietism.
But in many places these signs of life were
obscured by the formalism and the insincerity of church leaders. This situation
was altered by the unstinting work of Philipp Jakob Spener, known often as the
father of pietism, who was called in 1666 to be the senior minister in
Frankfurt am Main. There he appealed for moral reform in the city. He initiated
a far-flung correspondence which eventually won him the title "spiritual
counselor of all Germany." Most importantly, he also promoted a major
reform in the practical life of the churches. A sermon in 1669 mentioned the
possibility of Christians meeting together, setting aside "glasses, cards,
or dice," and encouraging each other in the Christian faith. The next year
Spener himself instituted such a Collegia pietatis ("pious assembly")
to meet on Wednesdays and Sundays to pray, to discuss the previous week's
sermon, and to apply passages from Scripture and devotional writings to individual
lives.
Spener
took a major step toward reviving the church in 1675 when he was asked to
prepare a new preface for sermons by Johann Arndt. The result was the famous
Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes). In simple terms this brief work examined the sources
of spiritual decline in Protestant
Germany and offered proposals for reform. The tract was an immediate sensation.
In it Spener criticized nobles and princes for exercising unauthorized control
of the church, ministers for substituting cold doctrine for warm faith, and all
Christian people for disregarding proper Christian behavior. He called
positively for a revival of the concerns of Luther and the early Reformation,
even as he altered Reformation teaching slightly. For example, Spener regarded
salvation more as regeneration (the new birth) than as justification (being put
right with God), even though the Reformers had laid greater stress upon the
latter. (Way to go Spener)
Spener offered six proposals for reform in
Pia Desideria which became a short summary of pietism:
1.
There should be "a more extensive use of the Word of God among us."
The Bible, Spener said, "must be the chief means for reforming
something."
2.
Spener called also for a renewal of "the spiritual priesthood," the
priesthood of all believers. Here he cited Luther's example in urging all
Christians to be active in the general work of Christian ministry.
3.
He appealed for the reality of Christian practice (Holiness) and argued that
Christianity is more than a matter of simple knowledge.
4.
Spener then urged restraint and charity in religious controversies. He asked
his readers to love and pray for unbelievers and the erring, and to adopt a
moderate tone in disputes.
5.
Next he called for a reform in the education of ministers. Here he stressed the
need for training in piety and devotion as well as in academic subjects.
6.
Last he implored ministers to preach edifying sermons, understandable by the
people, rather than technical
discourses which few were interested in or could understand.
Although
these proposals constituted an agenda for reform and renewal, they also posed
two difficulties which have ever been troublesome for pietism. First, many
clergymen and professional theologians opposed them , some out of a concern to
preserve their traditional status, but others out of a genuine fear that they
would lead to rampant subjectivity and antiintellectualism. Second, some Christians
took Spener's proposals as authorization for departing from the established
churches altogether , even though Spener himself rejected the separatistic
conclusions drawn from his ideas.
Spener left Frankfurt for Dresden in 1686,
and from there he was called to Berlin in 1691. His time in Dresden was marked
by controversy, but it was not a loss, for in Dresden he met his successor,
August Hermann Francke. In Berlin, Spener helped to found the University of
Halle, to which Francke was called in 1692. Under Francke's guidance the
University of Halle showed what pietism could mean when put into practice. In rapid
succession Francke opened his own home as a school for poor children, he
founded a world-famous orphanage, he established an institute for the training
of teachers, and later he helped found a publishing house, a medical clinic,
and other institutions.
Francke
had experienced a dramatic conversion in 1687, the source of his lifelong
concern for evangelism and missions. Under his leadership Halle became the
center of Protestantism's most ambitious missionary endeavors to that time. The
university established a center for Oriental languages and also encouraged
efforts at translating the Bible into new languages. Francke's missionary
influence was felt directly through missionaries who went from Halle to foreign
fields and indirectly through groups like the Moravians and an active Danish
mission which drew inspiration from the leaders of pietism.
The
Spread of Pietism, Spener and Francke inspired other varieties of German
pietism. Count Nikolas von Zinzendorf, head of the renewed Moravian Church, was
Spener's godson and Francke's pupil. Zinzendorf organized refugees from Moravia
into a kind of collegia pietatis within German Lutheranism, and later
shepherded this group in reviving the Bohemian Unity of the Brethren. These
Moravians, as they came to be known, carried the pietistic concern for personal
spirituality almost literally around the world. This was of momentous
significance for the history of English-speaking Christianity when John Wesley
was thrown into a company of Moravians during his voyage to Georgia in 1735.
What he saw of their behavior then and what he heard of their faith after
returning to England was one of the things God had used for his own evangelical
awakening.
Influences
radiating from Halle, Wurttemberg, and the Moravians moved rapidly into
Scandinavia. When soldiers from Sweden and Finland were captured in battle with
Russia (1709), pietist commitments migrated to Siberia. Pietism exerted its
influence through Wesley in England. In
addition, pietism also influenced the Mennonites, Moravians, Brethren, and
Dutch Reformed in early America. The continuing influence of Spener, Francke,
and their circle went on into the nineteenth century. Pietistic Influences. Historians have long studied the relationship
between pietism and the Enlightenment, that rationalistic and humanistic
movement which flourished during the eighteenth century and which contributed
to the eventual secularization of Europe. They have noted that pietism and the
Enlightenment both attacked Protestant orthodoxy, that both asserted the rights
of individuals, and that both were concerned about practice more than theory,
in other words, "to walk the walk, not just talk the talk." Pietism
was, and continues to be, a source of powerful renewal in the church. It points
to the indispensability of Scripture for the Christian life; it encourages Christians
people to be involved in the work of Christian ministry; it stimulates concern
for missions; it advances religious freedom and cooperation among believers;
and it urges individuals not to rest until finding intimate fellowship with God
himself. See also, FRANCKE.