PIETISMO. – The name Pietism was given in derision to a reform movement that arose in the seventeenth century within German Lutheranism, and was apparently first used in 1675 in Hesse-Darmstadt.
I. HISTORY
The rise of Pietism is explained by the religious conditions of Germany after the Thirty Years’ War. Lutheranism was shaken by continual controversies; theologians placed the symbolic books on the same level as Holy Scripture and willingly quibbled over formulas; theology was arid, the churches everywhere were subjected to the local rulers, preaching no longer presented anything living, being stuffed as it was with poorly digested erudition and misplaced polemics; the clergy, well provided for, was lazy and worldly. The people often concealed serious vices beneath a Pharisaical devotion. Pietism was a reaction against this state of affairs. Three periods may be distinguished in the history of Pietism:1. Before Spener
The reaction against theological formalism manifested itself as early as the sixteenth century; its representatives included V. Weigel (d. 1588) Böhme (v.). Weigel’s works were not published until 1616–1618 and provoked lively discussions. The principal precursor of Spener, however, was Giovanni Arndt (v.). In his work Vom wahren Christentum (Brunswick 1606 ff.), he opposed the life of Jesus Christ to the vanity of purely formal knowledge; it must not be forgotten, however, that this Pietism avant la lettre appeared within the framework of the Augsburg Confession and displays the essential aspects of Lutheranism.2. During Spener’s lifetime
History recognizes Filippo Giacomo Spener as the founder of Pietism properly so called. Born at Ribeauvillé (Alsace) on 23 (25) January 1635, he received his first impressions of « true Christianity » from the chaplain of the castle of the count of Ribeauvierre, whose wife was his godmother. One of the first books he read was the aforementioned work by Arndt, to which he added the works of the English Puritans, especially Richard Baxter (Saints' everlasting Rest [1670]). He completed his studies at the University of Strasbourg, where he came under the influence of two able teachers, the exegete Sebastiano Schmidt and the theologian Dannhaurer, who inspired in him a profound aversion to formalism and gave him a taste for the interior life. After receiving his degree (1659), Spener taught courses at Basel, then at Geneva, where he followed with interest the sermons of the Calvinist « reformer » Labadie (v.), and then at Strasbourg and Tübingen, where he came into contact with several professors of the University. A free preacher at Strasbourg, Spener became, in 1666, first pastor of Frankfurt. The need for regeneration became a kind of refrain for him. By a singular coincidence, when Labadie, disgusted by the indifference of the masses, established « meetings of piety » in Geneva, Spener, who knew nothing of this initiative, felt the same need and invited his more fervent parishioners to replace Sunday games with pious gatherings featuring edifying readings. He issued his first appeal in the sermon for the seventeenth Sunday after the feast of the Most Holy Trinity in 1669. Such was the origin of the Collegia pietatis, established in 1670; from this name derived the nickname of Pietism, or also « conventicle Christianity », given to the movement. The meetings took place in Spener’s house twice a week: the previous Sunday’s sermon was revisited, the relevant Gospel passage was read and commented upon, and then devotional works were read and hymns sung. From 1675 onward, the reading and study of the Bible, undertaken without any concern for scholarly exegesis, became the principal object of these meetings, which were transferred to the catechetical instruction hall. Those who regularly attended the « conventicles »conceived a sincere pride in their « true Christianity » and began openly to despise, or even denigrate, all those who had remained outside the movement. Spener energetically opposed this form of separatism, but he could not prevent Pietism from degenerating into an intolerant « bigotry ». In 1675 he published Arndt’s sermons, thereby demonstrating his direct connection with that precursor. He added a long introduction that caused a great stir and was subsequently published separately in 1678 under the title: Pia desideria. It is in this work that the essence of Pietism according to Spener must be sought. It opens with an impressive description of the decline of Lutheranism and offers historical documentation of great value, although the assertions of a « reformer », too inclined to heighten the colors, should not be taken literally. As a remedy, he suggests the following means of « regeneration »: a) daily reading of the Bible in the family or at meetings of piety; b) the universal priesthood, that is, apostolic effort on the part of all Christians; c) the conviction that Christianity is not merely a heritage of ideas but, above all, a life; d) great patience, charity, and gentleness toward sinners—that is, toward dissenters and those who do not practice Pietism; e) reform of the universities in the spirit of the « German Theology », the works of Tauler, and those of Thomas à Kempis, with frequent use of the Bible; f) radical reform of preaching, which must become more edifying (he presents Arndt’s sermons as models).
Spener’s ideas were passionately debated throughout Germany. More than 500 publications or controversial pamphlets appeared between 1690 and 1699. The principal critic was B. Mentzer, Court preacher at Darmstadt; the Consistory of Hesse prohibited the Collegia pietatis in 1678. Spener was accused of sympathizing with Catholic devotions and, since Germany was at war with France, of being a bad German. The spirit of the « conventicles » was also criticized, since their regular members affected an air of holiness. In 1686 Spener was summoned to Dresden as preacher to the Court of Saxony. Professor J. B. Carpzov of the University of Leipzig proposed the creation of Collegia philobblica among scholars (a kind of biblical-study circles). The principal organizers of this movement were two young professors, Augusto Ermanno Francke and Paolo Anton. During a visit to Leipzig, Spener came into contact with them in 1687. Under the direction of Francke, who had become completely won over to Spener’s ideas, the Collegia took on a « Pietist » character, contrary to their earlier scholarly concerns. Protests broke out; Carpzov, irritated, declared himself opposed to Pietism and became one of its most ardent adversaries. An ordinance of the Elector of Saxony (10 March 1690) prohibited the « conventicles of piety ». Spener, moreover, had lost all credit with the Elector because of certain tactful observations made to him concerning his private conduct. He then gladly accepted (1691) a position in Berlin, where he died in 1705.
3. After Spener
The controversies surrounding Pietism continued. The University of Wittenberg identified 283 errors in Spener’s writings; one of the most violent pamphlets against him was that of the pastor Roth of Halle: Imago pietismi. Spener, however, had succeeded in obtaining from the Elector of Brandenburg, in 1694, the establishment at the University of Halle of a faculty of theology, in which he had been able to place his most faithful supporters as professors: Breithaupt, Francke, Paolo Anton, Michaelis, Lange, Hernachmied. After Spener, this faculty became one of the strongholds of Pietism. Another center was the University of Tübingen (Württemberg), with the professors Jäger, Pfaff, Hochstetter, and Reuchlin. But whereas the Pietist school of Halle, under Francke’s impulse, remained within the narrow field of piety, that of Tübingen assumed a more scholarly character and penetrated more deeply into the clergy and the intellectual world. The principal opponent of Pietism in the eighteenth century was Valentino Löscher, who, in his work Timotheus verinus (1711–22), directed against the Pietist professor Lange of Halle, gave the following characteristics of Pietism: 1) doctrinal undifferentiation masked by piety; 2) contempt for the Sacraments; 3) lack of respect for the sacred ministry,enslavement to forms of piety; 4) confusion of faith with works in justification; 5) tendency toward millenarianism; 6) limitation of the efficacy of the Grace of God; 7) tendency toward mysticism; 8) meticulousness in condemning the adiaphora; 9) destruction of the subsidia religionis (the visible Church, confessions of faith, liturgical directories); 10) indulgence toward the Illuminist sectarians; 11) “perfectionism,” which identifies Christian activity with the growth of faith and demands “the complete annihilation of the old Adam”; 12) “reformism,” which restricts the Church to the world of the “regenerated”; 13) separatism.
Opposed simultaneously by the Aufklärung (Wolff, Semler) and by orthodox Lutheranism, p. gradually lost its prestige. It has survived to our own day as a spirit within Lutheranism, but keeping itself apart and remaining at peace with the hierarchy and orthodoxy.
II. DOCTRINE AND INFLUENCE
The doctrine of p. may be summarized as follows: 1) a true theologian must be regenerated. The theology of the unregenerate is nothing but a philosophy inadmissible in divine matters; 2) through regeneration, the will of fallen man once again becomes capable of good; the illumination of the intellect is merely an accessory aspect and always occurs when the transformation of the will takes place through the work of the Holy Spirit; 3) adiaphora, or morally indifferent actions, do not exist. Everything is either good or evil. Everything that does not tend toward the honor of God and Jesus Christ is evil, especially dancing, games, and the theater; 4) every regenerated Christian is an apostle, and must work to spread the Kingdom of God.Such a doctrine could not fail to have a profound influence on the Lutheran society of the time. Through p., charitable works spread; Francke in particular set the example, devoting himself to poor and abandoned children. P. exerted a great influence on the rationalist movement of the Aufklärung, which was in itself a reaction against the arid theology of the old Lutheranism. But whereas the Aufklärung was its reaction of the mind, p. was its reaction of the heart. P. opposed rationalist philosophy, but on the practical rather than the intellectual level. By dividing the Lutheran camp, p. favored the Aufklärung, just as Puritanism had favored the entry of free thought into England and Jansenism the advent of philosophism in France. Nevertheless, p. won even certain philosophers to its cause: Kant was somewhat pietist, at least in his formation and education, but he had found in that formation no safeguard whatsoever against agnosticism. Finally, the influence of p. Zinzendorf (v.) in the foundation of the sect of the Moravian Brethren must be recalled. Zinzendorf’s work may be regarded as an extension of p.