Pietism

PIETISM. - The name of P. was given in derision to a reform movement that arose, in the 17th century, within German Lutheranism, and was used for the first time, it seems, in 1675 at 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 readily quibbled over formulas; theology was arid, the churches were everywhere subject to the local lords, preaching no longer presented anything living, stuffed as it was with poorly digested erudition and misplaced polemics; the clergy, well provided for, were lazy and worldly. The people often concealed grave vices beneath a Pharisaical devotion. Pietism was a reaction against this state of affairs. Three periods can be distinguished in the history of Pietism:

1. Before Spener

The reaction against theological formalism manifested itself as early as the 16th century; its representatives were V. Weigel (d. 1588) and Jacob Böhme (v.). Weigel's works were not published until 1616-1618 and provoked lively discussions. Spener's principal precursor, however, was Johann 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; one must not forget, however, that this Pietism avant la lettre made its appearance within the framework of the Augsburg Confession and presents the essential aspects of Lutheranism.

2. During Spener's lifetime

History recognizes in Philip Jacob Spener 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 Ribeauvillé, whose consort was his godmother. One of the first books he read was the aforementioned work of Arndt, to which he added the English Puritan authors, particularly Richard Baxter (Saints' Everlasting Rest [1670]). He completed his studies at the University of Strasbourg, where he came under the influence of two able masters, the exegete Sebastian Schmidt and the theologian Dannhauer, who inspired in him a great aversion to formalism and gave him a taste for the interior life. After taking his degree (1659), Spener held courses at Basel, then at Geneva, where he followed with interest the sermons of the Calvinist "reformer" Jean de Labadie (v.), then at Strasbourg and at Tübingen, where he came into contact with several university masters. A free preacher at Strasbourg, Spener became, in 1666, first pastor of Frankfurt. The necessity of regeneration became for him a kind of refrain. By a singular coincidence, when Labadie, disgusted by the indifference of the masses, instituted "piety meetings" at Geneva, Spener, who was unaware of that initiative, felt the same need and invited his most fervent parishioners to replace Sunday games with pious gatherings with edifying readings. He launched his first appeal in the sermon of the 17th Sunday after the feast of the Most Holy Trinity of 1669. Such was the origin of the Collegia pietatis, instituted in 1670; from this name derived the nickname of Pietism, or also of "conventicle Christianity," which was given to the movement. The meetings took place in Spener's house, twice a week: they went back over the previous Sunday's preaching, read and commented on the corresponding passage of the Gospel, and then read devout works and sang hymns. From 1675 onward, the reading and study of the Bible, undertaken without any concern for scientific exegesis, became the principal object of these meetings, which were transferred to the catechism instruction room. The regular attenders of the "conventicles" conceived a sincere pride in their "true Christianity," and began openly to despise or even to denigrate all those who had remained outside the movement. Spener opposed this kind of separatism with energy, but could not prevent Pietism from degenerating into an intolerant "bigotry." In 1675 he published Arndt's sermons, thus demonstrating that he linked himself directly to that precursor. He added to them a long introduction that caused a great stir and was later published separately in 1678 under the title: Pia desideria. In this work one must seek the essence of Pietism according to Spener. It opens with an impressive description of the decadence of Lutheranism and substitutes a historical documentation of great value, even if the assertions of a "reformer," too inclined to lay on the colors, are not to be taken literally. As a remedy he suggests the following means of "regeneration": a) daily reading of the Bible in the family or in the piety meetings; b) universal priesthood, that is, apostolic effort in all Christians; c) the conviction that Christianity is not merely a patrimony of ideas, but, first of all, a life; d) much patience, charity, gentleness toward sinners, that is, toward dissidents, those who do not practice Pietism; e) reform of the universities in the spirit of the "German Theology," of the works of Tauler and 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 discussed with passion throughout Germany. More than 500 publications or controversial pamphlets are counted from 1690 to 1699. The major 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 there was war with France, of being a bad German. The spirit of the "conventicles" was also criticized, whose regular members affected an air of holiness. In 1686 Spener was called to Dresden, as preacher of the Saxon Court. The professor J. B. Carpzov, of the University of Leipzig, proposed the creation of Collegia philobiblica among scholars (a kind of biblical study circles). The principal organizers of this movement were two young professors, August Hermann Francke and Paul Anton. During a stay at Leipzig, Spener came into contact with them, in 1687. Under Francke's direction, who was completely won over to Spener's ideas, the Collegia took on a "Pietist" tendency, which was in contrast with the earlier scientific concerns. Protests broke out; Carpzov, irritated, declared himself against Pietism and became one of its most heated adversaries. An ordinance of the Elector of Saxony (10 March 1690) prohibited the "piety conventicles." Spener, moreover, had lost all credit with the Elector because of certain observations delicately made to him about his private conduct. He then gladly accepted (1691) a post at Berlin, where he died in 1705.

3. After Spener

The polemics around Pietism continued. The University of Wittenberg discovered 283 errors in Spener's writings; one of the most violent libels against him was that of the pastor Roth of Halle: Imago pietismi. But Spener had had the good fortune to obtain from the Elector of Brandenburg in 1694 the creation at the University of Halle of a faculty of theology, in which he had been able to place, as professors, his most faithful supporters: Breithaupt, Francke, Paul Anton, Michaelis, Lange, Hernachmied. This faculty became, after Spener, one of the citadels of Pietism. Another center was the University of Tübingen (Württemberg) with the professors Jäger, Pfaff, Hochstetter, Reuchlin. But, while the Pietist school of Halle, under Francke's impulse, remained within the narrow field of piety, that of Tübingen took on a more scientific aspect and penetrated more deeply into the clergy and the intellectual world. The principal adversary of Pietism in the 18th century was Valentin Löscher, who in his work Timotheus verinus (1711-22) against the Pietist professor Lange of Halle, gave the following characteristics of Pietism: 1) doctrinal indifferentism, masked as piety; 2) contempt for the Sacraments; 3) lack of respect toward the sacred ministry, enslaved by the forms of piety; 4) confusion of faith with works in justification; 5) tendency to millenarianism; 6) limitation of the efficacy of God's Grace; 7) tendency to mysticism; 8) meticulousness in condemning adiaphora; 9) destruction of the subsidia religionis (visible Church, confessions of faith, liturgical directors); 10) indulgence toward the sectarian illuminists; 11) "perfectionism" that identifies Christian activity with the growth of faith and demands "the complete annihilation of the old Adam"; 12) "reformism" that limits the church to the world of the "regenerate"; 13) separatism.

Fought at the same time by the Aufklärung (Wolff, Semler) and by orthodox Lutheranism, Pietism 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 with orthodoxy.

II. DOCTRINE AND INFLUENCE

The doctrine of Pietism may be summarized as follows: 1) a true theologian must be regenerated. The theology of the unregenerated is nothing but a philosophy inadmissible in divine matters; 2) through regeneration, the will of fallen man becomes capable of good again; 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 to the honor of God and of Jesus Christ is evil, especially dancing, gambling, the theater; 4) every regenerated Christian is an apostle, must work and spread the Kingdom of God.

Such a doctrine could not fail to have a profound influence on the Lutheran society of the time. Through Pietism the works of charity spread; Francke above all set the example, devoting himself to poor and abandoned children. Pietism had a great influence on the rationalist movement of the Aufklärung, which was in itself a reaction against the dried-up theology of old Lutheranism. But while the Aufklärung was the reaction of the brain, Pietism was the reaction of the heart. Rationalist philosophy was combated by Pietism, but on the practical plane and not on the intellectual one. Pietism, by dividing the Lutheran camp, favored the Aufklärung, just as Puritanism had favored the entry of free thought into England and Jansenism the advent of philosophism in France. Nevertheless, Pietism won over to its cause even some philosophers: Kant was somewhat pietist, at least in formation and education, but he had found in such formation no preservative at all against agnosticism. Lastly, one must recall the influence of Pietism on the orientation of Count Zinzendorf (v.) in the founding of the sect of the Moravian Brethren. Zinzendorf's work can be considered as a prolongation of Pietism.

Leone Cristiani