Who were the Pietists? They were the transmitters of the mission impulse in the 17th and 18th centuries. They began many practices that are taken for granted today but without these Spirit-filled Christians would be lost: Bible Study, youth work, sending missionaries, and more. It was the Pietists who brought back the emphasis on being born again.

      Why is their stories so unknown? Why are they judged so harshly? Like the Puritans, uninformed judgments are the order of the day. Have we have taken in the harsh opinions of secular historians who distrust all religion. Perhaps, and also, it was a movement, a movement that breaks out again and again in new places, but in each one, it is such a burst of zeal and love that it is hard to sustain. When it goes bad, it results in legalism or liberalism (!), but that is no reason to despise a genuine move of God to refresh His people.

     Who began this movement? Spener was greatly influenced by Arndt's True Christianity, which was his favorite book next to the Bible, and also the collection of Arndt's sermons, for which his Pia Desideria was originally written as a preface. Spener is often thought of as the Father of Pietism because Pia Desideria contained an indictment of Lutheran Orthodoxy with a plan for reform. However, True Christianity was both of those things. Perhaps Spener can rightly be called the founder because of the success of the program put forward in Pia Desideria. It should also be noted that while Spener studied Arndt's works and clearly picked up his mantle, his thought and style of writing was his own. It should also be noted that these two were not the only voices decrying Lutheran Orthodoxy's need to lose its polemical edge and become more a religion of the heart.

     I have a new blog and I would appreciate your comments on my posts. -EJS

http://pietist.blogspot.com/