Who were the Pietists? Among other things they were transmitters of mission impulse in the 17th and 18th centuries. They also introduced or reintroduced within the modern Protestantism many practices that are taken for granted today: Bible Study, youth work, sending missionaries and more. The Pietists emphasized being born again within a Church that practiced infant baptism.

      Why are their stories unknown? Why are they judged harshly? As with the Puritans, uninformed judgments are the order of the day. Perhaps we have taken in the harsh opinions of secularists who distrust all religion. Not to be forgotten, it was a movement that broke out again and again, and in each occurrence, it was often with such a burst of zeal and love that it offended those who did not understand it. Also, is hard to sustain a movement and when they go into a downturn the result is legalism or liberalism (!). However, 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. He also published a collection of Arndt's sermons, for which his  ground breaking work was originally only 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, but clearly he thought he was following Arndt. 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

I wrote the above six years ago early in my research (not to mention blogging career!). I wrote a book on the most interesting revival I came across in my research, the Silesian Praying Children’s Awakening, and it is out now. You can order it at Amazon or from the publisher: http://dld.bz/Xaw#