Spener's Contribution

Introduction
In 1666 a young pastor was called to become the head Lutheran pastor in Frankfurt am Main. He was well educated, holding the Doctor of Theology from the University of Strassbourg, and he had some strong notions that would soon galvanize Europe into another surge of reforming zeal--eventually reaching millions in every corner of the globe. The pastor's name was Philip Jacob Spener.

Nine years into his first pastorate, Spener would set forth his call for reform in the Lutheran church in a forward to a collection of sermons by Johannes Arndt. The title of the introduction was Pia Desideria, (Pious Desires) and within weeks this remarkable little tractate set off an astounding reaction throughout most of Europe.1

Modern members of primitive New Testament-style churches will quickly recognize several important themes in this tract, which have stirred strong sentiments today, as they have throughout church history. These ideas include the need for small meetings in the local church that will allow the re-introduction of the inter-active style of koinonia described in I Cor. 14, the need for the laity to learn the Bible and use it, the necessity of congregational review of the public teacher's positions, a vigorous critique of the institutional church and others.

It is the purpose of this paper to identify the key themes of Spener's theology, focusing in the area of ecclesiology. Then, a further attempt will be made to understand the connection between Spener's ecclesiological position and those streams that gave rise to it, as well as those that flowed out from it.

Spener's background
Born in 1635 in a practicing Christian home,2 Spener grew up in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War.3 It is hard to exaggerate the deadening effect that this international holocaust had on the view of the average person in Germany toward religion. Stoeffler says,
It is difficult to overestimate the catastrophic effect of the Thirty Years War upon the German people, The country being at the mercy of the (sic) Europe's soldiery, the destruction was such that whole villages and even towns simply disappeared. 4

The thirty years war was only one manifestation of the unhealthy relationship between church and state at that time. In the sixteenth century the Reformers had turned to the German princes, as "the chief members of the church," to take a hand in the reform of the church in their lands. This move was necessary because, at that time, divergent religious movements were routinely exterminated by armies loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. The fact is that if the leaders of the Reformation had not had the armies of European nobles on their side (especially in Saxony), they probably would have gone the way of previous dissident religious movements like the Albigensians and the Waldensians--genocide.5

It is hard for the modern reader to appreciate what life would have been like in a time when religious toleration was unheard of. Yet it was this fact that originally made partnership with the state indispensable.6 Unfortunately, while preserving the reformation church, this appeal for state assistance had led in time to a condition of permanent control. By the second half of the seventeenth century many of the rulers were members of the church only in a nominal sense, yet they held ecclesiastical legislation (rules for church discipline) firmly in their grasp. They also made the choice of who would hold offices in the church.

Church and state were united in such a way that the state controlled the church, and the ministers of the church became officials of the state.7

One example of state meddling in the church was the legal requirement that everyone attend church, and pay tithes.8 Not surprisingly, for most, this state of affairs tended to lead to a superficial involvement in the church. Another lamentable feature were the terrorizing heretic hunts and witch hunts which periodically engulfed and brutalized a given territory. 9

The Christian state concept had also removed the perceived need to convert the lost in society. It was assumed that most if not all those in church were authentic Christians. Here, the modern reader has less problem identifying with Spener's world.
The unfortunate relationship between church and state was not the only factor leading to the growth of nominal Christianity. Lutheran theology and practice were both problematic at this time, as witnessed by many besides Spener.

In the seminaries, the students were trained to do theology in Latin, as they had been for hundreds of years. "Disputations" or debates with other schools of theology were the order of the day. These disputations were not only carried out against Reformed, Anabaptist, and Roman Catholic, but also against other Lutherans. They could be carried out in person, or in writing, and tended to become more and more vituperative.10 The clergy who had been trained this way also tended to bring these disputes into the pulpit. Many sermons were scathing sarcastic attacks on rival views, detailed often with latin quotations that the people did not understand or care about.11 This form of teaching--arid, non-biblical, and unapplied--was compared by some to the schul Theologie (scholastic, or school theology) that the Reformation had claimed to replace. 12

In church life, a rigid distinction between clergy and laity tends to be quite unmotivating for the laity, especially when it is not felt that the lay person can do anything of importance. Yet, not only was this distinction maintained as tightly as ever, but other class distinctions were evident as well. Tappert explains,
. . .class distinctions were manifest in the churches, where elevated and upholstered places were reserved for the upper classes and only the common people sat on hard seats in the nave.13
Stoeffler adds,
Some of the noble families of Saxony. . . would not not have their children baptized at church because this would involve baptism with the same water used for other children. 14

There would have been little enthusiasm for spiritual growth, let alone ministry for the average lay person during this period. Stoeffler summarizes the situation,
The popular idea within the territorial churches was that a Christian is anyone who has been baptized and who maintains some formal connection with the Church by making use at least occasionally of the means of grace [[communion, the Word, and baptism] and who believes in general the truths laid down in the doctrinal symbols of his communion and adheres to its cultic forms.15

Naturally, with the flame of the church burning dimly, people became interested in other things. It is not clear whether the drinking bouts and "rioting" that Spener complained about were worse than usual, but there is no good reason to doubt that they were, especially since this part of Spener's thesis was not questioned by his critics.

The overall situation then, in Germany and much of the rest of Europe, was general apathy on the spiritual level. Bickering between theologians had lost the interest of the people, and Christianity itself was discredited by the violence of the religious wars.

Yet, even though the people were tired of murderous fanaticism, the nominal, formalistic religion that was prevalent was not satisfying either. This fact is attested to by scores of written lamentations about the sorry state of the church from this period. As Noll has stated,
In fact, German pietism was but one chord in a symphony of variations on a common theme--the need to move beyond sterile formulas about God to a more intimate experience with him.16

Some of the cries for spiritual reality were radical and even unbiblical such as those of Valentine Weigel and Jacob Boehme who were theosophical mystics. Other mystical authors were more moderate in their position.

Spener's favorite book while growing up was by one such author. The book, which was in Spener's father's library, was John Arndt's True Christianity, the echoes of which are evident in virtually all of Spener's writings. Pia Desideria itself was written as an introduction to a collection of Arndt's sermons. Spener was also deeply affected by the religious views of one countess Agathe. Her Christianity has been characterized as "world-fleeing, quietistic, even mystical."17 Spener also lists as a key influence, his parish pastor, Stoll, who was a strict Lutheran with a practical bent. Finally, there were several other devotional authors who influenced Spener during this period. Briefly, they are, Emmanuel Sothom's Golden Crown-Jewels of the Children of God, (which was written that "those who are Christian in name might become Christian also in deeds and in truth,") and Lewis Bailey's The Practice of Piety. 18 Any student of Spanner's work will recognize the themes of these British quietists readily.

Spener was a sharp student, and by the age of just 16 he was urged to enter the University. There he studied under well known Lutheran scholars, especially Dannhaur, who made him read the works of Luther. Spener was so taken by Luther that he would later claim that no other author since biblical times was as enlightened as he. It can fairly be said that Spener received his orthodox material (including his ecclesiology) from Luther through Dannhaur.19 As he moved toward completion of his education "he became increasingly biblically oriented and the theological writing which he engaged in becomes increasingly exegetical and practical. Gunberg notes that despite the fact that Spener was a contemporary of "Hobbies, Lock, Spines, and Albinos . . .and Bacon, Herbert of Cherry, and Descartes . . .[were] causing a philosophical revolution, Spener took almost no notice of their philosophical labors." 20

After graduation from class work, Spener took the customary 2 years of travels. One interesting stop in his journeys was in Geneva, where he was exposed to the charismatic French mystic, Jean de Labadie.
Labadie later became a mystical extremist, and a separatist (i.e. revolutionary against the established church). His doctrinal influence on Spener's will be considered later.

Spener was called to the pastorate in Frankfurt am Main in 1666. He immediately began to hold forth his views, which apparently remained relatively unchanged over the next 25 years. It was at Frankfurt that he began his collage pietatis in 1670 and published the Pia Desired.21

Within months, the Pia Desideria was known throughout the Lutheran church.

The Elements of Spener's Program
Spener was catapulted into fame, as already stated, by the publication of Pia Desideria in 1676. This little book has some very special qualities as described by Aland,
Spener stands altogether in the stream of a tradition, but with the means at our disposal it is not possible to demonstrate with certainty when he was actually dependent on it. This much is clear. But it is just as clear that he represents a unique phenomenon.

Countless books were written on the same theme before and after Spener. None of them, however, even approaches the Pia Desideria in the conciseness and clarity of its thought and the grasp of its goal. . . All the ideas and all the proposals for a reform of existing conditions had been present again and again before him. . . Yet nobody but Spener was capable of putting them together in the way in which we find them in the Pia Desideria.22

The Pia Desideria contains the clearest summary of Spener's theology. Here the parts of the book are mentioned with short representative statements which give the feeling, or flavor of the work.
Spener begins with an introduction that cautions the clergy that they will not have to answer to God for how proficient they were at winning debates,
"Instead, we shall be asked how faithfully and with how childlike a heart we sought to further the kingdom of God; with how pure and godly a teaching and how worthy an example we tried to edify our hearers amid the scorn of the world...23

Spener's pattern of looking past the external and unimportant to the spiritual realities underlying the situation is immediately apparent.

After the introduction, the first section contains a lengthy lamentation over the condition of all three estates in German-Lutheran society. Of the first estate, the nobility, Spener complains that they do not use their governmental authority in the interest of building a Christian society.

How many of them there are who do not concern themselves at all with what is spiritual, who hold with Gallio that they have nothing to do with anything but the temporal!24

As already mentioned, the relation between the church and the state was a close one in Spener's day, and he saw nothing wrong with this, except for the fact that the nobility were not holding up their end of the bargain.

Of the second estate, the clergy, his main critique is that they have replaced the simple and clear preaching of the gospel with a morbid interest in controversial nit-picking. One source of this is the one-sided impractical education that the clergy receive at seminary.

When men's minds are stuffed with such a theology which, while it preserves the foundation of faith from the Scriptures, builds on it with so much wood, hay, and stubble of human inquisitiveness that the gold can no longer be seen, it becomes exceedingly difficult to grasp and find pleasure in the real simplicity of Christ and his teaching. This is so because men's taste becomes accustomed to the more charming things of reason,25 and after a while the simplicity of Christ and his teaching appears to be tasteless. Such knowledge, which remains without love, "puffs up" (I Cor. 8:1). It leaves man in his love of self; indeed, it fosters and strengthens such love more and more. Subtleties unknown to the Scriptures usually have their origin, in the case of those who introduce them, in a desire to exhibit their sagacity and their superiority over others, to have a great reputation, and to derive benefit therefrom in the world. . .They can hardly be kept from taking to market what gives them the most pleasure, and they generally concentrate on something that is not very edifying to their hearers who are seeking salvation."26

Finally, of the third estate, the peasants and the bourgeoisie, Spener deplores the lack of biblical morality. Examples that he focuses on include the presence of beggars and other poor who are ignored by the working Christians,27 heavy drinking and "riot,"28 and superficiality in the observance of church ordinances:
This leads many people to damnation and even strengthens a false and illusory conception of what constitutes true faith. There are many who think that this comprises all there is to christianity and thus they have done enough if they have been baptized, listen to the divine word in sermons, confessed, received the absolution, and gone to Holy Communion. 29

It is confusing to hear Spener argue against doctrinal wrangling and superficiality in a way very fit unto the modern fundamentalist church, and then turn around and attack drinking! One wonders whether he would reject or embrace modern fundamentalist churches.
Spener's denunciation of all forms of sin is thorough.

Yet he does not believe in perfectionism. In the next section of the Pia Desideria, he sets forward a vision of a reformed Lutheran church.

If one wants to seek perfection one must abandon this life for the next. There alone can one find perfection but prior to eternity we cannot hope to have it. 30
On the other hand,
Therefore he is never further away from the conceit of perfection than when he works the most zealously to achieve perfection.31

He summarizes what he would like to see,
We know full well that a wheat field can never be discovered which is so clean that not a single weed can be found in it. But rather we advance to the point that the church is nonetheless free of public scandal and no one expected with scandal is living is left in the church without grave misgivings and finally exclusion, and the true members of the church realize that the degree of perfection with much fruitfulness.32

How was the Lutheran church to correct these deficiencies? In answer to this question, Spener supplied a series of proposals in the third section of the Pia Desideria.

First, there should be more focus on knowledge of the word not only for the clergy, but also for the laity. They should be taught to read it privately, and the clergy should read it and explain it publicly.
It is in this connection that Spener brought forward two of his most dramatic and far-reaching proposals--that the church renew Luther's emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, and that they do so through the initiation of collegia pietatis. These were small interactive meetings of lay Christians focusing on doing exposition of the Bible, admonition, and prayer. The meeting format described in I Cor. 14 was cited as the model for these meetings, which would meet in member's homes

.. . .perhaps it would even be useful if we again brought in to being the ancient apostolic way of gathering the church together, which leads to mature thinking. In addition to the customary sermons other gatherings would be held in the same way Paul in I Cor. 14 describes them. Instead of just one getting up to teach, which will still be done at other times, others who are blessed with talents and insight would also contribute. They would present their pious thoughts which might be instructive to the rest concerning the matters discussed without disorderliness or quarreling. . .What each one contributed would be examined by the rest especially by those whose calling was teaching, as to the conformity with the intent of the Holy Spirit in the scriptures and thus the whole group would be edified.33

Spener argued that this kind of structure was necessary because the people were not learning the Bible through the customary Sunday meetings.
Now if one gathers together all the texts which have been presented in many years one after another to one congregation there will be only a small part of the scripture which has been expounded. The congregation does not hear the rest at all, or they hear only a few sayings or directives which are mentioned in the sermon without being able to understand their whole significance even though there is something important in them. . .The people have little opportunity to grasp the understanding of the scripture in any other way then from the text that are interpreted to them. That they even have less opportunity to use the scriptures themselves as their edification requires.34

It was also needed in order to establish what Luther had called the "Spiritual Priesthood" as a reality rather than a dead letter. This must be done because,
. . .one of the foremost reasons why the minister cannot accomplish everything and carry out what should be easy, is that he is too weak without the help of the universal priesthood of all believers. One man is not enough among so many since to just one is usually entrusted the accomplishment of everything necessary for the edification of the people under his care.35

The fourth proposal had to do with the moral lives of the people. Here, Spener calls for clear teaching and admonition regarding loving God, and one's neighbor.
. . .when we awaken a fervent love among Christians--first for each other, then toward all mankind--both of which (love of bothers and love of mankind) must follow one another (II Pet. 1:7) - and bring it into practice. . .then almost everything we desire is accomplished.36

Changes in behavior when carrying out disputations was the fifth part of Spener's program. He agreed with Arndt that not all disputing is useful,"37 but felt that leaders should not abandon the practice of debate altogether because,
. . .the defense of the pure truth and thus also the disputation which are part of its defense, must be maintained within the church just as much as other functions ordained for the edification of the church. Christ, the apostles, and their followers stand out as blessed examples who also disputed, powerfully refuted the opposing errors and defended the truth. On the other hand those who want to take away and condemn this necessary use of the spiritual sword of the divine Word would plunge the Christian church into the greatest danger, in as much as it should be used against false teaching.38

However, they should use loving demeanor, should give no offense, whether it be from name calling, or an unloving lack of desire to win the disputant. He thought they should realize the limitations of disputations, and should accept those from other confessions who are close enough to be Christians. Finally, the disputer should practice love and good works to back up his argument.39
The fifth proposal dealt with correcting the deficiencies in the clergy. Spener argued that the seminaries should choose only qualified students, that is, morally qualified. An effort should be made to find out what their lives were like before they were admitted. Once there, the professors should supervise the lives of students, insisting on piety in addition to scholarship.40 They should terminate partying, joking around and "rioting," and should even give certificates from the seminary stating that the graduate was qualified to minister because of his godly life.41

He felt that disputing should be the focus of only the few in seminary, and that the others focus on knowing how to teach Christianity in German to their people. Thus, the focus of seminary would be to produce practical preachers, not idle, picky intellectuals.42

In order to school the private walk of the students, Spener recommends late medieval mystical books like Tauler, Theologica Deutsch (The German Theology) and Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ. These books, along with the Bible, are what in Spener's mind probably made Luther who he was. Arndt's own book is also of the sort desired.43

Finally, the sixth proposal is that existing clergy should preach sermons planned to further faith and fruit in the hearers. Like the sermons in Arndt's Postille, for which Pia Desideria was an introduction, they should not be designed to show how knowledgeable the preacher was, but to edify. In other words, sermons should be practical, while focusing on inner change, as well as outer. No sermon should ever be devoid of application.44

At last, Spener gives a short literary and bibliographical introduction to the volume of Arndt's sermons. He comments that, "In these spiritually enriching writings . . .he [Arndt] has directed everything to the true center, to the inner person."45 Meister Eckhard--
He was a benedictine teacher who eventually went to pantheistic extremes in his speculations. Eckhard was born around 1260, and was friar preacher in Strassbourg from 1314 to 1320. It is clear that Tauler (see below) must have been influenced directly and indirectly by him. Eckhard was condemned after his death in 1329 by Pope John XXII in the Bull In Agro Dominico. There is little evidence that Spener or Arndt depend directly on him to any great degree. However, they drew heavily on Tauler. In Eckhard's writings one can find both the admirable and the bizarre.

For instance, his answer to the question of whether one who prefers living in isolation would not be better off in the church was,
No.. . .Those who do well, do well wherever they are, and in whatever company, and those who do badly do badly wherever they are, and in whatever company. But if a man does well, God is really in him, and with him everywhere, on the streets and among people just as much as in church, or a desert place or a cell. . .
but, he adds,
The more he regards everything as divine-more divine than it is of itself-the more God will be pleased with him. . .

Johannus Tauler--
Tauler seems at times to be second only to Luther in the thinking of both Arndt and Spener. He stands squarely in the center of the late medieval German mystical tradition. Tauler was a native of Strassbourg, born about 1300. He became a Dominican friar, and would have heard Eckhard lecture during his student days. He was a strong preacher who was usually in distress over the moral life of the people, including the clergy. He became so disillusioned by the 1350's that he said "If I had known what I now know I should have lived on my inheritance and not on alms."

Erb points out that, "Long before scholars decreed the mutual exclusion between "Reformation" and "mysticism", Luther himself had ingested and incorporated into his own thinking the sermons of Bernard of Clairvaux, the biblical piety of his spiritual director Johannes Staupitz, and the meditations of Johannes Tauler. . ." _

Some examples of typical sentiments expressed by Tauler in his sermons are:
Man must do his part and rise from every thing that is not God, away from himself and all created things. And as he rises, the depth of his soul is seized by a powerful longing to be denuded and freed from everything that separates it from God. . .They have to abandon their presumptions and arrogant ways and begin the strenuous work of self-denial. . .
They [The truly spiritual] are raised to a supernatural, a divine level, and none of their work is ever done without God. And if one may dare to utter it, they themselves no longer work, but God works in them. How blessed they are! They are the lofty pillars of the universe, on whom rests the weight of the whole world. To find oneself in such a state - what a glorious and joyful thing that would be.
External works are of no avail to them, of none whatsoever, Does not the word "surge" mean arise? That indeed is a work. It is the one work necessary, and they should perform it without ceasing as long as they live. A man can never reach perfection unless he wishes to arise, lift up his spirit to God, and free his innermost ground.

But what it is that He does in those depths of the soul which have been touched by Him directly, no one can say. Nor can any man tell another, and even he who has experienced it must remain silent. For where God truly takes possession of the soul, all external activity ceases, but the interior perception of God mightily increases.

The imatatio Christi motif are evident, "And furthermore, since God, Our Sovereign Lord and Father, suffered such great indignities and so many torments, all those who would like to be counted among His friends should be glad to suffer with Him. . .

The theme of union, and the use of paradoxes are common, "No one can understand these distinctions better than those who have gone beyond distinctions and have attained unity. This state is called and indeed is an unfathomable darkness, and yet it is the essential light. It is and is said to be an incomprehensible and solitary wilderness, for no one can find his way there, for it is above all ways, above all modes and manners."

Theologia Germanica (German Theology)
This anonymous work dates from the fourteenth century. The treatise quotes Tauler, although some continued to believe that Tauler was actually the author. Certainly, the thinking is similar. The themes of the work are the same as all late medieval mysticism, "Reinigung, Erleuchtung, Und Vereinigung" (purification, illumination, and union). It calls for the removal of Adam's "ich und sein mich und sein myr (sic) und sein mien" (Adam's "I" his "myself" his "me" and his "mine.").

The book was published with an introduction by none other than Martin Luther in 1515 and again in 1518. It will be seen that two years before the 95 theses were posted, as well as after, Luther was deeply affected by this tractate. It was used and praised by Karlstadt, Hanz Denck, Sebastian Castillio, and Valentin Weigel, all important players in the sixteenth century. It was a basic and widely used document for Anabaptist theology and ethics. John Calvin condemned it as the poison of the Devil, and Pope Paul V placed it on the Index of Forbidden Books, where it remains today. Spener and Arndt both mention it often, as do Francke and later pietists.

Luther said in his 1515 edition of the German Theology that the work, "does not drift on the surface like foam on water but is issued forth from the depths of the Jordan. . ." He also speculates that the author could be none other than Tauler himself. Spener quotes Luther's comment that ". . .neither in Latin nor in German have I found theology purer and more beneficial, which also agrees with the gospel."

In a typical passage the author prays, "that we may thus deny and renounce ourselves, and forsake all things through God, and die to our own self-will, and live unto God alone and to his Will. . .

One can see some of the problems with this kind of work from the section on what the ultimate goal for the believer is;
"But what is that one thing? I answer: It is the Good-or that which has become good-and yet neither this good nor that, which we can name, or know, or show; but it is all good, and above all good. Moreover, it need not to enter the soul, for it is there already, only it is unperceived. When we say we should come to it, we mean that we should seek it, feel it, and taste it. And now since it is One, unity and singleness is better than manifoldness. For blessedness lies not in much and manifoldness, but in One and oneness.

Heinrich Suso--
Heinrich Suso illustrates some of the difficulties that a mystical outlook can lead to. He was born around 1300 and entered the Dominican monastery at the age of 13. During a ten year period of strict seclusion in the Dominican friary, Suso practiced severe bodily discipline. "He wore a hair shirt and an iron chain. His under-garment had leather straps and iron nails with sharp points. He had a girdle round his neck to which his hands were fastened so that he could not scratch his sores at night. He put on leather gloves studded with spikes. He fixed a wooden cross to his back with iron nails in it. An old disused wooden door served as his bed and he had no bed-clothes except in winter when he threw an old coat over himself. For a long time he ate only once a day; he abstained from wine and at times drank nothing all day, suffering tortures of hunger and thirst."

His first work, The Book of Truth, was a defense of Eckhard's teachings, which he knew well. He was prior of the Dominicans in Constance for many years. At the age of 40, he gave up asceticism for good, and entered the state of Gelassenheit (resignation). Selections of his material can be read in translation in The Library of Christian Classics.
The villain in the sixth chapter of his The Little Book of Truth, reminiscent of so much of Spener and Arndt's criticism, is the "wildman" who is "skilled in words, but unpracticed in works, puffed up with pride and vanity."

Post Reformation Sources of Pietistic Ecclesiology
We are not as sure about the post reformation sources on the mystical side. Luther, through Dannhauer and Arndt have already been mentioned as influences for Spener. On the mystical side, there are several others who may have contributed to Spener's thought.

Jacob Boehme--
Boehme was an unlearned, but intelligent cobbler. In his youth he often fell into trances, sometimes for days, in the manner strikingly similar to shamans in oral societies. Then as a young man, he had a decisive vision in which he was enlightened once and for all.

During his enlightening vision His own personal spirit united, "with the innermost Birth in God and stood in the Light." He discovered that "God goes clean another way to work" than by the way of reasoning or of sense experience - "instead of waiting for man to climb up to Him, He climbs up into man's soul."

Jones says of Boehme, "His Way of Salvation [focused] . . .upon the native divine possibilities of the soul, . . .and upon the necessity of personal and inward experience as the key to every gate of life. . .Christianity, [is]. . . not "history" . . .it is an experience in which the soul finds itself "at the top of Jacob's ladder," and feels its life in God and God's Life in it in an ineffable Love-union. . ..

According to Ensign, Boehme conceives God, in Himself, as being the Ungrund (non-reason). Faith is not a mere assent to certain "opinions" (Meinungen) much less accepting an "imputed" righteousness, while remaining a "brute." Boehme "never tires of insisting that the restoration can come only by a process of Life, not by a 'scheme' of theology. . .Heaven and hell are present everywhere." A man, he says, must die wholly to self-hood, forsake it and enter again into the original Nothing, - the eternal Unity in which nothing is willed in particular,- before God can have His way with him; only then, "Christ is born and lives in our Nothingness."

Regarding ecclesiology, Stoffer explains that, "Boehme was dissatisfied with Lutheran Orthodoxy and its bias toward ex opere operato interpretations of the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments. He felt that such traditional theological formulations were actually obscuring the Christian message.

Jones says, "He dislikes, as much as did the English Quaker, George Fox, the custom of Calling "stone houses" churches. . .His attitude toward outward sacraments consistently fits in with all his central teachings. The outward, for Boehme, . . .can always be used as a parable or symbol of something inner and eternal. But the outward is at best only temporal, only symbolic, and it becomes a hindrance if it is taken for the real substance of which it is only the outward 'signature'"

Stoffer adds that "It was this critical attitude toward the external church that supplied Boehme and those influenced by him with the motivation for ecclesiastical separatism."

Interestingly, Jones points out that Boehme wrote some portions using automatic handwriting. ". . .the portions of his voluminous writings which bear the mark of having been written as automatic script - by "this hand," as he often says - are the chaotic and confused portions, full of monotonous repetitions, of undigested and indigestible phrases and the dreary re-shufflings of sub-conscious wreckage."

Most scholars feel that the Pietistic movement was influenced by Boehme (1575-1624), especially the later radical pietists. This is surprising, because Boehme went beyond mysticism to theosophy. We do know that Spener vigorously defended the right of some pietist preachers not to sign a denunciation against "False philosophers anti-scripturals, lax-theologians and other fanatics, namely Jacob Boehme. . . etc." that was issued by Mayer, an anti-pietistic theologian. He also refused to condemn Boehme's material with the excuse that he had neither read him enough nor understood him sufficiently to give an opinion. This excuse seems implausible for one who took as much interest as Spener in what was happening in Christianity.

Some scholars argue that the radical pietists had Boehme as their primary influence, and even even some of the churchly pietists were heavily influenced by Boehme. Although no scholars surveyed seriously resist this thesis, the actual evidence for the belief was not presented in translation, other than coincidental views on the church, and certain other mystical-spiritualistic themes.

Indeed, there seems to be a likely connection between Boehme's critique of the established church and the views of the radical pietists. But even here, unless a direct literary dependence is demonstrated, it seems possible that they may have arrived at the same position without much help from Boehme. There were certainly many others holding similar views to Boehme who did not depend on him at all. This goes as well for the mystical elements in Boehme's soteriology. In the first place, few of the distinctively Boehmist elements were demonstrated by Ensign in the writings of the radical pietists. The elements mentioned are also held in common with other sources. In fact, nature mysticism was a major undercurrent in Europe, in which Boehm stood just like the others. Some of his speculations seem even further from that of most of the radical pietists.
Denck, Schwenckfeld, Franck and Weigel

Stoeffler refers to these radical mystics of the sixteenth and seventeenth century as "proponents of the inner life." They are sometimes referred to as anabaptists, but this is incorrect according to both Stoeffler and Ozment. They all drew part of their inspiration from the same sources as Arndt-late medieval mysticism.

However, they all have in common the nature mysticism of their more influential colleague Boehme. Jones states that the sources for the nature mysticism of Weigel and Boehme are;

1. The newly available translations of Plato and the neo-platonic philosophers brought to the fifteenth century first by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), and to Germany by Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522).

2. The Cabala, a Jewish collection of mystical speculations which became popular in the thirteenth century, although its followers claim it is much older. It contains notions of a transcendent God who is not imminent, and has no contact with matter, but issues emanations from himself to those who do have such contact. It took much interest in magic and the occult as well.

3. The renewed interest in nature and man that was the product of renaissance humanism.

4. The powerful message of the German mystics.

Weigel was a particularly interesting case. He lived as an apparently orthodox Lutheran pastor for his entire career, dishonestly signing the confessions of the church, although he did not believe them. Only after his death were his works published revealing that he was a theosophist!

Denck, Schwenckfeld, Franck and Weigel are important because Arndt and Spener were regularly accused of being disciples of these men. Indeed, Arndt included some of Weigel's material in his True Christianity. Orthodox pastors must have wondered whether Spener would also reveal his theosophical views after his death.

Jean de Labadie--
Another controversial figure who may have influenced Spener is Jean de Labadie. Labadie was a French Jesuit trained scholar who defected to the Reformed church after studying the Institutes of Calvin. He was accepted into the reformed pastorate in 1650, and after two problematic appointments, eventually settled down in Geneva. There his fiery preaching, and his zealous call for reform in religion and morals resulted in substantial fame and notoriety.

Later, he moved to a reformed pastorate in Holland, first at Orange, and later at Middleberg. His reputation and his writings on asceticism, meditation, and contemplation were spread throughout Holland during this period. While pastor at Middleberg he published his Ecrit sur la prophetie (Amsterdam, 1668) [Concerning the Practice of Free Prophecy]. This was a book on the priesthood of all believers, and on the "spiritual" principle of interpretation of the Scriptures.

However, more problems arose as Labadie grew increasingly radical. He refused to follow the reformed liturgy, preferring extemporaneous prayers. His ardent circle of followers eventually became a separatistic sect. He was described as capricious and self-willed. Theologians in Utrect called him "an irresponsible visionary"

He set about planting underground conventicles or communes devoted to pure worship of God. "Thus," says Stoeffler, "he became the father of separatistic Pietism on the Continent."

These groups became known as Labadists. We can place Labadists in many of the cities where later radical pietist movements sprang up.

It is also interesting to note that beginning in 1659 Spener spent 2 years traveling in Basil, Bern Lausanne, Geneva, Freiburg, and Tubingen. While at Geneva, he sat under Labadie. He "often went to hear him," met him personally, and later had one of his french tracts published in German.

Scholars debate how much influence Labadie had on Spener. Even during Spener's life his critics charged that the idea of house meetings had come from Labadie. This was an embarrassment by that time, because Labadie was already teaching radical separatism. Spener denied that Labadie had had much influence, and Kurt Aland has argued effectively that the extent of influence wielded by Labadie has been exaggerated. This is certainly the case when those like Schmidt, who believed that Spener "had [his book] at hand as he wrote Pia Desideria."

Spener admitted that he talked to Labadie a number of times and that he, "found much that was good and edifying" in Labadie's early works. Even Deeter reluctantly admits that "it is certainly possible that Spener had imbibed some of his ideas from Labadie." He points out that Spener had not read any of the later separatistic Labadist literature (dating later than the time Labadie left France) but this is somewhat beside the point. More importantly, Spener stated that Labadie was not holding any home meetings during the time he knew him in Geneva.

The Quakers
The quietistic groups current in Europe and England bore a remarkable similarity to Pietism in most areas, except for their anti-sacramentalism. Spener knew about the Quakers and George Fox, although he was apparently not influenced by them at all. Later in his life, he adopted a more favorable view toward the Quakers because of their quietistic attitude and good works.

On the other hand, critics of Spener's own time, such as pastor Roth of Liepzig wrote that the Pietists, ". . .opposed the authority of the church and that their zealous conventicles turned people away from the public worship of the church so that they even despised the preachers. This amounted to descending to the level of Quaker sectarianism." Spener seemed to resent these accusations of Quakerism more than most accusations.

It seems clear that Spener did not understand Quakerism in his early days, because he thought they believed that one should follow every impulse, even if it led to sin. He also thought they had no use for the Scriptures.

Later, he came to have a more or less favorable view of the Quakers, but this was well after his own views were fully developed and published. Nevertheless, both his critics, and the Quakers gleefully claimed that he was one of theirs.

Other Arndtians
Stoeffler comments that the writings of successors to Arndt such as Stegmann and Lassenius "exhibit an excessive sweetness, a religious eroticism which tends to nauseate the modern reader." These amorous motifs, he feels, go back to the worst elements of medieval mysticism, which drew its inspiration from an allegorical reading of Song of Solomon.

He thus identifies the later followers of these thinkers as "erotic Pietism," which can be differentiated from normal Pietism because it, "had as its major aim pleasant feeling states rather than a reformed life. . ."

They issued in a whole tradition of eighteenth century erotic Pietists writing treatises and hymns "whose dominant theme was erotic love for Christ."

There is no evidence that Spener followed this strain exactly, although it would have been hard for him not to have been influenced by it at all. Some of the radical pietists may have been more influenced by this school of thought.

The Waldensians
While at Geneva, Spener befriended the Waldensian minister Antonius Legerus, who persuaded him to study Waldensian history and teaching. This may have added to the toleration theme that Spener later evinced.

Leger's version of Waldensian history is inaccurate, claiming that they can be traced back to the time of Pope Sylvester. This may have confirmed Spener's view that value could be found in the period before Luther.

By considering the available evidence-connections that Spener had while growing up, his own statements, and circumstantial evidence-we find that he was a moderate mystic-Lutheran theologian, more aware than most of other theological options then current, with all that implies. The pietistic movement that grew up around him universally bears the marks of this origin, but interpreted it differently.

Arndt and Spener stood for the confluence of the two streams of reformation theology and late-medieval mysticism. Their followers and spin-offs would tend to see those streams weighted differently-sometimes with one in ascendancy, sometimes the other.

However, in most cases, little new was added.
While noting the similarities with the earlier medieval mysticism, it is essential to note the differences as well. Stoeffler notes correctly,
While in its experientialism and religious idealism it bore a certain affinity to medieval mysticism it differed sharply from that movement in its Biblicism.
And somewhat less accurately,
What early evangelical Pietism actually endeavored to do was to preserve the experiential element in Protestantism which was so obvious in Luther as well as in Calvin. Its theology was wholly centered in the written Word, that Word having to be inwardly appropriated through the Spirit in the fellowship of the Church. Thus the tension between the subjective and the objective was resolved very much as it was in the theology of the reformers.

Actually, it is likely that the Pietists were substantially more subjective than the reformers were. Although Luther may have started out in a highly subjective tradition, not unlike that of Spener, he tended to grow away from that background to a greater extent than Spener. It is doubtful that Spener would have approved of Luther's life-style. Luther was guilty of fun-loving ribaldry and sometimes ate and drank to excess in a way Spener would have found difficult to justify. In short, the difference was not one of doctrine, but rather in the fact that Arndt, Spener, Francke and their followers were more restrictive than Luther was.

One thing Spener never had in common with Luther was the actual experience of a life of ascetic self-discipline such as that lived by Suso. Luther had also indulged in considerable self flagellation and kindred disciplines. These probably would have enabled him to develop a more thorough critique of those thought systems than Spener.

The effect of mysticism on ecclesiology
Although the moderate form of mysticism that Spener infused into the mainstream of Lutheran theology was not revolutionary, it contained premises which lead to revolution. The effect of mystical theology generally is to foster a more "spiritual" or subjective understanding of the nature of Christian soteriology, especially sanctification. These were the main applications that Spener drew from his fusion of mysticism and biblically oriented Lutheranism.

However, it would be naive to think that these same premises would not also, in time, lead to a more "spiritual" or subjective understanding of the church.
Brown points out that from the earliest time, the terms "pietistic" and "individualistic" have been used synonymously in theological parlance. Likewise, the mystic is alone with his God when most of the deep things happen. The mystical gospel calls for individual growth or attainment, and does not excuse the individual for carnality, even if he/she does go to church. Mystical theology tends to ask not "How is your community doing?" but "How is your personal walk with God doing?" This is why Alfred Hegler is plausible when he argued that "the basic source for . . .the 'radical reform movements,' the 'radical tributaries,' or the 'left wing' of the Reformation was medieval mysticism."

Heyd observes,
True, individual judgment had always been a constituent element of the Protestant tradition, but it is often forgotten that in the period of the Reformation and of Protestant Orthodoxy, the role ascribed to the individual was counterbalanced by the central position of the Church and public authorities in determining issues of doctrine and discipline.

This individualistic outlook would have been given added impulse by Spener's insistence that the individual study his Bible, and develop ministry. Once again, history teaches that the individual with the Bible in his hand is a force for spiritual revolution. It is not without cause that the established church has sometimes tended to avoid too many laymen with too many Bibles-such individuals might reach new conclusions: perhaps heretical conclusions, perhaps critiques of the existing church. Stoeffler feels that the biblicism of the Pietists, which was not a factor in mystical theology, accounts for the change in view regarding roles in the church.

It was this implicit, somewhat naive, trust in the Word, rather than in man's words about the Word, which is also responsible for the fact that Pietists really trusted the religious opinions of theologically untrained laymen. The theory was, of course, that the Spirit of God is able to commend the truth of the Bible to men's minds and hearts without the tortured interpretations of the professionals. Hence, to the consternation of the representatives of orthodoxy and ecclesiastical institutionalism, laymen were permitted to testify, to exhort, and even to preach. The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers was thus rescued once again from being a mere dogma and set free to exert its influence in the Church.

As some Pietists went into separatism, Spener tried to stem the tide that he had unleashed, with limited success. Brown explains;
[Spener] attempted to persuade all to return to the church. This was the purpose of his tract, The Use and the Misuse of the Laments Over Corrupted Christendom, which appeared in 1684 and was reprinted in 1687 and 1696. In this tract Spener stated that even though the church was corrupt, it was the true church from which no one should turn away.. . .

He repeatedly deplored separation, "claiming that it acted like a medicine which was more dangerous than the disease it was supposed to cure.. . .
Nevertheless, the extreme expression of self-assertion against external church authority which more and more emancipated itself from the restraints of tradition was the work of later Pietism.
Spener's and Francke's individualism also tended to move them toward more democratic control in the churches. Brown says,
Spener and Francke were consistently Lutheran; nevertheless, they and their followers often stretched Luther's definitions in their appeal for a more democratic church polity and in the mystical tendencies inherent in the style of the conventicles. . .
Spener was criticized for the egalitarianism of his pastoral service and his small group meetings, in which servants were allowed to sit and the same tables as their masters.

Naturally, the view of the individual before his God tended to render class and ecclesiastic distinctions meaningless.

Another ecclesiological by-product of the fusion of Reformation and Mystical theology was the alteration of Lutheran sacramentalism. The platonism of the medieval mystics sometimes led to an anti-sacramental attitude. An example this can be seen in the Theologia Deutsch, which, after quoting Tauler as declaring, "There be some men at the present time who take leave of imagery [sacraments] too soon. . ." goes on to argue that only,
. . .as a man has thus broken loose from and overleaped all temporal things and creatures he may afterward come to perfection in a life of contemplation. For he who will have the one must let the other go. There is no other way.

The argument here is not that one should avoid leaving sacraments behind, but rather that this should not be attempted by the immature. Likewise, Arndt did not usually speak of baptismal regeneration, as did his orthodox contemporaries.
He thus linked himself definitely with many of the later Lutheran Pietists to whom the Lutheran doctrine of baptismal regeneration as popularly held was always an occasion of regret or at least of embarrassment. . .[although] Arndt held the historic Lutheran view of baptism. In point of fact, however, he said little about it and put the emphasis on conversion, oneness with Christ, and a holy life."
It is not surprising then that Spener's and Francke's critics,
. . .accused them of adopting a mystical and spiritualistic interpretation of the sacraments. Spener, as customary, desired to walk the middle ground: "as in all things, two extremes are possible, it is a deviation to place your trust outwardly in the mere custom of the sacrament and be concerned little with the inward. But it is also a deviation when one chooses to despise and set aside the outward because of the inward."

The tension between adult conversion and infant baptism became acute for Spener and Francke. This should be especially clear when one realizes that they did not accept the doctrine of unconditional election.
Likewise, Spener's stress on the possibility of losing the new birth following baptism and on the new obedience which baptism requires significantly altered traditional baptism.

The Pietists' need for subjective appropriation made it possible for some of the followers of Spener and Francke to minimize infant baptism in favor of the later conversion experience and to circumvent the objective efficacy of the sacrament. Francke and Spener, however, attempted to avoid this tendency.
The churchly pietists were careful to not openly question the orthodox interpretation of the sacraments.

However, Brown credits Spener with a major role in undermining the Beischtuhl (confessional) permanently in Lutheranism. This in spite of the fact that Francke himself confessed to a neighboring minister four times each year before partaking of the Lord's supper.

The Beischtuhl . . .figured prominently in Pietist controversies. Although it was practically considered a sacrament by many of the orthodox, Spener and Francke felt freer to attack it than the two traditional Protestant sacraments. . . .its is very likely that Pietism, with its critical stance and opposition to compulsion, abetted the demise of the confessional.

As we shall see, many of the later radical Pietists openly rejected or deprecated sacraments.
the churchly pietistic movement

Pietistic Conventicles
Spener held the first of his private meetings in his own home in Frankfurt am Main in 1670. With the popularity of the Pia Desideria, there were soon conventicles meeting all over Europe. Tappert affirms that,

Spener himself soon ascribed more and more importance to the collegia pietatis, which were given only passing attention in his Pia Desideria. If the church was to be renewed, he felt, a beginning would have to be made with the remnant of true Christians in every congregation.

The responses to the advent of the collegia pietatis were two-fold-bitter attacks from the church, and terrific excitement from lay people. Two questions that must be answered are, "Why did such an enthusiastic reception greet the collegia?" and, "Why were they opposed so bitterly by the church?"

Regarding the first question, before a proper understanding of pietism can be gained, one must realize that there was a vigorous ferment of pietistic, spiritualistic and mystical strains already present in Europe at this time, independent of Spener's movement. This can be seen, for instance, when one considers how many tens of thousands of Anabaptists were killed from the time of the Reformation until the time of Spener. For Anabaptism to have still been a vital force in Europe despite this many casualties gives an idea of the profound thirst for religious authenticity and freedom that must have given rise to such endurance.

Many authors have insisted that the Thirty Years War, with its hundreds of thousands of deaths on all sides, had rendered institutional religion disgusting in the view of much of the public. Then there were the many thousands of cells or nuclei of various other groups who took a more inner view of Christianity. This spiritualistic underground was the well-spring that was uncapped by Spener.

When the Pia Desideria, with its concise and persuasive arrangement, not to mention its friendly and benign tone, was published by one with the prestige of the scholarly Spener, thousands rallied to it as a standard. It is very unlikely that all of these were persuaded for the first time by the book. They were probably already inclined to a more personal form of religious expression.

Speaking of such an underground that had been a part of the European scene for several hundred years, Peters shows that the themes had always been the same;

In particular terms, the Reformists attacked the immorality of the clergy, the hierarchy, and the authority of the church; usually they also attacked the sacraments as unnecessary to salvation and as supposing the necessity of a mediating clergy between a man and his God.

Regarding the second question, the attacks by the existing clergy were severe. "The charge of the theological faculty of the University of Wittemberg that pietists were guilty of at least 284 heresies suggests something of its bitterness. . .Spener was called a Quaker, a Rosicrucian, a chiliast, and a fanatic." The main reason the church attacked the collegia so vigorously seems to have been worry about their ability to control the situation. Brown observes,
Engendering the most criticism and accusations of subjectivism were the small group meetings known variously as Collegia pietatis, conventicles, ecclesiolae, or collegia philobiblica.
Very soon after the first one was started in Spener's home, it became the occasion for separatist activity. As mentioned earlier, Spener tried to tie the meetings to the church by forbidding the Lord's Supper in the private gatherings. In spite of this and other safeguards, however, the conventicles continued to foster movements toward separation. Deeter comments,

The major problem of the colleges of piety was that they stimulated certain participants to a radical Christianity which could not be generally spread throughout the larger body of the Church. Then after repeated frustrations at the slowness of many fellow church goers to accept more radical Christian living, the unsatisfied converts often became separatistic. . . Moreover, they were often openly antagonistic to the compromisers within the larger Church who saw something of their vision but refused to break with its 'half-way Christianity.'"

Francke
August Hermann Francke was born in 1663, and studied theology at Liepzig. He started home Bible studies while there called collegium philobiblicum. Yet he suffered from doubt regarding inspiration of Scripture and even the existence of God. He was influenced by followers of Spener while in Liepzig. Then in 1687 he experienced a decisive conversion which left him sure of his relationship with Christ. He visited Spener for several months afterward and returned to operate his home studies in the Pietistic fashion. An investigation, initiated by a suspicious clergyman, led to the suppression of the home studies. After being ousted from a pastorate in Erfurt because of Pietistic activities, Spener was able to get him a professorship of Greek and oriental languages at the newly-founded university at Halle, along with a pastorate in a local church.

Francke was different than Spener. He was much more decisive and active. He shared in common with Spener however, a practical bent, and the desire to avoid open separation from the Lutheran church. Francke exerted great influence at Halle, eventually unleashing a new phase in the history of Pietism.
Under the influence of Francke, Pietistic spirituality was increasingly interpreted in an outward, in addition to an inward way. This had the effect of providing an outlet for Pietistic zeal other than perfectionism, and may have had more impact on the course of church history than any other part of the Pietistic movement.

He founded numerous social relief institutions a Halle, including a school for poor children, a very large orphanage, an institute for training of teachers, and later a publishing house, medical clinic, and others businesses where the indigent could work and pay their way.

In addition, Francke had a "lifelong concern for evangelism and missions." He eventually turned Halle into a training center for missionaries who went all over the world. This was important because neither the Lutheran nor the Reformed churches had the slightest interest in missions at that time. Glover explains,
The roots of modern missions reach back to the Reformation . . .Yet, as already remarked, the Reform leaders, and the Reformation church as a whole, were for at least a full century almost completely devoid of missionary spirit or effort. . .As Dr. George Smith expresses it, the seeds of controversy sown by Lutheran orthodoxy began to bear a harvest which would have been fatal to the spirituality of the Church but for the Pietist Movement, which by example and preaching gradually aroused the Church to a deeper spiritual life and, as a natural consequence, to renewed missionary zeal and action.

Francke was not the first to see the evangelistic implications of the Pietistic message. Spener had stated in the Spiritual Priesthood,
Is there anything else that we should offer to God?
Yes; namely the doctrine of the gospel and thereby our fellow man who by it is converted and sanctified (Malachi 1:11; Rom. 15:16; Is. 60:7; Phil. 2:17,18)

However, this was problematic when the entire society was already considered Christian. The only groups who were considered "unsaved" were the Jews and the Roman Catholics. These were the groups that Spener had suggested should be won.

By moving in the direction of foreign missions, Francke was the first to put effective action to the concept of outreach as a fruit of spiritual growth.
A careful study of the biography of Francke is outside the scope of this paper, but the main points along with source material can be read in Pietists: Selected Writings, Peter C. Erb Ed.

Zinzindorf
Zinzindorf was Francke's student at Halle, and Spener's godson. He underwent an awakening while studying, and proceeded to organize a group of refugees from Moravia into collegia pietatis within the Lutheran church. Later, they formed the basis of the re-vitalized Moravian Brethren church. This group exerted global influence, and are perhaps the main river flowing out of the churchly Pietistic movement.
Properly speaking, William Carey should not be called the father of the modern missionary movement. Sixty years before Carey went out, and 150 years before Hudson Taylor went out, the Moravian Brethren began sending out their first missionaries.

Their first outreach was to St. Thomas Island in the West Indies in 1732. They reached out to twelve more areas of the world within the next twenty years, and eventually sent out 2,158 missionaries within the next 150 years! The well known English social reformer, William Wilberforce wrote of the Moravians, "They are a body who have perhaps excelled all mankind in solid and unequivocal proofs of the love of Christ and ardent, active zeal in His service."

Wesley
Most reading evangelical Christians are aware that Wesley was impressed by the Moravian Brethren missionaries he met while he was still an unconverted priest on his way to Georgia. Later, Wesley attended a Moravian meeting at Aldersgate St. where, while hearing Luther's introduction to Romans, he had an experience in which he said "I felt my heart strangely warmed. . .."

However, many do not realize that within two weeks of this experience, Wesley decided to go to Germany and spend time studying under the Pietists at Halle. He recounts the reasons for the decision,
"I hoped that conversing with those holy men who were themselves living witnesses of the full power of faith, and yet able to bear with those that are weak, would be a means, under God, of so establishing my soul, that I might go on from faith to faith. . ."

Wesley then spent the next four months with the Pietists at Halle. Subsequently, we find many elements of the Pietistic agenda present in Wesley's ministry.

He began to include a distinct call for conversion in his sermons. He organized conventicles, which were called "classes," "societies," or "bands," depending on their size makeup, and purpose. Attendance at a band required that the member bring his or her penny for the poor (recalling the practical relief concerns of the Halle group). His theological outlook reflects that of Francke and Spener very much.

Finally, he sought to do all of this within the bounds of his own confession (Anglican).

For these reasons, the Methodist movement is considered by historians and theologians to be in the mainstream of the churchly Pietistic movement.

The radical pietistic revolt
As mentioned earlier, just at the effect of mystical theology is to impart a more "spiritualized" view of the nature of sanctification, in time, it would also tend to lead to a more "spiritual" or subjective understanding of the church.

Indeed, as already seen, even Spener was well on the way to a re-introduction of the primitive church forms that would unavoidably undercut the foundations of institutional Lutheranism. His dual calls for the individual believers to divide the Scriptures, while not infringing on the prerogatives of the clergy were probably self-contradictory in practice. At least the clergy would make these calls mutually exclusive. Tappert says,
It is hardly surprising that the initial enthusiasm for the Pia Desideria cooled somewhat when the implications of one or another of these planks in Spener's platform became clearer. Clergymen felt threatened in their status by the rise of the laity, professors of theology resented the brash incursion of outsiders into their academic preserve, and the complacent were disturbed by appeals or change and for departure from what was familiar, customary, and comfortable.

In spite of his determination to abide within the confines of his own confession, Spener tended to resist the structural strongholds of the status quo. When his critics pushed the idea that the collegiate clergy alone had the authority to interpret sufficiently in the symbols, Spener observed that, ". . .one pope would be better than many popes."

Viewed this way, separatism, and the Radical Pietistic revolt were the logical outgrowth of Spener's theology-not confused distortions of it. Spener's own cries against separatism and anti-clericalism have a hollow ring when heard in the light of his call for a return to more radically biblical principles.

Spener, unlike many of his contemporaries, said the Symbolical Books are of human origin, and while God has provided so that they would not contain errors in basic doctrines which are necessary for salvation, He did permit errors in secondary matters to remind us of the distinction between the Symbolical Books and the Holy Scriptures.

These chippings at the foundations of the established orthodoxy proved to be a door which, once opened even a little, could not be closed again. The followers who took the Pietistic teachings to an extreme, both in soteriology and in ecclesiology tended to become very perfectionistic and hard to please. Some of them felt that separation from the world was the only to reach the ideal of inward perfection implied in some of the mystical thought used by Pietists. When separating one's self from the wicked world, what could be more wicked than the control hungry established denominations? Surely one must separate himself from man's church as well as from man's society.

Arnold
An example par excellence of the kind of hyper-idealistic individualism that grew out of this "inward" view of Christianity can be seen in the ecclesiology of

Gottfried Arnold.
Arnold had experienced a religious awakening while studying law at Wittemberg, apparently as a result of Spener's ministry. He was discipled by Spener for about two years while a tutor at Dresden. Later, Spener got him a posting to teach at Quedlinburg, which happened to be a hot-bed of separatism at that time. There he produced his first major work on early church history-Wahre Abbildung. As a result of this book, he was given the professorship of church history at Giessen in 1697. There he had extensive contact with Gichtel and Hochman (see below). Gichtel was a Boehmist, although this is not as clear in the case of Hochman.

Arnold's study of church history and the early church led him to feel that there was no church or sect in which a truly God-seeking person could retain his devotion to Christ without severe hindrances. Eventually, "Arnold comes to doubt that the requisite inwardness of the true church can ever be exhibited by a community again."

Not surprisingly, he eventually came to depreciate the value of all forms of outwardness including the sacraments. He sees the Kingdom of God as preeminently inward. Arnold's super-spiritual critical view eventually leads him to render a negative verdict on every expression of the church that he considered in his other major work on church history, the Ketzerhistorie.

Stoffer says, "Arnold's trademark is clearly discernible: the necessity of looking to the early church as the norm for Christian life." The subjugation of ecclesiology to the doctrines of personal piety is denied by Stoffer. However, he admits that
. . .the renewal of the individual and the work of the Holy Spirit. . . are given added force in the Ketzerhistorie. . . .for the life of the regenerate man becomes the standard for judging all aspects of church history.

Hochman
Another renown Pietistic dissenter was Ernst Christoph Hochman. His Glaubensbekenntniss (published in 1743) is considered, "a reliable credenda of the Schwarzenau movement," which included the early German Baptist Brethren. Hochaman tends to agree with many of Arnold's views in Ketzerhistorie.

Hochman was a travelling evangelist, more or less in the tradition of the mendicant (beggar) preachers of earlier times. He eventually settles for some time in the province of Wittgenstein. This province, under the rule of a Count Henry, needed more citizens for tax purpose. It therefore began welcoming religious dissenters and separatists of every stripe from as far away as Switzerland. These included Mennonites, Labadists, Lutheran Pietists, and Quakers.

That Hochman's influence on the German Brethren movement was a lasting one, is demonstrated by the fact that his Glaubensbekenntniss was brought to America by the Brethren, and was published by the Germantown press of Christopher Sauer in 1743.
It is interesting to note that Hochman, like Spener may have been influenced by Labadie. We know he visited Labadist cells in Krefeld Holland, which also became the later home of some of the German Baptist Brethren. Krefeld was at that time (between 1683 and 1720) a key rallying point for Separatists. Even before Hochman preached there, the inclination for 'separation' had been planted.

The European Origins of the Brethren, by Donald F. Durnmaugh is the most complete collection of early German Baptist Brethren and radical pietistic documents available in translation. It contains many fascinating authentic letters and records of interrogations, etc. which portray the reactions and outlooks of the people involved in the clearest, and most reliable way.

A feel for the poignance of a life of free-form revolutionary agitation can be gained by reading an exchange of letters between a Palatine official at Mannheim and the Elector Palatine regarding the town's response to an incident where several adults had been baptized by Hochman and Mack.
When the official at Mannheim reported that several citizens had been baptized as adults, and asked for guidance, the Elector published an edict that read in part,
[those]...who profess this error and hold secret conventicles in homes or elsewhere, [shall be] carefully watched, especially the leaders. Those who commit this evil and who do not respond either to kingly or severe warnings to abandon these wicked intentions and maintain this especially stubbornly are to be arrested at once without special authorization. They are to be put in prison, and as many of them as there are must be locked to wheelbarrows and kept on public work on the fortifications or at other common labor. They are to be separated from one another in various places,a nd put on a bread-and-water diet. September 14, 1706.

In response to this the local official arrested a few Taufgesinnten [baptism factionaries] and reported the result,
On the basis of this, they were sentenced to public labor on the Neckar River in the hope that others of their ilk would be intimidated. However, it is impossible to describe what a great sympathy all of the Reformed subjects have shown for them. They have defended the Pietists' teachings, and said that nothing could be found deserving punishment in such pious Christians as far as they could see or hear. They have unashamedly proclaimed and made this their own cause. In addition, they immediately began going in processions to the prisoners outside of the city, not out of curiosity, but to spend all day listening to them. The prisoners preached continually instead of doing the assigned labor. They have also sent them plenty to eat and drink despite the published prohibition.

The civil guard appointed to watch them was powerless to prevent this, and was no longer sure of his own safety because of the open threats against him. I was finally forced to request a military guard and ordered him to go there. The latter gave the leader, the so-called Hochmann, a few harmless blows, because the latter would neither stop his continual preaching nor accommodate himself to working.

This caused such compassion, tumult, and exaggeration from the Reformed party as if these "innocent" people were being treated barbarously, so that an open rebellion was to be feared. This was even though I had released the two local citizens among the prisoners upon their declaration that they would again profess the Reformed faith. The Reformed party demonstrated such an unusual hatred for me because of this that one can obviously see that most of the Reformed have fallen prey to this Pietistic error and conspire with them."
"It is my humble opinion that a still harsher edict should be drawn up against this Pietistic sect and their defenders."

Instead, the elector answered,
. . .As the prisoners have obediently appealed again for merciful amelioration by the enclosed submissive petition, we have thereupon graciously resolved to dismiss the same at this time. They are to be expelled with the stern warning that they must never set foot in Mannheim or any other place in the territory. . .

Life in a society where no churches were permitted other than the three already recognized was a constant adventure for separatistic agitators like Hochman.

Hochman's views on baptism can be detected in the following response to Christian Liebe,
Hochmann von Hochenau to Christian Liebe
Concerning the matter of the baptism, it is my impartial opinion that baptism by fire and spirit must take place in every Christian. Where this does not occur in the soul, the outward water baptism alone without the inward one can make a Christian of no one. Before God in Christ, only the new creature has value. In faith working through love is found the entire essence of Christianity. Indeed, I believe that where one is outwardly baptized, even as an adult, that cannot possibly help one to salvation, if the person has not been inwardly sanctified in the body, soul, and spirit of Jesus.

Likewise with communion,
When this is held by living members of Christ in truly united love, then I will not oppose it. To the contrary, in as far as they wish to ally themselves with me in life and death for the sake of the name of Jesus, I will take communion with them. However, without the inward alliance with the spirit of Jesus, the outward will avail little or nothing at all.
Here we see in Hochman an example of complete inward focus, usually only found among quietists such as Quakers.

When the official tried to enlist the aid of the reformed pastor in an inquisitorial fashion, he found that the pastor was a moderate, uninterested in being a Taufjager [baptist hunter].

Inspector Konig to Count Charles August
If there is anything wrong with this type of baptismal act, it is that their baptism is commonly not a sacrament of unity and brotherly fellowship with all believers and God-fearing people but rather a sacrament of separation and partisan spirit.
Of course in Hochman's view, no one could have been less partisan than he, since he did not recognized the validity of any confessional distinctions.

Mack
Alexander Mack wrote three tracts that we know of, but only two survive. Also one letter remains. The titles are a little hard to remember. One is,
A Short and Simple Presentation of the Outward, yet Sacred Rights and Ordinances of the House of God, as Commanded by the True Steward Jesus Christ, and Left on Record in His Last Will and Testament. Arranged in a Conversation between Father and Son through Questions and Answers.

For obvious reasons historians refer to this work as Rechte und Ordnungen, [Rites and Ordinances].
The other work that has survived has a similarly long title, but is usually called Ground Searching Questions [Grundforschende Fragen].

The other main source matter comes from Alexander Mack Jr.'s Introduction to the 1774 edition of Rites and Ordinances which gives a short history of the formation of the movement using some verbal and written materials he got from his father and Elder Peter Becker, long time leader of the Germantown Brethren.

Mack traveled and preached with Hochman for at least two years. He considered himself Hochman's disciple until he decided to form a new church community that followed the New Testament pattern more faithfully. In a letter to a critic, he explains his view of the established churches:

The Baptist seed is still far better than the seed of L[uther], C[alvin], and also that of the C[atholics]. These have had a completely wild, yes, bestial outcome, which is self-evident. The Jews and the Turks are scandalized by the horrible wickedness of these three religions. Not even with gallows and torture can they keep them, who are of one faith, from murdering one another in their homes, which happens often enough. What is still more horrible, they go publicly to war, and slaughter one another by the thousands. All this is the fruit of infant baptism.

Their story begins in one of the most popular refuges for separatists in Germany-Schwarzenau. Here Mack and his new wife came between 1700 and 1708. It was in 1708 that eight adults formed a Gemeinde, (parish or community) by having themselves baptized three times forward in the name of the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hochman, who was opposed to all sects and all ecclesiastical organization, was disappointed in his followers for forming a new sect."

Krefeld in northern Holland later became the center of the movement because of even greater religious toleration there. Earlier, in 1678, Stephen Crisp, and English Quaker, had established the first Quaker meeting at Krefeld. Two years later they were driven out of town, and in 1683 most of them went to America. As already seen the Labadists had founded separatist cells there as well.

Mack's group were "taufgesinnten" which means baptism sectaries, baptism variants, or baptism dissenters. The word is usually translated "baptists." They were also christened "Tunkers" [from tunkel- to dip] and "Dunkards." Brethren historians refer to the movement as the German Baptist Brethren.
Mack Jr. explains that "Here and there private meetings (Versammlungen) were established next to the organized churches, in which newly awakened souls sought their edification. . .the [presence of] the spiritual priest [see above "Church Order"] embittered the hearts of the rulers, and . . .persecutions were started. . ." They were persecuted because they baptized adults, causing the nobility to think that they were Wiedertaufern (Anabaptists). Civil authorities were terrified of Anabaptism, for, "it was essentially a lower class movement."

They eventually followed the Quakers to Penn's colony in America, where religious toleration was practiced. Three books popular with the early Brethren were: Johann Arndt, Wahres Christendom; Gottfried Arnold, Abbildung der ersten Christen; and Jeremais Feldbinger, Christliches Hand-Buchen.

Today the Brethren movement in America goes on under several denominational labels. These include the Ashland Brethren, the Brethren in America, and the Grace Brethren.

The legacy of pietism in history
The final impact of Pietism is so far reaching in history that it is impossible to analyze it here. The mere existence of the Weslyian, Brethren and Moravian churches indicate terrific impact. Then there is the effect on the Lutheran church. This has been discussed in works by Stoeffler, Harnack, and Ritschl to name a few.

Pietism is usually admitted to have influenced numerous other churches including the Mennonites, the Puritans, the Quakers, and Dutch Reformed in early America. We know that the New England Puritan Cotton Mather corresponded with Francke for instance.

In society outside of the church, Pietism is credited with contributing to the impetus for a spirit of tolerance and religious freedom. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, and Immanuel Kant are examples of important secular thinkers who were heavily exposed to Pietism in their youth. Noll even goes as far as seeing Pietistic influence in Jansenism and the visions of the Jewish mystic Baal Shem Tov!

Some of the evaluations of Pietism's impact are quite negative. It is hard to deny that hyper-individualism is a danger inherent in the movement. Today, much of American fundamentalism draws its primarily inward devotional ethic from Pietistic sources. In a different vein, Noll, speaking from an apparently sentimental rather than a biblical perspective, worries that Pietism "can underrate the value of Christian traditions."

Others would say that this is the main value of the movement.

Regarding Ecclesiology, the great themes that Spener brought to light in the area of lay-ministry are arguably the most revolutionary and positive truths uncovered by the Reformation. The outburst of excitement for Christianity that resulted (even though temporary in many cases) was enough to impact most of the world before it had spent its force.
Heyd points out that we need to consider not only the moves made by the Pietists and related "inner life" groups, but also to study the reaction of the established churches.

The reactions of the establishment itself, or of 'structure' to the challenges of the radicals has usually received less attention, although such a reaction may be no less interesting . . .than the thought and action of the radicals.

He points out that "the 'anti-structural' character of enthusiasm was stressed above all by its contemporary critics." As a result, It was, ". . .important to emphasize the time-bound character of scripture and to supplement it by a reliance on the Church as the embodiment of the religious order and as the only legitimate interpreter of the scriptural message." Thus, like the Quakers, the "latitude men" and the Anabaptists, the Pietists may have had the unintended effect in some confessions of stiffening institutional criteria for authority.

By far more significant however, are two central emphases reintroduced by the Pietists, that have remained as key elements of much of conservative Christianity especially in America. These are the emphasis on a personal relationship with God (usually attended by the belief in the need for a defined conversion experience) and the emphasis on evangelism and missions. Both of these have a bearing on ecclesiology.

The distinction between true (i.e. converted) Christians and nominal Christians relates to the definition of the true, or invisible, church. As already seen, this tendency lead in part to the separatism of the radicals, and has led to various attempts at founding "believers only" churches. This development has tended to fade in importance because of the difficulties inherent in the view. However, the distinction has continued to carry weight with fundamentalist groups, many of which have set out to convert the nominal Christians in existing churches.

The emphasis on missions has had a resounding impact in redefining the nature of the church's mission. Views that the church is simply intended to worship rightly, and to season society have tended to be considered incomplete by Pietistically oriented churches and parachurch groups. This has had the effect of birthing the modern missionary movement.

The role of Halle in initiating this movement, (not to mention the work of the Methodists) should not be underrated.

Finally, there are several likely points of contact between secular intellectual history in Europe and Pietism, all of which lie outside the scope of this paper.

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