Tim O'Donnell
The Christian faith is often thought of as one of large organizations. From the Catholic Church to the hundreds of individual Christian denominations, there is always a sense of the church as a larger organization. The Pietists are unique in the sense that they focus almost exclusively on the actions of the individual believer rather than attempting to regulate the church as a whole. Spener's Pia Desideria, one of the formative texts of Pietism, is a manual for the individual believer that proscribes a lifestyle of scriptural literacy and devotion to charitable works. The Pia Desideria is arranged into six sections, each with a different focus. The first section lays out a case to the church that the whole scriptures must be studied, by individuals and small groups, to increase the edification of the church and to build bonds between the congregants. The second section includes lay believers in the spiritual mission of the priesthood, encouraging them to perform acts of spiritual service among themselves and to others outside the church rather than leaving that work solely to the priests and ministers of the church. The third section references the many times that the believer is commanded to show love in the scriptures, and builds on the arguments of the first two sections with a general exhortation to show love to one another. The fourth section deals with disagreements between those who may follow other doctrines. The Pia Desideria takes a gentle tone with those who may not agree with Spener's interpretation of Lutheran thought, and recognizes that while some degree of dispute may be necessary that too much has the potential to be harmful to the church. The fifth and longest section deals with the lives of students who wish to enter the ministry, and how their education should proceed. The final section concludes the Pia Desideria by drawing a distinction between the outer and the inner self, and positing that the goal of studying scripture and performing works of faith is not to simply live a virtuous life but instead to transform the inner self through diligent study and selfless acts of love. A faith that is believed meets a faith that is lived out.
It is this meeting of two kinds of faith that Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom highlights in her paper “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6)”. She describes the core of Pietist faith as being “based on the convergence of a faith that is believed (a living-faith) and a faith that is executed (a faith-lived)” (492). This combination of living faith and faith lived is what makes Pietism unique among religious movements that were contemporary to it. In the final section of the Pia Desideria, Spener writes that “Our whole Christian religion consists of the inner man or the new man, whose soul is faith and whose expressions are the fruits of life” (48). Pietism treats faith as a given for the believer, and concerns itself chiefly with the lifestyle of the believer. Those “fruits of life” are what make a Pietist a Pietist, and are the main focus of the Pia Desideria. They are also focused on the individual as opposed to the corporate. The evangelical work of the Christian faith as envisioned by the Pietists is not the work of the church as much as it is the work of the individual believer. As Clifton-Soderstrom writes: “Our participation is in part based on an affect of love and joy that emerges from new life in Christ and as such is an instrument of faith. In faith, we receive God’s love and then we pass it on to our neighbor. Love becomes evangelistic not in the sense that one is “saving souls” but rather that love serves as an apologetic for the gospel. When we conform to Christ, we become more like Christ which in turn witnesses to the truth of the gospel.” (496). The lifestyle of study and acts of love proscribed by the Pia Desideria are the ecclesiastical body of Pietism. While there existed Pietist priests and ministers, the entire body of Pietists made up an extended priesthood that ministered to the church and the world as needed. Spener writes that “the people must have impressed upon them and must accustom themselves to believing that it is by no means enough to have knowledge of the Christian faith, for Christianity consists rather of practice.” (36). This shift of responsibility from the institution to the congregation is what set Pietism apart during its time, and what continues to set it apart today.
Works Cited
Philipp Jakob Spener. Pia Desideria (1675)
Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom. “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6).” Political Theology 11 (2010): 490-506.
The Christian faith is often thought of as one of large organizations. From the Catholic Church to the hundreds of individual Christian denominations, there is always a sense of the church as a larger organization. The Pietists are unique in the sense that they focus almost exclusively on the actions of the individual believer rather than attempting to regulate the church as a whole. Spener's Pia Desideria, one of the formative texts of Pietism, is a manual for the individual believer that proscribes a lifestyle of scriptural literacy and devotion to charitable works. The Pia Desideria is arranged into six sections, each with a different focus. The first section lays out a case to the church that the whole scriptures must be studied, by individuals and small groups, to increase the edification of the church and to build bonds between the congregants. The second section includes lay believers in the spiritual mission of the priesthood, encouraging them to perform acts of spiritual service among themselves and to others outside the church rather than leaving that work solely to the priests and ministers of the church. The third section references the many times that the believer is commanded to show love in the scriptures, and builds on the arguments of the first two sections with a general exhortation to show love to one another. The fourth section deals with disagreements between those who may follow other doctrines. The Pia Desideria takes a gentle tone with those who may not agree with Spener's interpretation of Lutheran thought, and recognizes that while some degree of dispute may be necessary that too much has the potential to be harmful to the church. The fifth and longest section deals with the lives of students who wish to enter the ministry, and how their education should proceed. The final section concludes the Pia Desideria by drawing a distinction between the outer and the inner self, and positing that the goal of studying scripture and performing works of faith is not to simply live a virtuous life but instead to transform the inner self through diligent study and selfless acts of love. A faith that is believed meets a faith that is lived out.
It is this meeting of two kinds of faith that Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom highlights in her paper “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6)”. She describes the core of Pietist faith as being “based on the convergence of a faith that is believed (a living-faith) and a faith that is executed (a faith-lived)” (492). This combination of living faith and faith lived is what makes Pietism unique among religious movements that were contemporary to it. In the final section of the Pia Desideria, Spener writes that “Our whole Christian religion consists of the inner man or the new man, whose soul is faith and whose expressions are the fruits of life” (48). Pietism treats faith as a given for the believer, and concerns itself chiefly with the lifestyle of the believer. Those “fruits of life” are what make a Pietist a Pietist, and are the main focus of the Pia Desideria. They are also focused on the individual as opposed to the corporate. The evangelical work of the Christian faith as envisioned by the Pietists is not the work of the church as much as it is the work of the individual believer. As Clifton-Soderstrom writes: “Our participation is in part based on an affect of love and joy that emerges from new life in Christ and as such is an instrument of faith. In faith, we receive God’s love and then we pass it on to our neighbor. Love becomes evangelistic not in the sense that one is “saving souls” but rather that love serves as an apologetic for the gospel. When we conform to Christ, we become more like Christ which in turn witnesses to the truth of the gospel.” (496). The lifestyle of study and acts of love proscribed by the Pia Desideria are the ecclesiastical body of Pietism. While there existed Pietist priests and ministers, the entire body of Pietists made up an extended priesthood that ministered to the church and the world as needed. Spener writes that “the people must have impressed upon them and must accustom themselves to believing that it is by no means enough to have knowledge of the Christian faith, for Christianity consists rather of practice.” (36). This shift of responsibility from the institution to the congregation is what set Pietism apart during its time, and what continues to set it apart today.
Works Cited
Philipp Jakob Spener. Pia Desideria (1675)
Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom. “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6).” Political Theology 11 (2010): 490-506.
Izzy Storm - Short Paper
Pietism and its Idealistic Views
“Piety must first of all rest in the heart.” – Joachim Feller
Philipp Jakob Spener’s text, Pia Desideria, discusses his own personal opinions on religion from a pietist’s standpoint. He analyses the flaws of organized religion and seeks remedies and improvements for them. His entire philosophy, and religious motivation, is based on love and what it brings to internal and external spiritual reform.
He breaks his opinions down into a series of six segments that encompass all aspects of living a pious life. He first states that sermons do not have the ability to give the full impact of scriptural writing to a congregation. The scriptures, especially the New Testament, should be taught; through private study or small group meetings for those who do not own a copy of the Bible or are illiterate. By having these small meetings and allowing an open discussion of the passages and their meanings, it would allow the congregation to feel a massive increase in spiritual growth that they can then pass on to others (1). Feeding off of his first statement, the establishment of a priesthood that allows for congregational participation and study is very important. There can be no more clerical indulgence or general ignorance, for it only leads to chaos and disorder. By only giving some figures knowledge of all scripture it creates a hierarchy that can be easily abused. Free knowledge is the key towards peace and avoidance of sin (2). Spener then reminds his readers that the foundation of pietism is to first love each other, then to love everyone, including one’s enemies (3). One must pray for the salvation of the sinners and the nonbelievers, for they are the people who need the most love. When trying to convince a skeptic of their wrongdoings and push them towards conversion, it must be done with love as the motivation. Spener also mentions that confession is the key practice to opening up one’s heart to God’s Word (4). He then moves on to ideas of how to fill the ministry will well trained, studious Christians. By allowing students to read Scripture and influential material written by the Reformers they can apply those theories to their lives and bring the word to the people (5). Lastly he discusses the importance of the sermon in strengthening a person’s faith, for when the internal conviction is intensified, hopefully their virtuous outward lifestyle will be as well (6). Spener’s ideology encourages the spiritual growth of all men so they can become more loving people in their daily lives.
The Convergence Model of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal. 5:6), by Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, is an overview of Pietism with emphasis on Spener’s writing and other important Pietists. She overviews the basic points of pietism and discusses why it never became a popular religious sect. “Pietism is rarely utilized as a model for doing Christian social ethics…One reason that Pietism has been poorly understood is that its focus is on a faith that is experienced as much as it is on a faith that is articulated” (491). It requires an extreme amount of effort to be a good and true pietist. Many people succumb to laziness, because they were brought up with a simplistic Christian background that if one goes to church they would be sent to heaven. Pietism requires one to not only spend a mass amount of time studying text and reflecting on it, but then applying that gained knowledge to their everyday life. Everything one does must have the core influence of love with good-natured intentions. Soderstrom references two phrases, dead faith and living faith; the former discussing people who only use scripture as motivation for their lives and the latter being a love for one’s neighbors that blossoms due to overall faith (494). These requirements, plus baptism and the ability to “…receive faith as a gift, without obstructing God’s work in the human heart” (494); create a very specific and alienating sect of people.
The message behind pietism is honorable, to spread God’s love throughout the world, but Spener’s text, like many others, does not take basic humanity into account. It is a perfect world scenario, which makes sense due to its publication right after the Thirty Years War (492). Spener’s use of love as an inspirational tool came as a reaction to the violence, death, and destruction that was caused by the war. Plus his eschatological views are that the glorious kingdom could be achieved in one’s human lifetime; “…and this dimension of Spener’s theology gave hope to a church coming out of war and upheaval…” (499). The essential nature of the sect revolves around the present world, not the world that one will attend once they pass on. This is an extreme motivational tactic to inspire people to do more good during their lifetime, because if the holy kingdom is attainable – one would certainly rather be their than in a war torn country.
People want to counteract the bad in the world with good, and in a perfect scenario nothing would be bad at all. All humans would want is to spread love, however conflict is inherent to our nature as human beings, which makes Spener’s views incredibly idealistic. He truly believed that, “A transformed people, in turn, effect transformation in the world around them” (505). There is no denying the truth in this statement, however his pietist gospel did not end up reaching the far corners of the world like he so hoped it would.
Bibliography
Philipp Jakob Spener. “Pia Desideria” Pietists Selected Writings. (1675): 31-49.
Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom. “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6).” Political Theology 11 (2010): 490-506.
Pietism and its Idealistic Views
“Piety must first of all rest in the heart.” – Joachim Feller
Philipp Jakob Spener’s text, Pia Desideria, discusses his own personal opinions on religion from a pietist’s standpoint. He analyses the flaws of organized religion and seeks remedies and improvements for them. His entire philosophy, and religious motivation, is based on love and what it brings to internal and external spiritual reform.
He breaks his opinions down into a series of six segments that encompass all aspects of living a pious life. He first states that sermons do not have the ability to give the full impact of scriptural writing to a congregation. The scriptures, especially the New Testament, should be taught; through private study or small group meetings for those who do not own a copy of the Bible or are illiterate. By having these small meetings and allowing an open discussion of the passages and their meanings, it would allow the congregation to feel a massive increase in spiritual growth that they can then pass on to others (1). Feeding off of his first statement, the establishment of a priesthood that allows for congregational participation and study is very important. There can be no more clerical indulgence or general ignorance, for it only leads to chaos and disorder. By only giving some figures knowledge of all scripture it creates a hierarchy that can be easily abused. Free knowledge is the key towards peace and avoidance of sin (2). Spener then reminds his readers that the foundation of pietism is to first love each other, then to love everyone, including one’s enemies (3). One must pray for the salvation of the sinners and the nonbelievers, for they are the people who need the most love. When trying to convince a skeptic of their wrongdoings and push them towards conversion, it must be done with love as the motivation. Spener also mentions that confession is the key practice to opening up one’s heart to God’s Word (4). He then moves on to ideas of how to fill the ministry will well trained, studious Christians. By allowing students to read Scripture and influential material written by the Reformers they can apply those theories to their lives and bring the word to the people (5). Lastly he discusses the importance of the sermon in strengthening a person’s faith, for when the internal conviction is intensified, hopefully their virtuous outward lifestyle will be as well (6). Spener’s ideology encourages the spiritual growth of all men so they can become more loving people in their daily lives.
The Convergence Model of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal. 5:6), by Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, is an overview of Pietism with emphasis on Spener’s writing and other important Pietists. She overviews the basic points of pietism and discusses why it never became a popular religious sect. “Pietism is rarely utilized as a model for doing Christian social ethics…One reason that Pietism has been poorly understood is that its focus is on a faith that is experienced as much as it is on a faith that is articulated” (491). It requires an extreme amount of effort to be a good and true pietist. Many people succumb to laziness, because they were brought up with a simplistic Christian background that if one goes to church they would be sent to heaven. Pietism requires one to not only spend a mass amount of time studying text and reflecting on it, but then applying that gained knowledge to their everyday life. Everything one does must have the core influence of love with good-natured intentions. Soderstrom references two phrases, dead faith and living faith; the former discussing people who only use scripture as motivation for their lives and the latter being a love for one’s neighbors that blossoms due to overall faith (494). These requirements, plus baptism and the ability to “…receive faith as a gift, without obstructing God’s work in the human heart” (494); create a very specific and alienating sect of people.
The message behind pietism is honorable, to spread God’s love throughout the world, but Spener’s text, like many others, does not take basic humanity into account. It is a perfect world scenario, which makes sense due to its publication right after the Thirty Years War (492). Spener’s use of love as an inspirational tool came as a reaction to the violence, death, and destruction that was caused by the war. Plus his eschatological views are that the glorious kingdom could be achieved in one’s human lifetime; “…and this dimension of Spener’s theology gave hope to a church coming out of war and upheaval…” (499). The essential nature of the sect revolves around the present world, not the world that one will attend once they pass on. This is an extreme motivational tactic to inspire people to do more good during their lifetime, because if the holy kingdom is attainable – one would certainly rather be their than in a war torn country.
People want to counteract the bad in the world with good, and in a perfect scenario nothing would be bad at all. All humans would want is to spread love, however conflict is inherent to our nature as human beings, which makes Spener’s views incredibly idealistic. He truly believed that, “A transformed people, in turn, effect transformation in the world around them” (505). There is no denying the truth in this statement, however his pietist gospel did not end up reaching the far corners of the world like he so hoped it would.
Bibliography
Philipp Jakob Spener. “Pia Desideria” Pietists Selected Writings. (1675): 31-49.
Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom. “The Convergence of Pietist Ethics: Faith Active in Love (Gal 5:6).” Political Theology 11 (2010): 490-506.
Shelby Lopez
Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria
“ If there is to be any good in us, it must be brought about by God.” (Spencer 31) is the most general theme that Jacob Spener touches on throughout his work, Pia Desideria. Jacob decribes his ideas using main principles that people should generally follow through their life. He lays these out into six main ideas that he discusses throughly and goes into the important aspects that should be taught all throughout religion.
The first one he touches on correlates with the quote above. Spener addressing this need to make the Word of God a piece of us, and to welcome it into our lives. People should want to study the Scriptures not because they are told to, but rather than they want to. He expresses that listening to the sermons is not enough to fully grasp the teachings of the Lord, but by understanding the scriptures with others will help see the true Word of God. Yet, he also makes it clear that reading the scriptures by ones self is not enough, but expresssing the ideas of God with others can benefit just as well or better than private studies of the scriptures. This concept flows into Speneer addressing this idea of priest hood, and touching up on some writings of Martin Luthers. “ One man is incapable of doing all that is necessary fro the edificatrion of the many persons who are generally entrusted to his pastoral care” ( Spener 36) This directly brings up such a concept of one minster teaching the word of God to others. He makes this statement because he believes that in order to have people truly understand the teachings of the Bible, a priest cannot do it alone. Which means that a single priest cannot know everything there is about all the scriptures, but if multiple priests teach and talk about the ideas then it will help give a better understanding.
Both of these principles direxctly goes into the third which is the idea of practicing rather than just studying. Spener exclaims that it is merely not enough to studying and listening to the Word of God, but one has to practice it daily. By reading the scriptures, listening to the sermons, and going in depth into each passage of Bible cannot replace the idea of applying these teachings in every day life. As Spener quotes, “ If there appears to be doubt whether one is obligated to do this or that out of love for ones neighbor, it is always better to incline toward doing rather than leaving it undone.” (Spener 37) which sums up his idea that living in the way of God, is better than just leaving things undone. This quote goings into his topic on number four which is how dealing with heretics can test the way of God. In dealing with herectics and nonbleivers, Spener preaches the idea of understanding and acceptance. One should not take love away for their neighbor just because of their beliefs, instead they should show their love to make the nonbelivers understand that the love for God will always be there.
For Spener’s fifth main principle, he puts out the idea of true Christyians being in charge of the ministry. He states, “ …it is utmost importance that the office of the ministry be occupied by men who, above all, are themselves true Christians, and then have the divine wisdom to guide others carefully on the way of the Lord.” ( Spener 41) This also gives the idea of the ministers being educated and being able to teach the way of God properly. Spener elaborates on this point but saying how this educating the ministers will help them teach the young to be true Christains which will lead to a better faith. The final principle of Spener’s thoughts is connected directly to principle five which is teaching the students the true way of the Lord. In order to bring forth good faith, the teachers in the ministry need to know what ways are correct and what ways are wrong. By them reading the Lord’s words and understanding the true meaning of Christinaiity, it will help the students learn to be truthful Christians.
After reading through Jacob Spener's ideas and thoughts about Christinaity as a whole, it is easy to see how his Pietist views can have effect on the outside public. Pietism has this social regeneration idea which introduces the meaning of practicing and teaching going as one. It is not enough just to learn about the Word of God, but to practice the teachings is of the utmost importance. This ties into the fact that practicing the lord’s words, will help the overall society become a better place. Pietism is also big on a more in depth study of the Bible to truly be more interactive with the teachings of the Lord. Jacob Spener obviously touches on ths topic a lot thourghout his passage which is how Bible study came to be. Rather than just interpreting the Bible as whatever way a person wants, Bible study helps guide the ideas and formulte the coreect way of understanding the word of God. Spener most certainly preachs this since he wants to people to know how a true Christian lives their life. This does not necessary mean that the minster is handing over the ideas that they want to preach, it is more of a sharing of the Lords word and a quest of finding the true meaning of the passages that they are studying. Jacob Spener is the absolute example of a true Pietist and really preached about teachings that are very signicant in the Christian belief. He does want a better social environment as well as justice for his faith. He does not want to be told how to believe by a holy church or by the pope, but rather to have faith through what the Lord speaks. The idea of Eschatology, which id opening God’s Kingdom( Political Theology 499) , plays a huge part in his teachings and helps him go through preaching the true way of living a faithful life of God.
Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria
“ If there is to be any good in us, it must be brought about by God.” (Spencer 31) is the most general theme that Jacob Spener touches on throughout his work, Pia Desideria. Jacob decribes his ideas using main principles that people should generally follow through their life. He lays these out into six main ideas that he discusses throughly and goes into the important aspects that should be taught all throughout religion.
The first one he touches on correlates with the quote above. Spener addressing this need to make the Word of God a piece of us, and to welcome it into our lives. People should want to study the Scriptures not because they are told to, but rather than they want to. He expresses that listening to the sermons is not enough to fully grasp the teachings of the Lord, but by understanding the scriptures with others will help see the true Word of God. Yet, he also makes it clear that reading the scriptures by ones self is not enough, but expresssing the ideas of God with others can benefit just as well or better than private studies of the scriptures. This concept flows into Speneer addressing this idea of priest hood, and touching up on some writings of Martin Luthers. “ One man is incapable of doing all that is necessary fro the edificatrion of the many persons who are generally entrusted to his pastoral care” ( Spener 36) This directly brings up such a concept of one minster teaching the word of God to others. He makes this statement because he believes that in order to have people truly understand the teachings of the Bible, a priest cannot do it alone. Which means that a single priest cannot know everything there is about all the scriptures, but if multiple priests teach and talk about the ideas then it will help give a better understanding.
Both of these principles direxctly goes into the third which is the idea of practicing rather than just studying. Spener exclaims that it is merely not enough to studying and listening to the Word of God, but one has to practice it daily. By reading the scriptures, listening to the sermons, and going in depth into each passage of Bible cannot replace the idea of applying these teachings in every day life. As Spener quotes, “ If there appears to be doubt whether one is obligated to do this or that out of love for ones neighbor, it is always better to incline toward doing rather than leaving it undone.” (Spener 37) which sums up his idea that living in the way of God, is better than just leaving things undone. This quote goings into his topic on number four which is how dealing with heretics can test the way of God. In dealing with herectics and nonbleivers, Spener preaches the idea of understanding and acceptance. One should not take love away for their neighbor just because of their beliefs, instead they should show their love to make the nonbelivers understand that the love for God will always be there.
For Spener’s fifth main principle, he puts out the idea of true Christyians being in charge of the ministry. He states, “ …it is utmost importance that the office of the ministry be occupied by men who, above all, are themselves true Christians, and then have the divine wisdom to guide others carefully on the way of the Lord.” ( Spener 41) This also gives the idea of the ministers being educated and being able to teach the way of God properly. Spener elaborates on this point but saying how this educating the ministers will help them teach the young to be true Christains which will lead to a better faith. The final principle of Spener’s thoughts is connected directly to principle five which is teaching the students the true way of the Lord. In order to bring forth good faith, the teachers in the ministry need to know what ways are correct and what ways are wrong. By them reading the Lord’s words and understanding the true meaning of Christinaiity, it will help the students learn to be truthful Christians.
After reading through Jacob Spener's ideas and thoughts about Christinaity as a whole, it is easy to see how his Pietist views can have effect on the outside public. Pietism has this social regeneration idea which introduces the meaning of practicing and teaching going as one. It is not enough just to learn about the Word of God, but to practice the teachings is of the utmost importance. This ties into the fact that practicing the lord’s words, will help the overall society become a better place. Pietism is also big on a more in depth study of the Bible to truly be more interactive with the teachings of the Lord. Jacob Spener obviously touches on ths topic a lot thourghout his passage which is how Bible study came to be. Rather than just interpreting the Bible as whatever way a person wants, Bible study helps guide the ideas and formulte the coreect way of understanding the word of God. Spener most certainly preachs this since he wants to people to know how a true Christian lives their life. This does not necessary mean that the minster is handing over the ideas that they want to preach, it is more of a sharing of the Lords word and a quest of finding the true meaning of the passages that they are studying. Jacob Spener is the absolute example of a true Pietist and really preached about teachings that are very signicant in the Christian belief. He does want a better social environment as well as justice for his faith. He does not want to be told how to believe by a holy church or by the pope, but rather to have faith through what the Lord speaks. The idea of Eschatology, which id opening God’s Kingdom( Political Theology 499) , plays a huge part in his teachings and helps him go through preaching the true way of living a faithful life of God.