Church History in Plain Language

by Bruce L. Shelley

Pietism arose as a reaction to this ossification of the Reformation. Just as Jansenism opposed the cheap grace of the French Jesuits, so the Pietists challenged the nominal faith of German Lutheranism. The aims of the Pietists were twofold. First, they stressed the importance of personal faith. They left behind all dreams of Catholic Christendom and Puritan commonwealths. They believed that Christianity started with the individual. So, for the first time in Christian history, the idea of conversions of baptized Christians (as well as pagans) came to prominence. The essence of faith, said the Pietist, is a personal experience of God’s grace in the believer’s heart. Second, the Pietists wanted to shift the center of the Christian life from the state churches, in which a person was born and brought up, to intimate fellowships of those who had a living faith in God. Revitalized laymen from these centers were expected to spread the Word of God through all classes of men. Three men—Philip Jacob Spener, August Hermann Francke, and Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf—highlight the history of Pietism.