Re-Emerging Pietism: The Emerging Church as Postmodern Pietism
Location
CSU 204
Start Date
21-4-2008 1:00 PM
End Date
21-4-2008 3:30 PM
Student's Major
World Languages and Cultures
Student's College
Arts and Humanities
Mentor's Name
Cecilia Pick
Mentor's Department
World Languages and Cultures
Mentor's College
Arts and Humanities
Description
Germany in the seventeenth century was ripe for religious reform: the Thirty Years War had created doubts about the correctness of contemporary religious institutions, theologians of most denominations were engaged in abstract, scholastic theological controversy, and inter-denominational conflict was increasingly off-putting. It was into this climate which Pietism emerged as an alternative way of doing religion. Its central tenets were: (1) a more extensive use of Scripture, (2) a reinvigorated spiritual priesthood, (3) an emphasis on orthopraxy, ( 4) irenic conduct in religious controversies, (5) the establishment of seminaries as centers of personal spiritual cultivation, and (6) sermons emphasizing faith and its fruits. The impact of this historical movement was geographically and theologically far-reaching. A number of religious organizations in the United States including Evangelicalism can trace their roots back to Pietism. As a result, the most contemporary expression of Evangelicalism, the Emerging Church ( a sort of postmodern version of Evangelicalism), also shares a historical link with seventeenth-century Pietism. More important than the historical connection are the theological similarities: the early Pietists and the Emerging Church both deal with the same central questions which are rooted in the six tenets of Spener's Pietism. I have shown how the philosophical movement of postmodernism affected how the Emerging Church deals with the six central tenets of seventeenth-century German Pietism. In the process, the Emerging , Church has taken these tenets to the next philosophical level. After providing a cultural-historical background I have shown how the Emerging Church has developed these tenets and have presented implications for the Emerging Church and Christianity in general.
Re-Emerging Pietism: The Emerging Church as Postmodern Pietism
CSU 204
Germany in the seventeenth century was ripe for religious reform: the Thirty Years War had created doubts about the correctness of contemporary religious institutions, theologians of most denominations were engaged in abstract, scholastic theological controversy, and inter-denominational conflict was increasingly off-putting. It was into this climate which Pietism emerged as an alternative way of doing religion. Its central tenets were: (1) a more extensive use of Scripture, (2) a reinvigorated spiritual priesthood, (3) an emphasis on orthopraxy, ( 4) irenic conduct in religious controversies, (5) the establishment of seminaries as centers of personal spiritual cultivation, and (6) sermons emphasizing faith and its fruits. The impact of this historical movement was geographically and theologically far-reaching. A number of religious organizations in the United States including Evangelicalism can trace their roots back to Pietism. As a result, the most contemporary expression of Evangelicalism, the Emerging Church ( a sort of postmodern version of Evangelicalism), also shares a historical link with seventeenth-century Pietism. More important than the historical connection are the theological similarities: the early Pietists and the Emerging Church both deal with the same central questions which are rooted in the six tenets of Spener's Pietism. I have shown how the philosophical movement of postmodernism affected how the Emerging Church deals with the six central tenets of seventeenth-century German Pietism. In the process, the Emerging , Church has taken these tenets to the next philosophical level. After providing a cultural-historical background I have shown how the Emerging Church has developed these tenets and have presented implications for the Emerging Church and Christianity in general.
Recommended Citation
Dauer, Tysen. "Re-Emerging Pietism: The Emerging Church as Postmodern Pietism." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 21, 2008.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2008/oral-session-07/1
