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.

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Apr 21st, 1:00 PM Apr 21st, 3:30 PM

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