The Pietist Option

Hope for the Renewal of Christianity

Christopher Gehrz, Mark Pattie III

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780830851942
  9780830851942
• eBook ISBN:
  9780830889112
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Historian Mark Noll has written that historic Pietism "breathed a badly needed vitality" into post-Reformation Europe. Now the time has come for Pietism to revitalize Christianity in post-Christendom America.In The Pietist Option, Christopher Gehrz, a historian of Pietism, and Mark Pattie, a pastor in the Pietist tradition, show how Pietism holds great promise for the church—and the world—today. Modeled after Philipp Spener's 1675 classic, Pia Desideria, this timely book makes a case for the vitality of Pietism in our day.Taking a hard look at American evangelicalism and why it needs renewal, Gehrz and Pattie explore the resources that Pietism can provide the church of the twenty-first century. This concise and winsomevolume serves as a practical guide to the Pietist ethos for life and ministry, pointing us toward the renewal so many long for.The Pietist Option introduces Pietism to those who don't know it—and reintroduces it to those who perceive it as an outdated and inward-focused spirituality, a nitpicking divisiveness, or an anti-intellectual withdrawal. With its emphasis on our walk with Jesus and its vibrant hope for a better future, Pietism connects decisively with the ideas and issues of ourday. Here is a revitalizing option for all who desire to be faithful and fruitful in God's mission.

Notes

Introduction: “Come Back to Jesus”

3 scholars even suggest connections: For example, Valerie C. Cooper, “Equality in an Age of Inequality: Pietism in Nineteenth-Century African American Thought,” The Covenant Quarterly, August–November 2012, 21-34; Roger E. Olson, “Pietism and Pentecostalism: Spiritual Cousins or Competitors?,” Pneuma 34 (2012): 319-44.

the main form of Protestantism: Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 491.

had almost vanished in America: “Pietism,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietism, accessed April 4, 2017.

4 describes Pietism as “leavening”: Steven M. Nolt, “Critical Reflections,” in Becoming Grace: Seventy-Five Years on the Landscape of Christian Higher Education in America, ed. Jared S. Burkholder and M. M. Norris (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2015), 213.

transcends denominations and even traditions: Roger E. Olson and Christian T. Collins Winn, Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 9, 71.

superficial Christianity whether it be found: Virgil A. Olson, “The Baptist General Conference and Its Pietistic Heritage,” Bethel Seminary Quarterly 4 (May 1956): 65.

5 its current president rarely misses a chance: For example, Gary Walter, “Who We Are at Our Best,” The Covenant Companion, March 2010, 5.

6 was a rekindling of the love affair: Alec Ryrie, Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World (New York: Viking, 2017), 167.

8 O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing: Martin Luther, “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans” (1523), in Luther’s Works, vol. 35, ed. E. Theodore Bachmann (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 370.

9 not inherited or assumed: Christopher Gehrz, “Does Pietism Provide a ‘Usable Past’ for Christian Colleges and Universities?,” in The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons, ed. Christopher Gehrz (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015), 20.

hold together proclamation and compassion: Evangelical Covenant Church, Covenant Affirmations, rev. ed. (Chicago: Covenant Publications, 2005), 11, 13.

10 With sincere devotion: Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria (1675), trans. and ed. Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1964), 38.

11 Pietist not just in content but tone: Gehrz, “Does Pietism Provide a ‘Usable Past,’” 30-31.

Pietists have been sharing personal testimonies: Johanna Eleonora Petersen, The Life of Lady Johanna Eleonora Petersen, Written by Herself: Pietism and Women’s Autobiography in Seventeenth-Century Germany, ed. and trans. Barbara Becker-Cantarino (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005).

Chapter 1: What’s Wrong?

15 Hopeful as he was: Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria (1675), ed. and trans. Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1964), 39.

“corrupt conditions” that Spener decried: Ibid., 40, 43.

16 the complaints of godly people: Ibid., 73.

17 Just as the seed strewn: August Hermann Francke, “The Doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ Concerning Rebirth” (1697), quoted in Gary R. Sattler, God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good: A Brief Introduction to the Life and Writings of August Hermann Francke (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1982), 141-42.

Chastise yourself first: August Hermann Francke, “Scriptural Rules of Life” (1695), in Sattler, God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good, 204.

18 authentic sabbath keeping: Lauren F. Winner, Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline (Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2003), 11-13.

advice from an eighteenth-century Pietist: John Frederick Stark, Daily Hand-Book for Days of Rejoicing and of Sorrow (1728; trans. and repr., Philadelphia: Kohler, 1879), 10, 28.

19 functional atheism: Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 88.

sabbath commemorates: Winner, Mudhouse Sabbath, 12.

which issues were “very important”: Pew Research Center, “Evangelicals Rally to Trump, Religious ‘Nones’ Back Clinton,” July 13, 2016, www.pewforum .org/2016/07/13/religion-and-the-2016-campaign/#religious-groups-agree-economy-terrorism-are-key-election-concerns.

19 chances of an American being killed: Alex Nowratseh, “Americans’ Fear of Foreign Terrorists Is Overinflated,” Time, September 13, 2016, http://time .com/4489405/americans-fear-of-foreign-terrorists.

21 awaken a fervent love: Spener, Pia Desideria, 96.

Faith brings you to Christ: Martin Luther, sermon on Matthew 21:1-9 (1522), quoted in Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, Angels, Worms, and Bogeys: The Christian Ethic of Pietism (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2010), 68.

some Lutherans let their aversion: August Hermann Francke, “Duty to the Poor” (1697), in Sattler, God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good, 158.

the echo of a voice: N. T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperOne, 2006), 3.

American Values Survey: Betsy Cooper, Daniel Cox, Rachel Lienesch, and Robert P. Jones, “Anxiety, Nostalgia, and Mistrust: Findings from the 2015 American Values Survey,” Public Religion Research Institute, November 17, 2015, www.prri.org/research/survey-anxiety-nostalgia-and-mistrust-findings -from-the-2015-american-values-survey.

22 blinding themselves to the injustices faced: Russell Moore, “A White Church No More,” New York Times, May 6, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/opinion/a-white-church-no-more.html?_r=0.

Many white evangelicals: Russell Moore, “What Shootings and Racial Justice Mean for the Body of Christ,” personal website, July 7, 2016, www.russellmoore.com/2016/07/07/shootings-justice-body-of-christ.

Christianity’s best gift to the world: Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 30, 84.

23 interprets the Isak Dinesen story “Babette’s Feast”: Ibid., 26.

the remarkable Johanna Eleonora Petersen: Clifton-Soderstrom, Angels, Worms, and Bogeys, 63.

Fear, for [Pietists], was never about: interview with C. John Weborg in ibid., 105.

One of Jesus’ clearest teachings: Ibid., 50-51.

24 this dismal summary: Paul Taylor, “The Demographic Trends Shaping American Politics in 2016 and Beyond,” Pew Research Center, January 27, 2016, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/27/the-demographic-trends-shaping-american-politics-in-2016-and-beyond.

24 over 60 percent of voters lived: David Wasserman, “Purple America Has All But Disappeared,” FiveThirtyEight, March 8, 2017, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/purple-america-has-all-but-disappeared.

25 Evangelical leaders including: “Letter to President Trump on Executive Order on Refugees,” World Vision, January 2017, www.worldvision.org/about-us/media-center/letter-president-trump-executive-order-refugees.

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Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Christianity in the Early Twenty-First Century
• What’s Wrong?
• Hoping for Better Times
• Proposals for Renewal
• A More Extensive Listening to the Word of God
• The Common Priesthood for the Common Good
• Christianity as Life
• The Irenic Spirit
• Whole-Person, Whole-Life Formation
• Proclaiming the Good News
• Benediction
• Appendix
• Using This Book for Personal Devotions or Small Group Discussion
• Notes
• Name Index
• Scripture Index
• Praise for The Pietist Option
• About the Authors
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press