I'm not an Evangelical

OK, I admit it. I'm not an Evangelical. Or at least not a Reformed Evangelical, as David Neff reminded me in his recent piece The Change Agents . Though Reformed Evangelicals--think Baptists, Presbyterians, and other Calvinists—are the most influential group among the motley crew that makes up American Evangelicalism, they're not the only ones. There are Wesleyan Evangelicals and Lutheran Evangelicals, for starters.

Then there are the Pietists . Rather than become an evangelist for Pietism myself, I'll let the editors of The Dictionary of the History of Ideas take on that role:


The founder of Pietism was Philipp Jakob Spener. His Pia desideria of 1675 enunciated six aims that were
to become the program of Pietism: biblical study, lay activity, ethical revival, mollification of theological
polemics, reform of theological education, renewal of evangelical preaching.

Attacking conditions in the Lutheran Church, Spener maintained that an over-emphasis upon purity of doctrine had intellectualized faith and had severed the nerve of the moral imperative.

He was joined by August Hermann Francke, whose skill as an administrator helped to create institutions of education and of charity where the Pietist stress upon the practical side of Christianity could find expression.

From the depth and breadth of the response to their work it is clear that Spener and Francke had uncovered a grave problem in the faith and life of the churches.

There was a widespread yearning for authentic Christianity, for the restoration of sincerity and of simplicity, and for a religion based on faith, hope, and charity."


This line from the Dictionary of the History of Ideas sounds likes it was ripped from today's headlines: "There was a widespread yearning for authentic Christianity, for the restoration of sincerity and of simplicity, and for a religion based on faith, hope, and charity."

It's time for more Pietists to come out of the closet.