Pietism and Miracles (Encyclopedia Article)

Peter James Yoder (Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas) This tightly focused collection brings together contributions that explore the spiritual valences of conceptions of time in Pietism and the Awakening movement, with particular attention given to eschatology and the writing of history. The first section covers historical consciousness and the expectations for the future in Pietism, while the second section considers the same topic in the Awakening movement. The third section engages with biographies, Lebensläufe, and Pietist ideas of Providence and history. Although each contribu-

2022

This paper seeks to provide a clarifying overview of the diverse culture of scriptural engagement that existed in German Pietism from 1675-1725. Despite such diversity, this presentation will argue that when the scholarly literature on the subject and relevant primary sources are carefully consulted, three distinct approaches (the “magisterial, mediating, and mystical”) can be discerned as representative of many Pietists during this period. The “magisterial” approach, typified by figures like Phillip Jacob Spener (1635-1705), envisions the faithful reading scripture “devotionally” in private and in small groups whilst being guided by a professional clergy class and accepted confessional standards. For while Lutheranism has never had a formal “magisterium” in the Roman Catholic sense, the clergy class and The Book of Concord served as a “functional” magisterium during the period in question. The “mediating” approach, typified by figures like Johanna Eleonora Petersen (1644- 1724), sees visionary and mystical experience playing an important, though measured, role in scriptural interpretation. Such an approach to Bible reading sometimes led to conflict with established theological authorities. The “mystical” approach is perhaps best understood as a more radical outgrowth of the “mediating” approach. Typified by figures like Johann Konrad Dippel (1673-1734), those in this third group often viewed scripture as merely one source of divine revelation amongst very many. For Pietists in this stream, mystical experience becomes the primary authority and arbiter in theological method.

Church History, 2012

Journal of Moravian History, 2014

These two volumes, and the conference on which they are based, have a thematic focus upon Pietism and personal experience. The two volumes comprise 63 chapters, selected from 82 conference papers. Chapters address issues such as experience in radical Pietism and the Enlightenment; spiritual “possession” and prophetic experience in Pietism; autonomy and social experience among Pietist craftsmen; the category of experience in Dutch Pietist pedagogy; experience and independence among the sisters in the Herrnhut community; Pietism and experience in the eighteenth-century novel; the theology of experience in Freylinghausen’s hymnbooks; and narratives of experience among Pietist Jewish converts.

Journal of Moravian History, 2014

If one is seeking for evidence that Pietism scholarship has entered a new phase, marked by liberation from the "monopoly" of church historians, then a collection such as this would be a good place to begin. In the foreword, Christian Soboth points to the multidisciplinary background of the contributors to the volume, and their rejection of the earlier emphasis upon "the [Pietist] man and his work." "The variety of content in the present volume illustrates a disciplinary change of emphasis." The new questions and methods substantially change and enrich the very notion of Pietism as previously understood by church historians.

Renaissance and Reformation Renaissance Et Reforme, 2015

2017

The aim of this work is to address the development of experiential Protestantism in the nineteenth century, commonly called Pietism, through the theological contributions of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Søren Kierkegaard, and Phoebe Palmer. While an emphasis on experiencing God exists in all forms of Christianity, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and the various forms of Protestantism, the expression and development of experiential Protestantism faces interesting historical challenges. The first challenge is grounded in the community’s conception of itself, primarily the desire to remain an outsider movement. Unlike the other expressions of Protestantism, such as Scholasticism and Rationalism, Pietism’s early history in the development of Protestantism began as a counterweight to these intellectual movements. As a result, the necessity to remain outside of the established power structures became rooted in the habitus of Pietism. Pietism seeks to remain a countercultural ...

Pietism has often been misunderstood. This current - particularly popular in the 18th century - was frequently suspected of vices such as subjectivism, an arrogant 'holier than thou' attitude, individualism and 'other worldliness'. These allegations, however, are largely based on stereotyping. In this essay I will demonstrate the aims, ideas and doctrines behind Pietism. Furthermore, I will demonstrate in which way they are related to Lutheran Church and doctrines.

Einladende Buch-Anfänge: Titelbilder des Wissens in der Frühen Neuzeit, Ed. Stefan Laube, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen 170, 2022

From the seventeenth century through the first decades of the eighteenth century, a wave of millenarianism swept Europe. A range of authors across the religious spectrum discussed the coming „Final Judgement“ and offered competing scriptural interpretations about the „end of times.“ Some of the most popular books were those of so-called Philadelphians, who wanted to build a community of brotherly love in anticipation of the New Jerusalem. The frontispieces of certain Philadelphian books made visual arguments that seemed to prove the interpretations presented in the books. This article presents some of these frontispieces and focuses in particular on the large copperplate engraving in Johanna Eleonora Petersen’s opulent „Anleitung zu gründlicher Verständniß der Heiligen Offenbahrung“ of 1696. In one image, this artwork expresses all of the central Philadelphian tenets, including the fall of Babylon, a coming 1000-year reign of Christ, the union of righteous Jews and Christians and the doctrine of a female person in the godhead.