Pietism and the Foundations of the Modern World
Ebook
Overview
The experiential impulse of Protestant Christianity, often identified as Pietism, is one of the key driving forces in shaping the western world, as well as promoting the ethos of individualism and antipathy toward the larger society. As such, understanding the foundations of Pietism is an essential and overlooked aspect of Western Christianity. This work helps to address this gap in scholarship by addressing the first two centuries of Pietism. First, this work shows where the experiential impulse is found within medieval Christianity, specifically in mysticism. Following the Protestant Reformation, this experiential impulse is unmoored from church tradition but still finds confessional variants, including Lutheran, Reform, and Anglican. The work then focuses on six key figures in the development of Pietism, specifically William Perkins, Johann Arndt, Philip Spener, August Francke, Count Zinzendorf, and John Wesley, demonstrating that Pietism begins as a protest against institutional forms but then grows into institutional and denominational forms itself. These institutional forms include Moravians, Methodists, and Prussianism, which directly shaped Germany, England, and America, though the latter not until the nineteenth century. This work reveals the diverse impact Pietism had while remaining a cohesive yet contradictory movement.
“Justin Davis’s engaging book explores Pietism from its origins
in Christian mysticism through its foundational, institutional, and
denominational forms in the early modern period. This clearly
written and well-structured book provides an in-depth yet
accessible survey of the Lutheran, Reform, and Anglican traditions
within Pietism both as an experiential program and as an
intellectual movement. A must for any reader wishing to understand
Pietism’s influence on nineteenth-century theology.”
—David Freeman, Associate Professor of History and Religious
Studies, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Product Details
- Title : Pietism and the Foundations of the Modern World
- Author: Davis, Justin A.
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Publication Date: 2019
- ISBN: 9781532667381
Justin A. Davis’s academic life focuses on the intersection of
theology with periods of great cultural change, from the conversion
of the Rus in the tenth century to the tumult of the early modern
period. His degrees in systematic theology from GTU and history and
religious studies from UMKC complement his passion for teaching
undergraduates and explaining ideas that shape the world. Dr. Davis
currently lives in Kansas City with his wife and three
children.