Pietism: Classical and Modern-A Comparison of Two Representative Descriptions

Authors

Egon W. Gerdes, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Publication Date

4-1-1968

Document Type

Article

Keywords

pietism, feller, smith, pious, pietist, piety, francke, merrill, pietismus, spener

Submission Type

Bible Study; Lecture; Sermon Prep

Abstract

Only a few years after Philipp Jacob Spener in 1675 published his famous Pia Desidena, his followers were labeled "Pietists." The new name spread to Leipzig, where under the leadership of August Hermann Francke a group of students met in the Collegium Philobiblicum. They also were nicknamed "Pietists." Then one of the students suddenly died. His funeral was the occasion for the Leipzig professor of poetry, Joachim Feller, to say a word about the new movement with which he was in sympathy. And so he became the first man to identify himself with Pietism in a positive sense. He wrote a poem on the death of the pietistic student in 1689. Still in the same year he followed this up with a short poem on the Pietists in general. These two poems taken together form the first document of our consideration.

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Submission Cost

Free

Submission Audience

Laity; Ministers; Scholars

Recommended Citation

Gerdes, Egon W. (1968) "Pietism: Classical and Modern-A Comparison of Two Representative Descriptions," Concordia Theological Monthly: Vol. 39, Article 24.
Available at: https://scholar.csl.edu/ctm/vol39/iss1/24