SF 665: Christian Devotional Classics
Session 6: Worship, the Renaissance/Reformation Era, and the Pietistic Era
Worship
Opening Prayer… student volunteer
Scripture (Luke 24… road to Emmaus).. student volunteer
Reflection… Movie Response
1. What does this matter… to the world?
2. What does this matter… to your leadership context?
3. What does this matter… to your own story?
Testimonies being on pilgrimage with God… student volunteers
Song… student volunteer
Prayer… student volunteer
Historical Background to the Renaissance/Reformation Era (Tony)
Timeline:
Roughly 1400-1650 AD
From the Council of Constance to the Death of Queen Elizabeth
Main Events: Reunion of the Papacy
Fall of Constantinople
Voyages of Discovery
Schisms of the Reformation
Main Themes: Renaissance
Reformation in General
The 16th Century Spanish Mystics
Section 1: The Renaissance in Context
The focus of Western Christianity shifts from God to humanity
1. A renaissance of classical culture:
 nascent humanism and classical themes in literature (Chaucer, Petrarch,
Boccaccio)
 nascent humanism and classical themes in the visual arts (Botticelli, Leonardo)

a desire to recapture the glories of that ancient past…a rekindling of the “Caesar
impulse” in the Roman popes (now that they’re back in Rome)
When are we more likely to get nostalgic? What does this nostalgia tell us about
spiritual conditions and longings in the 15th century?
2. A rethinking of some of the recently affirmed doctrines and practices
 the Lollards’ rejection of transubstantiation in favor of a “real presence” (more
incarnational)
 Hus’s questioning of indulgences as exploitation of believers
Why are they questioning these recent doctrines? Was it an issue of truth or was it also
a suspicion of motives? What motives are at work in creating doctrinal statements?
Who gets to write them?
3. A reduction in recruits to the monastic life (desire to be “in the world”)
 Division of the Franciscans; decline of the Dominicans
 The lay option (third order of the Franciscans, Beguines, The Brethren of the
Common Life)
 The growing power of the institutional church
 The anchorite option, particularly in England (e.g. Julian of Norwich)
Why had the monastic option lost its appeal? What does that say about their comfort
with the world at they found it or experienced it?
4. A rediscovery (or new discovery) of lands outside of Europe
 The Portuguese journeys around Africa
 The Spanish sail West
Why were they even looking for new lands? How did they interpret these discoveries
theologically? How would we interpret the discovery of extraterrestrial civilization? How
we answer this reveals much about our understanding of God and the gospel. See CS
Lewis and the Perelandra series.
5. A rekindling of desire to enjoy the good things of this life
 accumulation of wealth by church and political leaders
 the influence of money in church decision-making
 peasant revolts…as they wanted their fair share in this new economic order

reactions against this in the form of Hussite calls for clerical poverty and
Savonarola’s bonfire of the vanities…without success
Does anything sound at all familiar here?  How should we relate to the good things of
life?
6. A renewed fear of the “other”
 Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 ended the Roman Empire and made
Muslims their neighbors.
 In Spain, where Muslims and Christians had been neighbors for 7 centuries, the
Reconquista resulted in the removal or forced conversion of Muslims.
 Also in Spain, the unification resulted in the removal or forced conversion of
Jews.
 The Inquisition was given new impetus to find, convert, or eliminate the “other,”
in whatever form.
Section 2: Movements of Reformation
Video Clip: Here I Stand
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xQsCtpcj_E)...(begin at about 1:50)
The Major Movements: An Over-Generalization
1.
Lutheranism…Germany, Scandanavia
2.
Anglicanism…England
3.
Calvinism…Switzerland, France, Holland, Scotland
4.
Anabaptism…Scattered through central Europe
5.
Catholicism…Spain, Italy
Common Themes of Reformation
1.
Creating local or national expressions of church, rather than continent-wide or
European
2.
Looking to Bible and rediscovered ancient sources for authority
3.
Emphasizing personal experience with God
4.
Re-evaluating church practices (worship, celibacy, etc.)
5.
Attempting to eliminate corruption
Cautions about the Reformation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It is not all one movement….and has continued to splinter today. Nevertheless, all
options are still on the table.
It was not necessarily all good. There was much that was done in the name of
reform that should make us cringe.
It was not all the work of those whose names are attached. Many, many others
carried this forward.
It was not without need for reform itself…which is what happened in subsequent
centuries. Semper reformada.
It is not all what you expect. For instance, they were not advocating religious
pluralism in the way we understand it today. Thus next week’s interview between
Beza and Servetus.
The 6 Blind Men and the Elephant…
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approach'd the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he,
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
MORAL.
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
--John Godfrey Saxe
Section 3: The 16th Century Spanish Mystics
Spiritual Practices of the Renaissance/Reformation Era (Jo Ann)
What this meant, in terms of how they went about knowing God… is that there was a
significant split among believers in the spiritual practices they used, and the result was a
narrowing of each group’s understanding of God. Some are still focusing on “smells and bells”…
using incense and high liturgy, and others are condemning that. Some are eagerly coming to
church for the sacraments and some are not calling them sacraments at all. Some are singing
hymns and others are reciting psalms. Some are using art as a means of worship and others are
destroying art as idolatrous. Some are meditating and others are preaching. All are praying, but
in different ways. It got confusing, and it became easy to just label the others as wrong and do
my own thing. And probably all of them missed out on some of the goodness of God.
That’s the sad part. The better part is that, underneath all of the division about the “hows” of
knowing God, there was much the same “why”… because they shared the same longing and the
same invitation. And so do we… So what can we learn or recover from them for our own lives?

The value of honoring and learning from each other. How might Christianity look today
if our spiritual ancestors in the 16th century had been more peaceable, more respectful
about their differences? How much treasure of the faith might we be able to tap into if
everyone’s perspective hadn’t gotten so narrow and so tight? How would our world look
at Christians today if we had developed a habit of disagreeing in love rather than
continually squabbling with each other? Might there be more drawn to the love of Jesus
as a result?

The value of a personal faith. The reformers remind us that each of us gets to choose
how we will relate to God… how much of ourselves we’ll share with God, how much of
Him we invite Him to reveal to us, and how much our relationship is characterized by
faith or trust. We walk together and worship together, but some things can only be
done inside you and me. And each of us, on a daily basis, need to decide, like Luther did,
where we stand.

The value of remembering what matters most. Even when they messed it up, this was
the deep desire of the reformers… to dig down below corruption and power struggles
and all the minutae to discover the God who is with us… just as we talked about last
week. Let’s not get hung up on the trivia… let’s always be doing what the author of
Hebrews suggested…
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw
off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2a).
Well, what were some of the spiritual practices were important to them? Remember that no
one individual or group would have practiced all of these.

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Hymn Singing… Particularly Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress”… a good hymn for
when you’re feeling under attack, or when storms threaten…
Art Gazing
Scripture Reading… in their own language
Baptism… took on greater significance when it wasn’t just something that everyone did,
but reflected a conscious decision of an adult or a parent for a child to choose a faith
Foot Washing… one of a number of unique Anabaptist practices that emphasized
humility and servanthood in the community of faith
The Spiritual Exercises… this was a rather intensive set of prayer and Bible reading
exercises created by Ignatius Loyola. They invite the believer to be present with Jesus in
his story in our imagination, and inviting him to be present in ours. Originally created for
a 30-day retreat, this has been altered to include a roughly 30-week version for those of
us who live in the real world, and has been modified to include non-Jesuits, including
Protestants like us. I’ve done the Exercises, as have a few others of you in this room. I
will mention that Jo Ann is trained to guide people in the Exercises, so if you’re
interested in finding out more, please talk with her.
The Examen…
Practice—The Examen
This is another practice created by Ignatius Loyola. There are different versions of it, but the
essence is the same… it’s noticing God’s presence in your life and God’s invitations to you on a
daily basis. It’s often done at night as a review of the day just passed, but it can be done at any
time of the day, or in the morning as a review of the previous day. It consists of three
questions:
… What gift(s) was I offered today? What was my response? Is there anything God
now wants me to know about the gift(s)/my response?
… What challenge(s) was I presented with today? What was my response? Is there
anything God now wants me to know about the challenge(s)/my response?
… What invitations do I sense for tomorrow/the future?
Historical Background of the Pietistic/Revival Era (Tony)
Timeline:
Roughly 1600-1800 AD
From the Death of Queen Elizabeth to the French Revolution
Main Events: First Wave of European Imperialism
American and French Revolutions
Main Themes: Enlightenment
Pietism
Revivalism
Section 1: Enlightenment
It was the “age of reason.” People in this time had great optimism that they could know truth
by using “pure reason”… that they could figure out the big questions of life with their heads,
and that every rational person would agree. That’s an optimism we don’t share anymore.
The Church fell into this as well… scholasticism again… For a while everything was about
doctrine and creeds, defining who’s in and who’s out. The passions of the Reformation had
turned into something sold and lifeless.
What did this mean for how they knew God? Some of them were trying to re-integrate their
hearts with their heads… They reacted agains the Enlightenment, not by abandoning knowledge
with their heads, but by discovering their hearts. Some of them remembered that their first call
as disciples of Jesus was to love God and be loved by Him. This created a movement of the
heart we now call “Pietism.”
Section 2: Pietism
Six Radical Ideas of Pietism (adapted and re-translated from Philip Jacob Spener)
1.
Christians should study the Bible together in small groups
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
faith.
Everyone, clergy and laity alike, is responsible for the ministry of the Church.
Knowing things about God isn’t enough; living it out in the mark of a true believer.
Instead of attacking those we disagree with, we’ll treat them with kindness.
Seminaries should form the heart as well as the mind.
Preaching isn’t about nice-sounding words, but about personal transformation through
Who were the Pietists?
They crossed denominational and national boundaries. Piestism was present in German
Lutheranism, Moravians, Anglicans (Methodist movement), in Catholicism, in the Dutch
Reformed, and other groups. It wasn’t a denomination and it wasn’t divisive, but a movement
of the Spirit that tried to break rules, break barriers, and break chains. So we, too, find
ourselves very much in this pietist heritage. We see a lot of ourselves in them.
Section 3: Revivalism
It was a time of increased individualism. We talked about this last week. What started with the
Reformation and Renaissance continued and picked up steam… They believed that each person
is responsible for one’s own reasoning, one’s own choices, one’s own faith. Each person is seen
as a unique individual with emotions and longings and aspirations. We see this particularly in
the novels of this time… a fairly new form of literature that began with Don Quixote… Those
writing the stories are interested in the motives and actions of real individuals, because they
matter.
What did this mean for how they knew God? Some of them were calling for the conversion and
holiness of each individual. This provoked a movement called revivalism. To this day many
churches in our region still follow in this tradition and hold “revival services”… sometimes
several days, sometimes a week or longer. My home church did this… multiple weeks at times,
with an itinerant preacher who would come to try to convert the lost and revive the saints.
Some famous revival preachers in the 18th century…
 John Wesley, founder of Methodism… heart strangely warmed, the world is my parish
 George Whitefield, famous revival preacher in England and America… story of Ben
Franklin in Philadelphia
 Jonathan Edwards, famous revival preacher in New England… “Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God,” “Religious Affections”
Some local revival preachers who were nationally famous…
 Gilbert Tennent… the dangers of an unconverted clergy in Chester County
 Philip William Otterbein… in the German Reformed church in Lancaster
 Martin Boehm… Boehm’s Chapel in Willow Street; the two met at Long’s Barn
 Henry Muhlenberg.. and his son Frederick in Schaefferstown
 Jacob Albright… from Ephrata, died and buried in Kleinfeltersville
Spiritual Practices of the Pietistic/Revival Era (Jo Ann)
What did this mean for how they tried to know God?
They grew very introspective. They had a strong sense of sin… they used words like “worm” and
“wretch” to describe themselves. Grace was hard for them to believe, but when they believed
it, they were overjoyed and transformed. They were continually checking themselves (and
checking with others) to see if they were sinning or somehow failing to show the love of God in
their heart. It was legalistic at times, but the heart beneath it was responding to love.
Sometimes they took this stuff to extremes…They could be arrogant or Pharisaical and some of
their spiritual descendants ended up as hyper-legalists who forgot about grace. And some
sought the emotion for the experience and forgot the One they were trying to get to know. And
others were overly confident of their own piety. August Francke, one of the early pietist
leaders, once claimed that “A person can come to a human strength in Christianity so as to kill
the old habits in himself and conquer his flesh and blood.” Well, we would be a bit less
optimistic than that… we recognize that killing the old habits is for most of us a lifelong process.
What can we learn from them for our own lives?

The passion for missions and evangelism… They had compassion for the lost and would
do nearly anything to introduce them to the Gospel. This included speaking outside of
the church because God is loose in the world. They talked a lot about Jesus… some of
the original Jesus freaks. Theirs was a Christ-centered Gospel.

The willingness to work across church divisions… Even though they disagreed with each
other on some important theological questions, most had an ecumenical spirit.
Zinzendorf in particular illustrated this… always trying to get churches to work
together… perhaps we have a bit of his spirit left here in Lititz. He didn’t create this
statement but promoted it often: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all
things, charity”

The value of a certain level of “enthusiasm”… “Enthusiasm” was the word used by this
generation to describe an emotional response to God’s love, and it was often used by
their critics in a very negative tone. The pietists and revivalists would get particularly
“enthused” about anything relating to the cross of Christ. “Blood” became again a
powerful symbol of sacrificial grace… they used that word a lot. Today, we appreciate
their enthusiasm, even if we recognize that it sometimes got out of hand. Our
relationship with God has a certain passion to it, the passion of romance, of gratitude, of
amazement, of anticipation and desire.

The integration of head, hearts, and hands… As we said, the pietists did not abandon the
head in rediscovering the heart…and actually encouraged the use of hands to care for
one another. Even when they didn’t get it all right, they tried really hard to hold things
in balance, to have a holistic understanding of their life in Christ.
What spiritual practices were particularly important to them?
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Daily devotions… fasting, prayer, Bible reading, devotional writings, journals
Acts of Compassion (caring for the poor)… Did they prevent a revolution?
Giving Testimony… “my conversion story”.. an encouragement to others to seek God
Singing Hymns… an example from Charles Wesley that illustrates many of these
themes… O For a Thousand Tongues
Small Group Relationships.. The pietists had “ecclesiola en ecclesiae”… little churches in
the church, and Wesley had “bands.” Others gathered in small groups as well for
personal accountability, Bible study, and prayer. We do the same today.
Practice—Small Group Discussion (next session)