LOGIA
A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY
REFORMATION 1999 VOLUME VIII. NUMBER 4
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
What Can Presbyterians Learn from Lutherans?
D. G. Hart .... : ........................................................................... ~ ..................................................................... .
Philip Jacob Speller and the Demise of the Practice of Holy Absolution in the Lutheran Church '
Gerald S. Krispin ............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Liturgy and Pietism -Then and Now
John T. Pless .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Map of the Kingdom of Piety
Valentine Ernst Loescher, Translated by Matthew C. Harrison . ........................................................................... ......... .......... 29
Oscar Feucht's Everyone a Minister: Pietism us RedivivitS"~-~'~'---""" .
Brent Kuhlman ............................................................... , ..................... : ............... :, ............... , ....... : .................... , ... , .. , .. " ............. , .. 31
The Lutheran Confessions on the Holy Ministry with a Few Thoughts on Hoefling
David P. Scaer ................. , .......................................................................................... , ........................... ,.,'..................................... 37
The Nicene Creed and the Filioque: A Lutheran Approach
David Jay Webber ................... ................................................................................................................................... ......... ........... 45
REVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................. ; ............................................ 53
REVIEW EsSAY: Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death. By Richard Marius. Review by Mark Sander
The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundation of Doctrinal Critidsm. Alister E. McGrath.
Shattering the Myths of Darwinism. Richard Milton.
Baptism: My Adoption into God's Family. Gaylin R. Schmeling.
The Divorce Culture. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead.
The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts. Edited by Philip W COmfort and David P. Barrett.
The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade. Thomas Lynch.
BRIEFLY NOTED
LOGIA FORUM .............................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Luther and Longfellow • Creative Worship ala 1732 • Vieker Installation • Rebuking Pietism
Emotions from Philosophy to Pietism • A Pious Walk • Beatitudes a la Pietism
Prostituting the Office • Liturgy Video Available • The Spirit of Christmas
ALSO THIS ISSUE
A Call for Manuscripts .. ....... .............. ................ ......... .................. ............ ......... ...... ....................................... ....... ............... .......... 18
Map (Kingdom of Piety) ................................................................................................................................................... ............. 28
Liturgy and Pietism
Then and Now
JOHN T.PLESS
---------------------------~------------------------~-
V AVID LUECKE' HAS ADVOCATED PIETISM as a slice of the The Pietist movement, which penetrated Lutheran territory Lutheran heritage that holds promise for the renewal of in the latter part of the seventeep.th century and contributed mission, congregational life, and worship. Luecke argues to the diminution or the internal transformation of the
that pietism is the "other story"l of worship among Lutherans, a orthodox Lutheran tradition, was· not simply a reaction
story that he claims has been ignored by the "restorationists" who against certain weaknesses.in the church life of the time; it
have written liturgical histories and prepared the hymnals. was rather a new theological position, which WilS based on a
According to Luecke, pietism is part of a tradition that is finding new concept o£reality and which bore within itself the seeds
expression in congregations that have abandoned or· radically of the modempoint of view.4
altered traditional Lutheran liturgical forms and hymnody. . ..
The alternative worship movement, which has become so Most of the standardt,rea,tments of pietism see pietism as a nec-
attractive to many within American Lutheranism, draws mote essary correclive t9 the 'alleged frigidity and formality of Lutheran
deeply on revivalism or the "frontier tradition"z of.worsh:il?i::'II& __ ~odo:xr.Pietism is,.said to have recaptured the vitality of
James White calls it, and pentecostalism via the charismatic move- ,. .. Luther"s evangelical jnsight Examples of the living piety of ortho-
ment, than it does on classical pietism. One could only wish that doxy as embodied inJohann' Gerhard's devotional writings or the
contemporary praise hymns had the theological and spiritual hymnody of Philip Nicolai and Paul Gerhardt are ignored, or else
depth of hymns such as Johann Schroeder.'s "One Thing's Needful; they are classified as a germinal form ofpietism.5 Pietism's
Lord this Treasure" (277 LW), which WIlhehn Nelle. called ,"the reliance on a selected slice of !;he early Llfther to the exclusion of
most blessed hymn of the entire circle of Halle. Pietists."3 his later sacrameo.ta1 writings is overlooked. Whatever deficiencies
When we compare the changes in liturgical texts and structures there may have.'been in the Ghurch life of Llltheran orthodoxy, it
introduced by pietism with those brought about by the advocates cannot be claimed that pietism was a return to Luther. Pietism
of so-called alternative worship, we might be tempted to conclude was seeking something new. Jeremiah Ohl summarizes the out-
that the innovations of pietism were rather minor. For the most come of pietism's search as it relates to worship:
part, pietism did not produce new liturgical orders. What pietism
did was to shift away from the centrality of the divine service in
the life of the church. This shift was necessitated by a prior shift
from justification to sanctification, from the objective reality of
the means of grace to the subjective experience of the belieyer,
from beneficium to sacrijicium, from the office of the holy min-
istry to the priesthood of believers. This was the crucial shift that
prepared the way for later developments in pietism's offspring,
revivalism and pentecostalism, which in turn have exercised a
destructive influence in the liturgical life of North American
Lutheranism. The central themes of pietism were unable to sus-
tain the liturgical life envisioned in the Book of Concord.
If we are to understand the influence of pietism on the liturgy
in contemporary Lutheranism, it is. essential that we see that
pietism was more than a renewal movement. It was a theological
movement. Bengt Haegglund writes:
JOHN T. PLESS is pastor of University Lutheran Chapel, Minneapolis,
Minnesota, and is book review editor for LOGIA. This essay was first pre-
sented at the Pieper Lectures at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, on
September 18, 1998.
19
in a word, what pietism: set out to do finally resulted not in
brmging.about again· a proper union between the objective
and the subjecti"~, but in the overthrow of the former and
the triumph ({the latter. The sacramental and the sacrificial
were divorce'c( and the sacrificial alone remained. Public
worship ceased to be a celebration of redemption, and ..
became only an act of edification. 6
Pietism succeeded in introducing a new theology of worship
grounded not in the delivery oithe fruits of Christ's redeeming
work but rather in the edification of the saint.
While Spener in his programmatic work Pia Desideria did not
set forth a plan for liturgical innovation, we observe a shift away
from objective understanding of the divine service in Luther and
Lutheranorthodoxyl Spener began not with the1f.)rd's gifts but
with the Lord's people, and what he saw was lamentable: clergy
whose lives did not conform to their teaching, contentiousness
among the theologians, worldliness and drunkenness on the part
of the common people. When Spener finally came to discuss the
efficacy of the word of God and the place of baptism, the Lord's
Supper, and absolution, he focused not on the character of these
gifts but on their right use. Spener gave assurances that he had
not departed from the orthodox Lutheran understanding of the
power of God's word:
We also gladly acknowledge the power of the Word of God
when it is preached, since it is the power of God for salva-
tion to everyone who has faith (Rom 1:16). We are bound
diligently to hear the Word of God not only because we are
commanded to do so but because it is the divine hand
which offers and presents grace to the believer, whom the
Word itself awakens through the Holy Spirit.s
Likewise he affirmed baptismal regeneration and the sacramen-
tal presence of Christ's body and blood:
Nor do I know how to praise Baptism and its power highly
enough. I believe that it is the real "washing of regeneration
and renewal in the Holy Spirit" (Ti 3:5), or as Luther says in
the Catechism, "it effects forgiveness of sins, delivers from
death, and grants (not merely promises) eternal salvation.
Not less gladly do I acknowledge the glorious power in the
sacramental, oral, and not merely spiritual eating and
drinking of ilie body and blood of the Lord in the Holy
Supper. On this account I heartily reject the position of the
Reformed when they deny that we receive such a pledge of
salvation in, with, and under ilie bread and the wine, when
iliey weaken its power, and when they see in it no more
than exists outside the holy sacrament in spiritual eating
and drinking."9
Yet after confessing these gifts, Spener once again returns to
what he observed in the majority of those who heard the word,
were baptized, and received Christ's body and blood. It was not
enough to be baptized. Baptism is described as a two-sided
covenant: from God's side a covenant of grace, from man's side
a covenant of faith.lO The efficacy of the Word is judged in light
of what it accomplishes in the interior life of the auditor. Spener
writes:
But it is not enough that your ear hears it. Do you let it
penetrate inwardly into your heart and allow the heavenly
food to be digested there, so that you get the benefit of its
vitality and power, or does it go in one ear and out the
other?ll .
Spener worried that confession and absolution as well as the
Lord's Supper were being used opus operatum,l2 In his desire to
guard against a fleshly securitas, Spener undermined the certain-
ty of faiili so clearly articulated in Luther's sacramental writings.
In part 3 of Pia Desideria, Spener provides six proposals to
correct conditions in the church. His first proposal is "a more
extensive use of the Word of God among us."!3 Spener notes that
there already is frequent and in some cases daily preaching in the
churches. But increased preaching was not what Spener had in
mind. The lectionary provides the church with a limited expo-
sure to Scripture. Later Gottfried Arnold would conclude that
the pericopal system is
a vicious and abominable mutilation of the Bible; and
Spener himself declared: "How I wish with all my heart,
that our Church had never adopted the use of Pericopes,
but had allowed a free choice, or else had made the Epistles
instead of the Gospels the chief texts."14
Quoting 2 Timothy 3:16, Spener argues that as all Scripture is
inspired by God "all Scripture, without exception, should be
known by the congregation if we are to receive the necessary
benefit."15
Spener offers three suggestions for the increased use of the
Bible: (1) Every housefather should have a Bible, or at least a
New Testament, and read it aloud for his household daily;
(2) books of the Bible should be read one after another at
specified times in public services of the congregation; (3) special
meetings should be organized for the reading and application of
the Scriptures. It is the development of this third point that was
to be most influential in pietism. .
According to Spener, these gatherings would be "the ancient
and apostolic kind of church meeting."16 These meetings were
not designed to replace the divine service but to supplement it.
Spener describes how these assemblies would function:
In addition to our customary services with preaching, other
assemblies would also be held in the manner which Paul
describes them in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. One person
would not rise to preach (although the practice would be
continued at other times), but others who have been blessed
with gifts and knowledge would also speak and 1'resenttheir
pious opinions on the proposed subject to the judgment of
the rest, doing all this in such a way as to avoid disorder and
strife. This might conveniently be done by having several
ministers (in places where a number of them live in a town)
meet together or by having several members of acongrega-
tion who have a fair knowledge of God or desire to increase
their knowledge meet under the' leadership of a minister,
take up the Holy Scriptures, read aloud from them, and fra-
ternally discuss each verse in order to discover its simple
meaning and whatever may be useful to the edification of
all. Anybody who is not satisfied with his understanding of
a matter should be permitted to express his doubts and seek
further explanation. On the other hand iliose (including the
ministers) who have made progress should be allowed the
freedom to state how they understand each passage. Then
all that has been contributed, insofar as it accords with the
sense of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, should be careful-
ly considered by ilie rest, especially by ilie ordained minis-
ters, and applied to the edification of the whole meeting.17
Thus the conventicle was born as a paraliturgical assembly.
Spener outlines what he sees to be the benefits of these assemblies.
Preachers would gain a more intimate knowledge of the spiritual
weaknesses of their people while ilie people would grow in
confidence in their ministers. Those who participate would expe-
rience personal growth better enabling them to give religious
instruction to their children and servants at home. Both sermons
and the private reading of the Bible wouid beJ:)~t1:er understood.
LITURGY AND PIETISM -THEN AND NOW
The apostolic admonition of Colossians 3:16 would be fulfilled as
"psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" were used in these gather-
ings "for the praise of God and the inspiration of the partici-
pants."18 While Spener did not envision the conventicle as a
replacement for the divine service, the history of pietism provides
evidence that these meetings, not the divine service, came to be
the focal point of the spiritual life. illtimately the songs of the con-
venticle would find their way into the liturgical services.
The objectivity (extra nos) of the means
of grace is overcome by the subjectivity
of the believer's experience.
directed toward the inner man, may ever be strengthened
more. On the other hand, works should be set in motion that
we may by no means be content merely to have people
refrain from outward vices and practice outward virtues and
thus be concerned only with the outward man, which the
ethics of the heathen can also accomplish, but that we lay a
right foundation in the heart, show that what does not pro-
ceed from this foundation is mere hypocrisy, and hence
accustom the people first to work on what is inward (awak-
en love of God and neighbor through suitable means) and
only then to act accordingly.21
21
Spener broadened his understanding of the goal of the sermon
to include the sacraments also. Worship is internalized.
One should therefore emphasize that the divine means of
Word and sacrament are concerned with the inner man.
Hence it is not enough that we hear the Word with our out-
ward ear, but we must let, it penetrate to our heart,. so that
Other themes in Pia Desideria were developed that would we may hear the Holy' Spirit speak there, that. is, with
influence the shape ofliturgYwithin pietism.Spener's second pro- vibrant.emotioll and comfort feel the sealing of the Spirit
posal calls for "the establishment and diligent exercise of the spiritll- a!1d the power oftheWo):d. NQr is it enough to be baptized,
al priesthood."19 The spiritual priesthood was seen in CQutL~lJ:~ but the inner man; where we have put on Christ in
the office of the holy ministry. While Spener argued that members -"Baptism,< must als.c,>l