Seventeenth Century Pietism as a Protestant Form of New Evangelization

Abstract

Can equivalents of the Catholic new evangelization be found in the Protestant world? They certainly can. One among them — with all their temporal and theological difference — is pietism, a religious renewal movement initiated by Philipp Jacob Spener (1635-1705), who included his postulates in the book titled Pia Desideria (1675). Pietism emphasized revival of personal faith, ardent prayer, reading the Holy Scriptures, human involvement in the transformation of socio-economic structures, missionary activity, and community life. Is there, alternatively, also a Catholic form of pietism? The answer is not straightforward, because the 21st century Catholic Church has behind it the great work of the Second Vatican Council with its call for lay apostolate, biblical renewal, and the revival of ecclesial movements. The idea of the parish as a “community of communities,” sensitizing the need to proclaim the kerygma, set up of prayer and formation groups, charismatic renewal — in all of this one can also see the implementation of the ideals that guided the pietists. In a sense, Pope Francis’ exhortation Evangelii Gaudium deserves to be called the pia desideria of our times.