Reform movement in German Lutheranism that arose in the 17th century. Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705), a Lutheran pastor, originated the movement when he organized an "assembly of piety," a regular meeting of Christians for devotional reading and spiritual exchange. Spener advocated greater involvement of the laity in worship, more extensive study of scripture, and ministerial training that emphasized piety and learning rather than disputation. Under Spener's successor, August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), the University of Halle became a centre of the movement. Pietism influenced the Moravian and Methodist churches (see Methodism)
{i} religious movement which began in the Lutheran Church in Germany during the 17th century (stressed individual piety over orthodoxy); religious principles and practices of the Pietists
The seventeenth-century reaction within Lutheranism against what it considered the cold, abstract, argumentative nature of Lutheran orthodoxy Pietism stressed "the religion of the heart," an experiential, warm, affectional, and often sentimental, view of the Faith Pietism later spread to the Reformed churches and it was a hallmark of Wesleyanism Though the early pietists were not against orthodoxy as such, their sentimental and man-centered view of Christianity laid the groundwork for nineteenth-century Protestant liberalism More generally, pietism today refers to a sentimental, privatized Christianity, which sees the Faith almost exclusively in terms of an individualized, emotional experience Pietism denies the claims of the Word of God on all areas of life and society
17th and 18th-century German movement in the Lutheran Church stressing personal piety and devotion
An approach to Christianity, especially associated with German writers in the seventeenth century, which places an emphasis upon the personal appropriation of faith, and the need for holiness in Christian living The movement is perhaps best known within the English-language world in the form of Methodism See pp 73-4
One of a class of religious reformers in Germany in the 17th century who sought to revive declining piety in the Protestant churches; often applied as a term of reproach to those who make a display of religious feeling