My colleague Christian Collins Winn has an article in the Spring 2013 issue of the Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care that should be of interest to many readers of this blog. In it he asks:
What has “spirituality” to do with “social justice”? What has “prayer” to do with “action”? What has the “preaching of the gospel” to do with “service to the poor”? How a community or individual answers these questions often depends on which traditions one looks to for answers. One tradition that deserves a hearing in current debates about these questions is the rich tradition of Pietism, not least because of its extraordinary influence on most modern forms of Protestant Christianity, especially evangelicalism. (p. 56)
Christian reviews the familiar history of German Pietism — including the institutions founded in Halle by August Hermann Francke (“an excellent example of the integration of the transformed heart and social engagement” sought by Pietist founder Philipp Jakob Spener) — then spends most of the article exploring the relationship between spirituality and social justice for Württemberg Pietist pastor Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) and his son Christoph Friedrich (1842-1919). Here’s a taste:
The primary theme running through their thought is centered on a watchword that originated in Pietist circles in Württemberg in the nineteenth century: “Jesus is Victor” [see Christian’s book by this title, on how the Blumhardts influenced Karl Barth]…. The phrase sums up what can be described as a confidence in the inbreaking presence of the risen Christ in the power of the Spirit who comes to liberate humanity and creation from suffering and bondage. In the light of this, the struggle and call of the Christian is to both wait on and hasten towards the presence of Christ—which is also the kingdom of God in the world—through identification with the suffering of the world. (p. 58)
Christian pays particular attention to the Blumhardts’ “spiritual practice of groaning,” which is rooted in prayer (especially prayer for healing) but “would take on an even more explicit social orientation and would come to be so closely related to concrete action as to be almost indistinguishable” (p. 74).
If you don’t have a subscription (or institutional access) to the Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, you can purchase Christian’s article separately.
See also:
- Christian’s address on Pietism and civil discourse, delivered at Bethel’s convocation last fall and published here
- An earlier post of mine on Covenant pastor and World Vision leader Paul Rees, who spoke on the connection between prayer and social concern at the 1973 meeting that produced the landmark Chicago Declaration.
- My article on “missional Pietism” that will be published later this summer in The Covenant Quarterly — its second half focuses on former Bethel president Carl Lundquist‘s attempt to reconcile “pietism” and “activism.”
The Pietist Schoolman 