Rediscovering the roots of Pietism in Scandinavia, God’s Glory, Neighbors Good
Everyone keeps asking me, “What is Pietism?” The answer became clear after traveling in Sweden, Norway and Denmark with Dr. Mark Safstrom, lecturer in Swedish and Scandinavian studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
We are working on a new documentary titled: God’s Glory, Neighbors Good, the Story of Pietism. Pietism is the reformation after the reformation. Anyone even vaguely familiar with church history knows that in 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, sparking what became known as the Protestant Reformation.
What most have forgotten, or, perhaps, never learned in the first place, is that the “original” reformation didn’t create the Western Christianity that we know today all by itself.
After Luther’s death in 1546, Europe suffered through the Thirty Years War, leaving the continent divided between Protestant and Roman Catholic versions of the faith. It also left a third of the population dead.
What emerged in lands most influenced by Luther (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, northern Germany) was an idea know as Orthodoxy which had a lot to do with the head, and very little to do with the heart. One church historian quipped, “sermons sometimes were about how to plant better potatoes.”
Along came the pietists in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. These 18th and 19th century awakened folks were interested in a personal faith, reading the Bible in home studies and then acting out what they learned in practical ways that included caring for the poor, and evangelism. The pietists also generated an ocean of music that describes how much God loves us.
Mark and I traveled all over the place, from Stockholm to Oslo to Copenhagen and many places in between, interviewing scholars, pastors, lay people and recording many historic churches, landmarks and local scenery.
One great story is a photo I spotted of Onesimus Nesbid at the Johannelund Theological Seminary in Uppsala, Sweden. Johannelund is run by the Lutheran Swedish Evangelical Mission (In Swedish: Evangeliska fosterlandsstiftelsen) and began its existence as a training institute for inland and overseas missionaries.
Onesimos was a 19th century Ethiopian slave, purchased out of slavery by Swedish Lutheran missionaries. Taken to Uppsala, Onesimus earned his theological degree and returned to Ethiopia to found the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the fastest growing Christian church in the world.
All of this will be combined with footage we record later this summer in Germany plus additional interviews with scholars and theologians here in the United States.
In fact, much of what we understand today in American Evangelical Christian practice has its roots in the story of Pietism. This project will likely take at least another year to complete. We will need to do additional fundraising to get the work done. But, I’ve no doubt that we will get this thing done… to God’s glory and our neighbors good.
Here is a promo for the documentary:
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