Evangelicals inherited two important traits from Pietism.
First, emotion played so large a part in the Pietists’ religious life that reason was downplayed. Since the mind could not fathom the mysteries of human destiny, feelings were left to carry the meaning of faith.
Second, Pietism assumed the existence of the institutional church. It made no frontal attacks on it. But it shifted what was essential to Christianity—the new birth and the spiritual life—from the traditional state churches to smaller fellowship groups or voluntary associations of believers.
Pietism arose as a reaction to this ossification of the Reformation. Just as Jansenism opposed the cheap grace of the French Jesuits, so the Pietists challenged the nominal faith of German Lutheranism.
The aims of the Pietists were twofold: First, they stressed the importance of personal faith. They left behind all dreams of Catholic Christendom and Puritan commonwealths. They believed that Christianity starts with the individual. So for the first time in Christian history, the idea of conversions of baptized Christians (as well as pagans) came to prominence.
Second, the Pietists wanted to shift the center of the Christian life from the state churches, in which a person was born and brought up, to intimate fellowships of those who had a living faith in God. Revitalized laypeople from these centers were expected to spread the Word of God through all classes of men and women.
Hangi tür kitapları seviyorsun?
🔎 Polisiye
💕 Romantik
🚀 Bilim Kurgu
🏰 Fantastik
📖 Klasik
🧠 Kişisel Gelişim
🏛️ Tarih
😱 Gerilim
These Dissenting Brethren of Westminster articulated the denominational theory of the church in several fundamental truths:
First, since a person is unable to always see all of the truth clearly, differences of opinion about the outward form of the church are inevitable.
Second, even though these differences do not involve fundamentals of the faith, they are not matters of indifference. Every Christian is obligated to practice what he believes the Bible teaches.
Third, since no church has a final and full grasp of divine truth, the true church of Christ can never be fully represented by any single ecclesiastical structure.
Finally, the mere fact of separation does not of itself constitute schism. It is possible to be divided at many points and still be united in Christ.
In its quest to reshape England, the Puritan movement passed through three rather clearly marked periods: First, under Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603) it tried to purify the Church of England along the lines of Calvin’s Geneva. Second, under James I and Charles I (1603–42) it resisted the claims of the monarchy and suffered under royal pressures designed to force conformity to a high-church style of Christianity. Third, during England’s civil war and Oliver Cromwell’s rule (1642–60) Puritans had a chance to shape the national church in England but failed because of their internal dissensions.
After the break with Rome, England’s orthodoxy remained intact. Henry continued to insist on Catholic doctrine within the realm. Apparently his goal was an English Catholic Church instead of a Roman Catholic one. The Statute of Six Articles in 1539 upheld such Catholic articles as clerical celibacy, the private mass, and confessions to a priest. Only two serious changes marked the new way within the Church of England. The first was the suppression of the monasteries; the second was the publication of the English Bible for use in the churches.
The second weapon in the papal arsenal was the interdict. While excommunication was aimed at individuals, the interdict fell upon whole nations. It suspended all public worship and, with the exception of baptism and extreme unction, it withdrew the sacraments from the lands of disobedient rulers. Pope Innocent III successfully applied or threatened the interdict eighty-five times against uncooperative princes.