Lutheranism in America - very long but I wanted to address the question well -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 12:20:55 03/06/04 Sat
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer
Subject: Lutheranism in America - very long but I wanted to address the question well
In reply to: Abba's Son 's message, "Re: different styles of services" on 17:02:36 03/05/04 Fri

ABBA'S SON: I am not going to put God in a box and say that my way of worship is the only way. I apologize to Mountaineer if I came across as spiritually arrogant.

MHM - none needed. I see it the other way around all of the time, too.

QUESTION: Do you consider yourself traditional Lutheran, or is your denomination influences by the Lutheran Reform or Pietist movement?

I was unaware of this movement, so I looked it up and found a couple of working definitions. So, you will undoubtedly be far ahead of me but I included them so you know where I'm coming from.

Pietist
(n.) 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. Also used adjectively.

Pietism
{py' - uh - tizm}
General Information

Originally a German Lutheran religious movement of the 17th and 18th centuries, pietism emphasized heartfelt religious devotion, ethical purity, charitable activity, and pastoral theology rather than sacramental or dogmatic precision. The term now refers to all religious expressions that emphasize inward devotion and moral purity. With roots in Dutch precisionism and mysticism, pietism emerged in reaction to the formality of Lutheran orthodoxy.

In his Pia Desideria (1675), Philipp Jakob Spener proposed a "heart religion" to replace the dominant "head religion." Beginning with religious meetings in Spener's home, the movement grew rapidly, especially after August Hermann Francke (1663 - 1727) made the new University of Halle a Pietist center. Nikolaus Ludwig, Graf von Zinzendorf, a student of Francke's and godson of Spener, helped spread the movement. His Moravian Church promoted evangelical awakenings throughout Europe and in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. John Wesley and Methodism were profoundly influenced by pietism.

Pietism
Advanced Information
A recurring tendency within Christian history to emphasize more the practicalities of Christian life and less the formal structures of theology or church order. Its historians discern four general traits in this tendency: (1) Its experiential character, pietists are people of the heart for whom Christian living is the fundamental concern; (2) its biblical focus, pietists are, to paraphrase John Wesley, "people of one book" who take standards and goals from the pages of Scripture; (3) its perfectionistic bent, pietists are serious about holy living and expend every effort to follow God's law, spread the gospel, and provide aid for the needy; (4) its reforming interest, pietists usually oppose what they regard as coldness and sterility in established church forms and practices.

I like the last defintion the best because it has good details and I'm going to use them to address the rest of your question.

First, I am a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS). There are two other large Lutheran bodies in the USA. The largest is the Evangelistic Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and the smallest of the 3 is the Wisconsin Evangelistic Lutheran Synod (typically called the Wisconsin Synod or WELS). All three of them are present in Indianapolis, where I live, but the LCMS is the most prevelant here.

Until the early 1970s there was a unified Lutheran church body with different beliefs (if your familiar with politics, it was the "beg tent" theory). However, the tensions proved to great and there was a formal split. The ELCA branch is much more liberal - they are in open communion with the Episcopal church, for example - just to let you know where they fit in. They teach that the scripture is inspired by God but it is not without errors. They have openly gay and female pastors.

The LCMS is more conservative. No female or openly gay ministers. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant.

The WELS is still more conservative in that women are not even allowed to participate in meetings of church policy,etc.

If you were to go from ELCA to LCMS to WELS church services on 3 sundays in a row you would not notice much difference in the structure and styles of the services.

On to the pietism definition and my experiences in the Lutheran church. My answer is yes...and no. I'm going to address all parts of the definition with comments:

(1) Its experiential character, pietists are people of the heart for whom Christian living is the fundamental concern;

Christian living is a fundamental concern but the term experiential to me implies the famed grand moment of being "born again" like you see in the movies with a bright light and angels singing, etc. My churches have never emphasized the need for such a grand moment nor do we have testimony times like some churches have in the regular service. I have heard such testamionies in bible studies and less formal settings, but it was never a scheduled thing.

(2) its biblical focus, pietists are, to paraphrase John Wesley, "people of one book" who take standards and goals from the pages of Scripture;

Like I said above, the LCMS teaches the scripture is God-breathed and inerrant. Unlike some churches, the LCMS encourages learning from all parts of the Bible (some non-denominational churches that I have heard about focus on just a few verses or one book)

(3) its perfectionistic bent, pietists are serious about holy living and expend every effort to follow God's law, spread the gospel, and provide aid for the needy;

Lutherans are not perfectionists - that would be futile and a waste of time since we teach that all men are sinful. Does that mean that its a wild lecherous party? No, but we teach that all men sin and forgiveness is freely given by God to those who believe.

Lutherans are very bad about personal witnessing but very good at sending out missionaries. ELCA and LCMS work together to maintain Lutheran World Relief - the 2nd largest church related relief agency in the world (after the Catholic's relief efforts) - not bad for a few million American Lutherans when compared to the rest of the world.

On a similar front, only the Catholic church has more schools than the LCMS in the USA. My church has a school. My mom taught at a LCMS school. Remember MVD? He went to one. My daughter goes to our church's pre-school.

The LCMS encourages personal and small group bible study. Our publishing house is Concordia publishing and if you want to do a search on google you'll find their online catalog with hundreds of titles. BTW, the LCMS website is www.lcms.org

(4) its reforming interest, pietists usually oppose what they regard as coldness and sterility in established church forms and practices.

The Lutherans have exactly the kind of service that the TV preachers moan and groan about. Usually, it has an organ as the only source of music. we have traditions that are followed, but these are traditions, not law. It can be sterile, but it can also be quite meaningful, especially if you have an excellent pastor and if you learn more about the reasons behind some of the formalities and traditions.

Whew! I hope I answered it. But, if not, ask again and I'll try again.

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Great post...thank you! -- Abba's Son, 11:46:21 03/08/04 Mon