Seventeenth Century Pietism as a Protestant Form of New Evangelization

Can counterparts of the Catholic new evangelization be found in the Protestant world? They certainly can. One of them—despite all their temporal and theological difference—is Pietism, a religious revival movement initiated by Philipp Jacob Spener (1635–1705), who presented his proposals in the book titled Pia Desideria (1675). Pietism emphasized the revival of personal faith, ardent prayer, reading the Holy Scriptures, human involvement in the transformation of socio-economic structures, missionary activity, and community life. Is there, conversely, also a Catholic form of Pietism? The answer is not straightforward, because the 21st century Catholic Church has behind it the great work of the Second Vatican Council with its call for lay apostolate, biblical renewal, and the revival of ecclesial movements. The idea of the parish as a “community of communities,” sensitivity to the need to proclaim the kerygma, the emergence of prayer and formation groups, charismatic renewal—in all of these one can see the implementation of the ideals that guided the Pietists. In a sense, Pope Francis’ exhortation Evangelii Gaudium deserves to be called the pia desideria of our times.