Podcasts about pietists

How did a classicist's journey through Greco-Roman literature and Arabic studies shape his unique approach to academia? Today's episode features Elisha Russ-Fishbane, associate professor at NYU and research director at the Center for the Study of Antisemitism.In this engaging conversation, Elisha recounts his academic journey that began with a love for Greco-Roman literature and took him through the high intellectual demands set by mentors like Vatican Latinist Reginald Foster. He shares how the tragic events of September 11 influenced his study of Judaeo-Arabic classics, blending intense scholarly engagement with personal identity as an observant Jew.Listening to this episode, you'll grasp the historical and contemporary significance of open inquiry and intellectual humility within higher education. Elisha's reflections promise insight and inspiration for anyone dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.In This Episode:Influence of classical studies and mentorsSeptember 11th's impact on academic and personal identityInsights from medieval Jewish-Muslim intellectual interactionsMaimonides' approach to intellectual humility and cross-cultural truth-seekingReflections on higher education's purpose versus career-focused outcomesChallenges and optimism in navigating open dialogue in contemporary academiaCommitment to teaching and fostering human connections in academiaAbout Elisha:Elisha Russ-Fishbane, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU and Research Director of NYU's Center for the Study of Antisemitism, is a scholar of medieval Jewish history focusing on Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Christian interaction and exchange. His undergraduate courses include the history of antisemitism, Jewish-Muslim relations, and a course on the aims of higher education and the past, present, and future of universities, called "The University: What It Was, What It Is, What It Could Be.” Elisha is currently a participant in the Open Inquiry Workshop at the Heterodox Academy's Segal Center for Academic Pluralism.Elisha is the author of Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A Study of Abraham Maimonides and His Circle (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Ageing in Medieval Jewish Culture (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2022), and is currently at work on a book on Islam in the medieval Jewish imagination.Contact Elisha: elisha.russfishbane@nyu.edu Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics.

It's an election year. And there are more questions, tensions, and emotions than ever before. Join us for this new series about navigating faith and politics. 

3/24/2024 - The History of the Church with Jon Huggins. This week, we cover the Puritans, Pietists, and Revivals the 1600-1700's!

We continue our series on mysticism by exploring Judaism and its mystical tradition, including the famous Kabbalah but also going beyond it.Sources/Recomended Reading: Dan, Joseph (1986). "The Early Kabbalah". Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press. Fine, Lawrence (2003). "Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship". Stanford University Press. Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York Press. Idel, Moshe (1988). "Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah". State University of New York Press. Idel, Moshe (1990). "Kabbalah: New Perspectives". Yale University Press. Idel, Moshe (1995). "Hasidism: Between Ecstacy and Magic". SUNY Press.Kaplan, Aryeh (translated by) (1990). "The Bahir: Illumination". Red Wheel/Weiser; Revised ed. edition. Kraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc. Krassen, Mosheh Aaron. “Introduction: Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov: Prophet of a New Paradigm.” In Israel ben Eliezer. Pillar of Prayer. Translated by Menachem Kallus. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2010. Lobel, Diana (2021). "Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine". Academic Studies Press. Miller, Moshe (translated by) (1994). "The Palm Tree of Devorah". Targum. Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University Press. Scholem, Gershom (1995). "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism". Schocken Books; Revised edition. Scholem, Gershom (1996). "On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Revised ed. edition. Wolfson, Elliot R. (1997). “Jewish mysticism: A Philosophical Overview,” in History of Jewish Philosophy, Daniel Frank, Oliver Leaman (eds.). Wolfson, Eliot R. (2011). “Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia and the Prophetic Kabbalah”. In Jewish Mysticism & Kabbalah (ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn). New York University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:00:03.130] - Speaker 1Hi there. My name is Preston Pouteaux. Welcome to the Lake Ridge Community Church Podcast. This is where we share some of our messages from Sunday mornings. So we're glad you're here to listen. We'd love for you to join us in person. We meet on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m at Our Lady of Wisdom School here in Chestermere. At our core, we're a community of people, so we gather on on Sundays. But we also do a lot in the week together. We are people learning to follow Jesus and love our city. So to learn more, visit lakeridgecommunity.com. Hope to check in and visit with you soon. Take care. Thanks for listening.[00:00:44.240] - Speaker 2What do you think are in here? Look, I'm going to share with you what's in some of these things. You can sit on down. The sermon will peak in about five, six minutes and then it'll just all kind of slide down after that. Hey. We are on a journey all year long to talk what it is to have this one and beautiful life in Jesus. I just firmly believe that Jesus shows us do I got a question already about the whole sermon series about the end of the entire year? Yeah. Okay. We are exploring what it is and I think I'm proposing all year long that if we point our eyes towards Jesus, he will show us what to do with this one and beautiful life. And so we're going to be doing this throughout the year in lots of different ways, exploring what it is to be human in the hands of the loving God that made us. And so we are about to enter on a bit of a journey and and we are going to talk for the next few Sundays. Our sermon series is called Mission Friends. A Pious way to be human.[00:01:49.260] - Speaker 2That's a lot there. Isn't that's a mouthful? And that's why I'm going to unpack it over the next little while here the story of God. We come from a tradition as covenant people, part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, and as a group called Pietists, and I'll explain what that is, is that we deeply love the Bible. We think that the story of God makes sense of our lives today. We think that if we somehow were to get into God's story or have God's story get into us, some interesting weaving of God's story in our story, that somehow, in some way, we would begin to walk in a way that is a lot like Jesus. Did Jesus read the Bible? Did you ever think about that? Did Jesus read the Bible? What did Jesus think of the Bible? What did Jesus think of God's story? That's kind of a weird kind of mind trip, isn't it? Because we say that Jesus is God, so did he have to learn the Bible? What did he have to do with the story of God? We're going to unpack that a little bit kids. And I want to show you my first thing here.[00:03:00.240] - Speaker 2And it is a box. I got a box. It's my daughter's 9th birthday today. And she was given this beautiful box by her sister. And I thought it was lovely. Let's see what's inside. Another box. I know. How deep is this going to go? Did you know that when Jesus was young and all the way while Jesus was growing up, he would go to something called synagogue? This was the place where people would gather, kind of like this. And they would gather around and somebody would go to the back in the front, behind a curtain and pull out a box. And this box would be raised up high and carried. And it was a big box. This is a little box. But it was a big box that they lifted out. And suddenly this was very important. Suddenly the box would be opened and in it would come out a Bible. Well, the Bible looked a little different back then. The story of God was in a big scroll. The scroll was probably about this big. Sometimes it took two people to carry it, and it was covered in a big velvet thing and it was inside of a box.[00:04:12.660] - Speaker 2And the box was called the Arc of the Law, right? And Jesus, they would sometimes have people read. And one day, Jesus, they brought out this big scroll, pulled it out. You see, no one had a Bible, right? There was only one kept here. And they open it up and they'd unfold it. And Jesus would read from it. And one day, Jesus opened it up and he read from it, and he said, today, what I'm reading is come fulfilled. It's come alive. What I'm reading is suddenly coming out of the box, and it is now going to enter into the world. And everybody was like, what is he talking about? No, what you do with it, everybody thought, is you take it afterwards and you put it back in the box and then back in the other box and you put it away. And Jesus, he came out and he said, no, today this story goes out. What do you think about that? What do you think about something like that? Well, this is the next thing. So Jesus brings a story and it brings it out of the box. He takes it as a gift and he unwraps it.[00:05:26.570] - Speaker 2That's one of the most important things about the Bible, is we unwrap it. And the second one is this. Jesus did something even more. Look at this. This is every home has one of these. Does anybody guess what this is? A junk box. Yeah. This is a sewing kit. Look at this. This is a sewing kit. We got different colors of stuff, of thread in there. We have needles. Be careful if you put your fingers in there. And we have look at this. Where is it? We have patches. This pair of jeans that I'm wearing, these are my favorite pair of jeans. And look at the knee. I wore these today because look at what I did. Look at my patch job. What do you think of that? Terrible, right? That's a terrible patch job. I know nothing about patching things, but this is where I go to patch things up and sew something onto my favorite jeans. Well, guess what? Did you know that Jesus, he took the story of God and he sowed it into his heart. He sowed it into his life. The grand story of God became so connected to Jesus that he carried with it wherever he went.[00:06:38.970] - Speaker 2Did you know that Jesus, he knew the story of God so well? He knew the grand story. In fact, he refers to in his teachings. He refers to Adam and Eve and Abel and Noah and Lot. He refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He tells stories of Moses and David and Solomon, even the Queen of Sheba. Elijah naman Zechariah daniel Jonah. These are just a few. Then he starts to quote Psalms, and he quotes Isaiah and Malachi and Deuteronomy. Jesus was just telling the story of the Old Testament over and over again. Woven into his life was this grand story. It was his. Did you know one in ten things that Jesus says is directly just quoted from the Old Testament? 180 verses of the 1800 places where Jesus is talking about something. It is stories from the Old Testament, the story of God, it is etched in his heart. Or as I say, it is sown into him, he is carrying it with him. His heart is so etched in his heart, and it spills out in his life to heal, to remind, to forgive, to teach, and to guide his friends. You see, it's not locked away in a box.[00:07:58.800] - Speaker 2It is now brought by Jesus and sewed into his heart. That's what he's carrying around, is this grand story sowed into his heart. Last thing, what do I got here? This is a good backpack. This has served me well for, like, 20 years. There's a lot going on in this backpack. Act back. Look at this. Yeah, I got a bee on there. I got a beekeeper. Look. Put that inside. What am I doing here? What am I doing? Yeah. What am I doing? Yeah, I'm going somewhere with this man. I'm on the move, right? Did you know that Jesus, he didn't just put the Bible back into the box, it was stitched in his heart. But the Bible, his story of God that he's now carrying with him, is now on the move. He's taking it somewhere. One day, Jesus was on a journey, and he brought himself to this little mountain. It's called a mountain. It's called Mount Moray. And it isn't big, but on Mount Moray, at the base of Mount Moray, is this ancient, ancient long forgotten city, Schunum. And it was a place where a miracle happened in the Old Testament.[00:09:20.370] - Speaker 2It was a place where in the Old Testament, there was once a guy named Elijah. And Elisha, when he would pass by this mount, he'd stay in this family's house in Schunum. And when Jesus went and stayed at when Elisha went and stayed at the Schunumites house, these people, they wanted a kid really bad. So one day they had a little baby boy. And the baby boy grew up. And Elisha got to know this family and care for them as he's traveling around the land. Well, one day this boy dies, and they send out far away they send out a person who goes a day away to find Elisha and say, come back. This person is dead. This kid that you know, that you love is dead. And Elisha comes back and he does all these different things that eventually the boy, can you believe it? Rises from the dead. He comes back from the dead. And it's a major story. Well, one day, Jesus went to the same place. Now. It's called name. Let's see what happens to that story. Jesus is walking through at the base of Mount Moray at the same place, and guess what he sees coming out of the town?[00:10:39.220] - Speaker 2It is a procession, a funeral. These people are carrying a boy that had died. And Jesus comes into this town, and guess what he does? I'm going to read it for you. Jesus comes into this town and he sees that these parents, they're so sad, their baby boy died. And he steps in to this place. And here is what Luke says happens in that amazing story. Goes like this. See if my little eyes can spot it. Goes like this. Soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain. Now, people would know where this is, right besides where this great other story happened. And a large crowd followed him, and a funeral possession procession was coming out. As he approached the village gate, the young man who had died was a widow's only son. And a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart was overflowed with compassion. Don't cry, he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and he touched it, and the bearers stopped. Young man, he said, I tell you, get up. And the dead boy, he sat up and began to talk.[00:12:02.070] - Speaker 2And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Great fear swept over the crowd, and they praised God, saying, a mighty prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people today. And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside. You see, Jesus, he wasn't just pleased to keep the story of God in a box. He had taken the story and he wove it into his life, and it became his story. And guess what? He did. He went out and he enacted the story. He said, no, god didn't just work once in the Old Testament. God is at work here among you. Now, the story of God is a story that's on the move in me. What would it have been like for you to be his disciple? Watching that going, I thought that happened 800 years ago, only it happens now. Jesus is doing this. He enacts the story. What a move from a box kept behind a curtain to something that's actually changing the world around them, changing lives around them, bringing this boy back up from the dead. Almost everything Jesus said or did was to help people see that God is alive among them now.[00:13:16.670] - Speaker 2God is working in them now. Piatism. What an old fashioned word is that. Look at that. Piatist. Our family of churches, if there was Peterson's and Andersons around Swedes, there's not many around these days. There's a few. We have some residual Swedishness in us. I sometimes buy Ikea stuff just to keep a connection to these roots. Right. I love meatballs and those often help me stay grounded in my faith. Right. Something happened a few hundred years ago where the church in Sweden was just a building you went to. People had lost their passion for Jesus. I think historians would be pretty unified on that. You went there because actually it was law to go there. If you wanted to be a citizen of Sweden, you had to go to a Lutheran, swedish Lutheran Church. You didn't need to read your Bible, you didn't need to have a personal enjoyment of following Jesus. You didn't need any of that. As long as you showed up at church and paid your dues, you were a good Swede and a good Lutheran all in one. Well, something happened and there's a group of people who are just not so pleased with that.[00:14:28.570] - Speaker 2A group of people started to say, there's got to be way more. There's got to be way more than just going to a building and singing some songs. And so these people, they called themselves The Pietists because they started to do something. They unwrapped the Bible for themselves. And the Lutherans weren't pleased with this. Lutheran said, no, the Bible stays in the building. You don't read it in groups. And so they started these little groups called conventicles, and they'd get together and they'd read it. And as they started to read it, they started to stitch it into their own lives, started to weave it in patchwork by patchwork. The story became part of them and they would carry these stories. And the State church didn't really like that either, but they were like, no, we're onto something here. We're following the way of Jesus. We got it out of the box, we're stitching it to us now. We're on the move. So these Pietis started to move out. A lot of them moved over to north america, and they started schools, and they started hospitals, and they started orphanages, and they started churches. And these people were made fun of because they were too emotional about their faith.[00:15:43.610] - Speaker 2They wore their heart on their sleeves. The Piasts were kind of known as being emotional people. They're my friends. I feel things, right? I'm like, I feel like I'm in good company here, right? But they were emotional because they suddenly had a story that gave their lives a whole new framework for being their faith wasn't just something that stayed in a box, stayed in a church, stayed away, but it was something that they could carry with them, and it was theirs. And when they started to see that the story of God could be fulfilled in them, in the real world, in the place around them, in their neighborhoods, in their families, when they started to see that happen, they were overjoyed. They were considered tremendously joyful people because they discovered something really potent about what the story of God can do in them. And so they went to Alaska, and I got to meet some Inuit. I had lunch with some Inuit people. Ivan Avenue, him and I, we had a supper, and he told me about the little village that he came from. And he said, years and years ago, some Covenant people, they came to his village, and the hope of Jesus was shared through all the villages and villages and villages.[00:17:03.670] - Speaker 2And people were deeply moved to the point now where there's not much in the way of swedes up there anymore. But, boy, is there a whole bunch of Covenant churches all over Alaska. Every second little village has people who are deeply moved by this because they got to unpack the Bible for themselves and stitch the story and feel the deep sense that Jesus is their story. Not one brought by the swedes, but one that has become theirs. Because the Piatus, they always wanted the story to be yours, not one that's kept in a box, but one that's brought out. And so they went to Canada, they went to the Congo. There are more Covenanters in the Congo than there are in North America and to the east side of Chicago and all these places. And they've called themselves the Mission Friends. The mission friends. They're on this mission to be a part of the unpacking of the hope and story of God together. They realized that this was a together project, a community project. I want to ask you, is a story of God true for you? I often have people ask me, maybe because I'm the pastor and this is a good question to ask, but they go, Preston, is this true?[00:18:23.390] - Speaker 2Is this true? I often put a pause in there, mostly for dramatic effect, but I put a pause in there. And the reason I put a pause in there is because my question is this it might be inherently true, but if it's not true for you, then it's not true if it just stays in the box. And we put it on a shelf and we say to ourselves, I believe the Bible is true. And I put it up over here. But I've agreed that it's true. Is it really true? Does something stay true when it's meant to be lived? When it's meant to be carried out? When it's meant to be carried in community together, into and relived and fulfilled every day in your life and in the world around you. But it stays away in a box or in your nightstand and it's not known. And it's not lived out. Can we still call it true? So I put the dramatic pause in there, because I go, maybe it's not true for you. Maybe it's not true if it stays off to one side. Not that it's not inherently true, but if it's not true in you, then it's not part of your story.[00:19:37.110] - Speaker 2And you'll always see it as a dusty book. You always will. That's why we need Jesus. Not we need Jesus who shows us how to unpack, how to stitch, and then how to carry Jesus back at name. Imagine if you were there on that day when you saw Jesus raise this boy from the dead. Imagine if you were there and you saw as Jesus did, you know Jesus was going down to Jerusalem. And if you were going down to Jerusalem, you were going to worship in the Temple. And if you're going to worship in the Temple, guess what? You don't touch a dead body. You don't touch anything that'll make you unclean for you to be able to not worship at the big temple. And so they saw Jesus, and they were watching closely. And here Jesus shows up. If he was ten minutes early or ten minutes late, he would have missed the procession, but he showed up right on time. Because I think Jesus had this deep sense that his life was so unfolded into the grand story of God that he was stepping in right on time, and he came in to enact, and he touched that coffin.[00:20:49.630] - Speaker 2He didn't care if it was making Him dirty. He didn't care what it would do for Him for the next day or what people would think about Him. But he touched that coffin and that boy came to life. What would that say to you about how to follow Jesus if you lived that way? Could we just be asked to live out the story of Jesus now again, to mimic Him, to step into our world and try these things, to eat with sinners and saints? Could we try that? To touch the poor and sick, actually meet them and know their names, to gather, to learn, to teach, to love our enemies and be the last to be meek? Could we try those things? I wonder, my great wondering, could this happen what if the whole point of Lake Ridge was to be a community of people who so knew the story of God? It was so far out of the box, so stitched and woven into our lives and so much on our backs that we were out there every day going, oh, this story is alive in us. It is true in me because it is true right before me.[00:22:02.150] - Speaker 2The Spirit of God is so at work in my life and in front of me that I can step in. And I am here also fulfilling the grand story of God every single day. Could it be that that's what it is that we are doing here? What if we could see the pathway that the Spirit of God lays out in front of us because our eyes have been attuned to the little hints of God at work in us? That when there's a Saturday afternoon that we want to do one thing and the Spirit is saying, hey, why don't you come over here and give a call to your friend? Maybe go over to their house, check in on them, see how they're doing. That you have eyes because you're wearing the story of God glasses, right? And you are on the move, even if the path is not clear, like the song said on that dusty desert road, that we would have faith because the story of God is woven into us. Could you see yourself doing this? What would be your first step? Wonder what would be your first step in joining Jesus to take the scripture out of the box, stitch it into your lives, and take it on the move?[00:23:13.780] - Speaker 2What in your life today? What would be your first step in trying that? Do you think you could trust Jesus to do the things that Jesus did? Do you think you could trust your life to be woven into God's life, that you would be living out this story here? Or what is this idea of maybe being a mission friend and finding a way of following Jesus together? What does it say about how we carry the story of God into the world? On February 7, I'm going to be starting. It's just a living room conversation. We'll see where it goes. If some people show up, great. But it might be the start of something we are going to talk about. Just like how to get a Bible, how to begin this. Maybe you have a Bible, but you don't even know which way it goes up. That's okay. We're calling it no Experience Necessary because you don't need much experience with it. Or maybe you'll be thinking about maybe getting your kids a Bible. Maybe they don't have one. Or what reading it might look like in your life or stitching it into you. When I went to college, I studied with some guys who are tree planters.[00:24:17.550] - Speaker 2And you know what they would do? They would plant trees, and they would tape a piece of the page of the Bible on their arm, and they'd spend the day planting trees, memorizing the Bible. And by the end of it, they all came back to college and they memorized the whole Book of Psalms or something. What can you do there? I'm going to end with this story, the story that changed me when I was a little boy and got me on the road to read the Bible for myself. And it goes like this. It was told to me and absolutely changed me. There's a story from a long time ago that a little girl was worshipping with her church community in their basement in China. You could not worship out in the open. And so she would worship with her family and her friends, and they would worship in the basement of these homes, and they would draw all the curtains and make sure that nobody could see and to see what it was that they were doing, they'd do in secret. And this community, they only had one Bible, and the pastor had this one Bible, and they kept it hidden away in case somebody ever came in and wanted to take their Bible away.[00:25:30.010] - Speaker 2It was kept precious. It was very valuable to them. And as a boy, I heard this story, and I was like, what happens next? Well, one day, a little girl in this community, I always imagine her being about my age, maybe nine or ten, she went to the pastor of the community after one of their little secret gatherings one day, and she went in and she said, pastor, could I take the Bible home tonight? And the pastor, he says, you realize this is our only one. We keep it secret, we keep it safe, because this is our story. This gives us the hope of Jesus. And if this thing was missing, we'd be in some trouble. But the pastor, bless his heart, he he laid out all the ground rules. He said, Listen, okay, every night you can take this and you can take it home. We'll wrap it up, you can keep it under your shirt and you can take it home. And if you bring it home, the next bring it back to me the next morning. It should be good. Are you fine with that? And the little girl, she she took it home, and she would do this day after day.[00:26:35.290] - Speaker 2They came up with a routine. She did it well, pastor's, please. Got the Bible every morning back. And then one day, she stopped bringing the Bible, stopped asking for the Bible, and took a few days, and the pastor finally said to her, my girl, why don't you take the Bible anymore? Do you not read it? What's happened? The little girl, she said, I'm done. You're done reading it? Never heard of anybody who finished the Bible that quick. She said, no, I'm done copying it. I finished. I stay awake every night and I write down the whole story of God, and I make a mind. I know this is the only Bible in the in the whole village, but now there's two, and this one's mine. Now I can read it whatever I want. When I was a boy and I heard that story, I i had no interest in reading the Bible before that, but when I heard that story, I was like, some people spend their whole lives hoping to find the hope of Jesus. Some people spend their whole lives hoping to find a story that gives their story meaning in life. And here's this girl, and she finally finds her story.[00:27:53.990] - Speaker 2She finds the hope of Jesus, and the hope of Jesus becomes so she stitched it to her life, and it becomes hers, and it goes on the move. You see, my friends, we aren't starting an institution when we come together as a church. We're starting a movement. We are a bunch of people who take the story of God and we put it on our backs, and we enter into the world because this is a story that lives out of us. It is a story that grows and multiplies. Friends, I am not the keeper of this. I don't have one copy. And you come and you get a piece of it, and you go away from it, and we put the box back. Now, if we are to be God's people in this place, my friends, there is really good news. You, too, can get one on Amazon today paperback. It's cheap. You know what? I got people in this church that if you can't afford $10, we'll cover your $10. Anybody want to cover someone's $1010 to $10 and give them a Bible? Okay, we we have a few hands. Look, look at those hands and get cash out of them, right today, friends, we are going to start a movement here, okay?[00:29:05.860] - Speaker 2We're going to start a movement not of one pastor who brings up his Bible once in a while and tries to stitch something, but that you would take the story of God and find in all the ways that you think, whether you're I actually don't really care what version it is. I don't care where what it looks like, if it's got leather and it's this thick and you need a cart to pull it in or whether it's little. But to take the story of God and weave it into our lives this is what being the people of God is about. And you will be unsatisfied until you do. Friends, I hope that we are the people of God and people of the story mission, friends, who are on the move. So we're going to start something over this year. It might sound old fashioned to you, depending on your tradition, it might sound brand new, but I'd like you to get a Bible, and I'd like you. To start to learn about what it is, what the story does. Maybe you've just tried and you landed somewhere in Lamentations and you slammed it shut and said, no, I've tried that before.[00:30:10.610] - Speaker 2Don't start with Lamentations, we'll start somewhere else. But I am hoping that this year will be a year of change for us as we become people of the story. Because you need it to get through what you're going through. You need the story to empower you for where you are going. It's empowered millions of others, billions of others, and it's the only thing that's going to empower us. What I hope is that we become a movement of people, every single person patchwork covered in the story of God. So whatever we face, whatever we hit, we are ready to move forward again and again and again until we become a people so alive to the grand story that is adopted into ours. We are going to start doing this in kids ministry. We are hoping to give every kid a Bible or have them bring their Bible. If you want to bring your Bible with you to church, I'm going to be preaching in a way that we'll get to open it up. Maybe you want to write underneath it. You can write in a Bible. Did you know that Kelly used to rip pages out and give it to people?[00:31:12.070] - Speaker 2I was offended. My wife. But you can do what you want with it. Because guess what? You can get another one. Friends, this is good news for us. We're people of a story. We're mission friends. We're on this journey together. I caught this picture because, look, there's two little people in the back of a boat. We're not alone. We're not alone. Please stand with me. I often wonder where that Chinese girl went. She's probably a woman now. Maybe she's an old lady now. I don't know how old this story is, but I wonder what was it like for her to read a scripture that she wrote with her own hands? I wonder what it would be like for us to read a scripture that is ours. Not one that was passed to us by a great grandparent, but ours, our story that gives us life in everything we do. I wonder what a community would happen if that became us. That's my great hope for our kids. For you. For me. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you his peace.[00:32:23.090] - Speaker 2People of the story, it is yours. Go from here in peace. Amen. Amen. Have a good week, everybody. Bless you.

In this episode, we explore the history of music in Jewish mysticism, from the ancient prophets to the Hasidim of today.Sources/Suggested Reading:Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York Press.Idel, Moshe (1988). "Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah". State University of New York Press.Idel, Moshe (1988). "Kabbalah: New Perspectives". Yale University Press.Idel, Moshe (1997). "Conceptualizations of Music in Jewish Mysticism". In "Enchanting Powers: Music in the World's Religions" (ed. Lawrence E. Sullivan). Harvard University Press.Idel, Moshe (2002). "Music in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah in Northern Africa". In "Yuval: Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre", Vol. 2. The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem.Kraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc.Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University PressScholem, Gershom (1995). "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism". Schocken Books.Internet Sources:http://www.nigun.info/chassidic.html#Judaism #Kabbalah #Music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores the life, teachings and movement of Abraham Maimonides, the son of the much more famous Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (d. 1204).Sources/Suggested Reading:Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York PressKraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc.Lobel, Diana (2021). "Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine". Academic Studies Press.Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University Press#Judaism #Mysticism #Sufism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode reaches beyond the issues that exist only in the Lutheran world and into the world of Mere Christianity. To vest or not to vest—that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of sacerdotal charges, or to take up arms against a sea of satire and by opposing end them. Our guest, Doug Wilson (pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, ID) has something to say about it. The occasion for the chat was a blog post he had written in 2018, Surplices are for Sissies, focusing on the importance that the pastoral office need to be masculine in voice, action, and representation. Our conversation discussed that and more. Wilson is eminently reasonable on the topic, as you will no doubt see. If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy these: TGC 232 — Christian Nationalism TGC 217 — A Lutheran Kuyperian Vision? TGC 200 — The Fathers & The Solas TGC 187 — On Imprecation TGC 115 — Liturgicals, Pietists, and the Kingdom of the Left Host: Fr. Jason Braaten Special Guest: Pr. Douglas Wilson ----more---- Become a Patron! You can subscribe to the Journal here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/subscribe/ You can read the Gottesblog here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/ You can support Gottesdienst here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/make-a-donation/ As always, we, at The Gottesdienst Crowd, would be honored if you would Subscribe, Rate, and Review. Thanks for listening and thanks for your support. 

In the month of July, we are revisiting some of Pastor Joel's favorite episodes from the past. We hope you enjoy one of Pastor Joel's interviews with Dr. Joe Boot. In this episode of Theology Applied, Dr. Joe Boot (President of the Ezra Institute) reveals the false doctrines that have caused Christians to forfeit so much ground in culture/politics. Pastor Joel Webbon and Dr. Joe Boot thoroughly explain the pitfalls of Westminster Escondido's Two-Kingdom Theology and The Gospel Coalition's Social Justice. Neither of these approaches to culture/politics are actually biblical. Dr. Boot further makes his case for proper Christian involvement in culture/politics by distinguishing the Mission of the Church from the Mission of individual Christians. @Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity Lastly, Dr. Boot answers an incredibly relevant question: Is Homosexuality/Transgenderism a “Gospel Issue”?

1. Politics - Crime -vs. 1-12--2. Knowledge is power- the right of self-defense -vs. 13-14--3. The necessity of family education - culturally- -vs. 14--4. Abraham was NOT a Pietists- -vs. 15--5. God blessed Abram's 'manly'-fatherly activism -vs. 16-17-

1. Politics - Crime -vs. 1-12--2. Knowledge is power- the right of self-defense -vs. 13-14--3. The necessity of family education - culturally- -vs. 14--4. Abraham was NOT a Pietists- -vs. 15--5. God blessed Abram's 'manly'-fatherly activism -vs. 16-17-

In this recording Korey Maas (Lutheran), Miles Smith (Anglican), and D. G. Hart (Presbyterian) take the temperature of confessional Protestants. The notion of a "hot" Protestant has less to do with sexual appeal than with intense piety. Michael Winship's book on the Puritans uses "hot" to describe those English Protestants who were eager to carry out the reformation in the Church of England as well as in the lives, families, and vocations of believers. A similar tendency was evident in the most zealous of Scottish Protestants who wanted Presbyterian rather than episcopal government in the Church of Scotland. That historical record suggests that Presbyterians are more prone to run a fever, which is ironic since for much of the twentieth century Presbyterians had the reputation of being "God's frozen chosen." Hotness is not peculiar to Presbyterianism, though. Lutherans have had their challenges with Pietists, another set of Protestants who challenged the official and seemingly cold versions of Lutheranism. Meanwhile, Anglicans have always had to decide whether the metric of high church or low church is inversely proportional to the heat of Anglican piety. Low church Anglicans have often favored hotter forms of devotion and in the twentieth century that preference veered into charismatic expressions of piety. Lots of discussion in this episode. Listeners will have to judge the degree of heat or light.

Scripture:  Galatians 5:13–5:15Sermon Series:  Religion UnraveledIn this series we'll sort through the drawer marked “religion” and examine the major misunderstandings about the Christian faith and replace them with something better: JesusAt St. Mark Houston we believe that life is a gift from God and that through faith in Jesus Christ we can truly have a fulfilling life.  Join us on  Sundays at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM for Worship.  Find us on the web at www.stmarkhouston.org  or call us at 713-468-262

In this episode, we welcome back Larry Beane. He is one of the contributors to the Fritzschrift, Leitourgiae Propria Adiaphora Non Est: Essays in Honor of the Rev. Dr. Burnell F. Eckardt on the Occasio of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. The essay is entitled Liturgicals, Pietists, and the Kingdom of the Left. Our conversation builds upon what Larry wrote in that article.  You can get your copy at the Gottesdienst website below.  Become a Patron! You can subscribe to the Journal here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/subscribe/ You can read the Gottesblog here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/ You can support Gottesdienst here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/make-a-donation/ As always, we, at The Gottesdienst Crowd, would be honored if you would Subscribe, Rate, and Review. Thanks for listening and thanks for your support. 

Merry Christmas! By Larry Beane   Merry Christmas, dear readers, brothers and sisters in Christ! At last, this festival day has once more come, and we reflect upon the mystery of the Incarnation of our Lord, and we connect His manger with His cross, and we celebrate Christ's Mass as He continues to come to us in His Word and Sacrament: the Gottesdienst. Of course, nothing gets everyone riled up quite like the coming of the Prince of Peace. Every year, we Christians - and especially we cranky Lutherans - wage the annual Advent war over “Blue vs. Purple,” or sometimes “Purple vs. Violet” and “Rose vs. Pink.” We have the annual donnybrooks over whether or not to put the tree up before December 24th, singing only Advent hymns until that date, and scolding people for attending Christmas parties during a penitential season. Then there is the conflict over whether XMas is appropriate: does it “cross out” Christ from Christmas, or does it signify the letter Chi: the first letter in the Greek word for “Christ”? Of course, the big scuffle involves the world and its insistence on “Happy Holidays” as a politically correct and inclusive alternative to “Merry Christmas.” In addition, there is the annual bruhaha of whether or not Christmas is actually a Pagan festival of Sol Invictus and the Solstice, or whether it actually is the birthday of our Lord - only to be appropriated and aped afterwards by Pagans. Regardless of where anyone stands on these issues, let us remember the true meaning of, well, adiaphora. There is neither command nor prohibition from Scripture to celebrate Christmas, or to say one greeting or another, or regarding seasonal colors and music. We are free in such matters, but of course, this is not to say that such matters are unimportant. I believe it is a sad thing when churches use their freedom to celebrate a Massless Christmas, whether opting for a Mass without the Mass, or calling the whole thing off for the sake of “family time” or to accommodate the schedule of the Feast of Our Lord and Savior Football. And as far as making changes to longstanding practice, perhaps Chesterton's Fence and the Book of Concord's repeated suspicion of novelty and change in the way we practice our faith make for a good rule of thumb. A lesser fight involves the English word “merry” as opposed to “happy” in conjunction with our Christmas wishes. This one is particularly interesting. While some claim “Merry Christmas” dates back to the sixteenth century, I can't find any real proof of this. It is certainly at very least Victorian, as any reader of Dickens will attest. The British royal family has, in recent years, taken to saying “Happy Christmas” instead of “Merry Christmas.” I've read a few people make the case that “Merry Christmas” has connotations of drinking and debauchery - which reminds me how the Babe of Bethlehem will thirty years hence be called “a glutton and a drunkard” by the very people He was born to save, and for whom He will die. The etymologies of “happy” and “merry” are interesting. “Happy” is a Germanic word related to the older English word “hap” which means “chance” or “fortune.” This makes sense when we consider the words “happen” and “happenstance.” Happiness is therefore a kind of good fortune or good luck. When we wish someone “Happy Birthday” or “Happy New Year,” there is the connotation of a desire for material prosperity and good fortune in the turning of this page of life. “Merry” likewise traces its origin to the Germanic part of the English language family tree. It has more of the connotation of celebration, of “making merry,” of feasting and laughing with others. It is related to the word “mirth.” It actually seems to come from the older Germanic form of a word, “murg,” meaning “short” (as in time). Linguists speculate this is because when one is celebrating, time seems short. Of course, these original nuances embedded in the words have largely become lost in the sands of passing time. We say “Merry Christmas” largely because it is simply traditional. But having considered the etymology of the word, it is fitting that we use the word “merry” - for it is the stuff of celebration. Christmas is a feast of the church. The pastor leading the feast is known as the “celebrant.” And feasts involve food and drink. And the Christ's Mass involves feasting upon His body and blood. And in spite of the world's loathing of Christ and the Church, and in spite of our own sinful flesh that results in bitter infighting within the Church - on this day, we make merry and feast on account of Christ's birth, for “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And yes, He will confound the self-righteous Pharisees and the scolding Pietists by insisting on eating and drinking with us poor, miserable sinners: the very people He was born to save, and for whom He will die. And so it is fitting that we make merry and greet one another with a hearty “Merry Christmas!” For as the hymnist Johann Allendorf (1693-1773) taught us to sing: “Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal, Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End; Godhead, humanity, union supernal, O great Redeemer, You come as our friend! Heaven and earth, now proclaim this great wonder: Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal!” — "JESUS HAS COME AND BRINGS PLEASURE" (LSB 533)

Are Christians called to be quietists or pietists when it comes to cultural and political engagement? Is the church supposed to remain neutral when it comes to government and political issues? We sit down with President of American Vision, Gary DeMar, to discuss.

Are Christians called to be quietists or pietists when it comes to cultural and political engagement? Is the church supposed to remain neutral when it comes to government and political issues? We sit down with President of American Vision, Gary DeMar, to discuss.

Episode 35 Being Both Big and Small        September 28, 2020. Intro: Welcome to the podcast Coronavirus Crisis: Carpe Diem!, where by God's grace, you and I rise up and embrace the possibilities and opportunities for spiritual and psychological growth in this time of crisis, all grounded in a Catholic worldview.   We are going beyond mere resilience, to rising up to the challenges of this pandemic and becoming even healthier in the natural and the spiritual realms than we were before.  I'm clinical psychologist Peter Malinoski and I am here with you to be your host and guide.  This podcast is part of our Souls and Hearts, our online outreach at soulsandhearts.com, which is all about shoring up our natural foundation for the spiritual life, all about overcoming psychological obstacles to being love and to loving.   Thank you for being here with me.  This is episode 35, released on September 28, 2020 and it is titled: Being Both Big and Small.   Ok, so it's time for questions from our listeners from the last couple of sessions.  But only I got only one question from the last session in the Resilient Catholics Carpe Diem! community, and she essentially answered it so well herself in our RCCD discussion boards that I don't have a lot to add.  So I am going to make up a question – from an imaginary listener who wants to remain anonymous, so I am going to call him Johnny Hind:    The good thing for a host about making up questions is that you can have them be exactly what you want them to be, and that's what's happening now.   From Johnny Hind:  Dr. Peter, what about responsibility?  What about being grown up?  I'm confused about how, the challenges of this world, I'm supposed to be mature, wise, virtuous and so on.  That doesn't sound like being a baby or a toddler.  I can't just curl up in a corner suck my thumb and wait  for God and Mary to rock me to sleep all the time.  I have responsibilities!  How do I be both small, childlike, trusting and but also grow to the fullness of manhood or womanhood?   Those are our questions for today.    So for the last five episodes, numbers 30 to 34 we have been discussing being small, being like little children, going beyond just accepting our absolute dependency on God – but embracing it.   following the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:   Matthew 18 1-4  At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19 13-15  Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people;  but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. John 15:4-5   Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 1 Peter 2: 2-3 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— Now we are going to look at the other side of the coin.  Maturity, Responsibility St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. Ephesians 4:15  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ Sirach 15 Do not say: “It was God's doing that I fell away,” for what he hates he does not do.  Do not say: “He himself has led me astray,” God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments; loyalty is doing the will of God. Set before you are fire and water; to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand.  Before everyone are life and death, whichever they choose will be given them. CCC 1730-1738  Freedom and Responsibility.  So here we have the two demands.  To be childlike and to be mature.  To be small and to be big.  These demands, to be small and big can become extremes.  And in the spiritual life, there are two heresies that reflect these two extremes:  Quietism and Pietism.   Two extremes:  Quietism  The Spanish theologian Miguel de Molinos developed Quietism.  From his writings, especially from his "Dux spiritualis" (Rome, 1675), sixty-eight propositions were extracted and condemned by Innocent XI in 1687 Catholic Encyclopedia.  Quietism in the broadest sense is the doctrine which declares that man's highest perfection consists in a sort of psychological and spiritual self-annihilation.  and a consequent absorption of the soul into the Divine Essence even during the present life. In the state of "quietude" the mind is wholly inactive; it no longer thinks or wills on its own account, but remains passive while God acts within it. Quietism is thus generally speaking a sort of false or exaggerated mysticism.   Passivity in therapy.  Psychopathology-ectomy.  Want a general anesthetic, and for me to remove all the dysfunction and problems while they rest.  With my psychotherapy scalpel.  You're the doctor, you're supposed to be able to do this.   Pietism is a movement within the ranks of Protestantism, originating in the reaction against the highly intellectualize and reified Protestant theology of the seventeenth century, and aiming at the revival of devotion and practical Christianity. Its appearance in the German Lutheran Church, about 1670, is connected with the name of Philipp Jakob Spener – German Lutheran Theologian, Father of pietism.  His sermons, in which he emphasized the necessity of a lively faith and the sanctification of daily lifeIt is primarily one's own individual achievements, the way a man as an individual lives up to his religious duties and moral commandments, the way a woman imitates the "virtues" of Christ, that ensure them justification. Spiritual growth is an individual self-improvement project that minimizes the role of the Church, mystical body of Christ and all believers.  In therapy, pietists have to do it all by themselves.  Unwilling to receive help. Suspicious of it.  Might reduce the magnitude of their own achievements,  They have to be captains of their own ships, bootstrappers.  The quietist says, “Do nothing for yourself.”  God does it all.  I'm totally passive.  God takes all the action.  The pietist says, “Do everything for yourself.”  God is passive and inert.  I take all the action.  So we have Quietism and Pietism.  Huh, those rhyme.  Quietists and Pietists.  All of a sudden I am feeling kind of poetical.  You know, this podcast, it's a creation of culture, it's not some low-brow, dumbed down, mass-market tabloid of a show.  No, we are cultured here.  We bring in the arts, literature, sometimes even music.  You know what I'm thinking…I'm thinking maybe I should compose a poem to help you remember the different between quietism and pietism.  This is a true story, in college, I briefly considered a career as bard, a poet for hire, who would compose verses for special occasions.  Wow, this is like a dream come true..I've got that same feeling coming on me now that I get just before my kids are grimacing and accusing me of uttering a “Dad poem.”  Which is like a Dad joke that rhymes.  It's got to rhyme.  There is no need to call on the muses (that's pagan anyway).  I think I've got this. It's coming to me.  Ok, I've got it, get ready, here we go.  The poem is called “The unhappy couple”  -- But don't worry it's going  end well, that help will come to them.  Let me see.. Hmmm.Exhausted from toil was the pietistWhile depleted and numb was the quietist.  These souls, pseudo-devoutNeed counseling no doubtQuick, call a Catholic psychiatrist! All right, now let's get serious, let's plunge into, let's grab onto the questions that our imaginary anonymous listener Johnny Hind has offered us.  be diving into the question of what responsibility while being receptive.  If we are supposed to have a great childlike confidence in God, if we are to be like parvulos, like little children, itty bitty ones in our relationship with our Father God and our Mother Mary, working through the trust issues from our first two years of life, what does that mean for our accountability, our responsibility, our obligations in the Christian life?  How are we supposed to be childlike and trusting, but also mature, grown-up and taking responsibility for our lives?  How do we reconcile all these seemingly contradictory positions?  Stay with me for answers.  We digging into these questions, and do you know where we will find the answers?  We will find the answers buried like treasures, in the soil.  Our answers to this apparent paradox are to be found in the soil.     So let's start at the beginning.  A very good place to start, so I'm told.  And when I think of beginnings, I think of Genesis.  Creation story.   Living Soil:  Fertile Crescent Near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  That soil was already good.  Very alive.  Very fertile.   Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition  Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis.   This is the Hebrew word for "man". It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew אדם ('adam) meaning "to be red", referring to the ruddy colour of human skin, or from Akkadian adamu meaning "to make".  According to Genesis in the Old Testament Adam was created from the earth by God (there is a word play on Hebrew אֲדָמָה ('adamah) meaning "earth" – red earth (clay)  When God made Adam and Eve, he chose to need the clay, like a potter needs the clay.   Isaiah 64:8  But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.   St. Augustine, Sermo 169: God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.  Receptivity not equal to passivity, quietism.  Potter and clay   Potter needs the clay. Living clay.  Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.  We choose how to care for our soil.  Soil amendments – fertilizer, what we take in.    Tilling.  Rototill or broadfork.  Mulching.  Watering.  Composting.  Removing the rocks.  Aerating.  Encouraging the worms, the microbial life.   Matthew 13:4-9  “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears,[a] let him hear.” Ist major point.   Active Receptivity.  Preparing.  Plan of life.  Dedicated time to pray.  Conversational prayer.  Time for reflection. Caring for the natural foundation.  Journaling.  Getting in touch you're your mindset, bodyset, heartset, soulset.  Being recollected.  Being ready for action.  Sunday Mass, maybe daily Mass.   Regular confession.  Examinations of conscience (that are relational)   2nd major point.  We choose what to plant in our soil.  What do we take in?  Through our senses.  Netflix?  Internet news over and over?  Social media?  YouTube?  Shallow romance novels?  Porn?  What are we taking in?  What seeds are we planting in our soils.    Galatian 6:7.  whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.   You reap what you sow.  You get to choose what you are sowing.  Varieties are important.    Tomatoes this year.  They fit my soil.    Plan of life.  What we take in with our senses. We might not will that what we take in will grow, but it will grow.    Natural processes.   So much work to do conventional farming.  Adding N, Phosphorous, Potassium.  Don't trust the soil, use it as a holding ground.  Or get rid of it altogether – hydroponics, where you grow plants in gravel in a nutrient rich solution.    Humility, Awe, wonder.   Mary and Zechariah.   Dad poem, day play on words…    Put it on the forum, email or call, I will announce who solves it.  Prize:  Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Curtis Mitsch and Edward Sri.  First volume of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture by Baker Publishing.   I have two copies, I bought one, and then I loved it so much I bought the entire, this is my number 1 go-to scripture commentary for the New Testament and I have a lot of commentaries.  And Ted Sri has been a close friend of mine since the early 1990s, and I really like his work.   Email me at crisis at soulsandhearts.com or call or text me on my cell – 317.567.9594,  the first one to get the right answer to what the dad play on words is gets the prize.  I will look at the time stamps.   Feed back on the episode.   The RCCD community brings together people like you, people that are really interested in growing more and more resilient, both in the natural realm and in the psychological realm, and who are seizing this day, this moment as an opportunity for great spiritual and psychological growth.  We are adding features to the RCCD community.   $25 per month after that, and there is a whole host of resources available to you there.  Closing November 3.   Go to soulsandhearts.com, click on the tab that says all courses and shows and register for the Resilient Catholics Carpe Diem Community.    Upcoming Zoom meeting September 29 7:30 PM Eastern time.  Openness and receptivity.  Garden wall exercise.  Really great for people who are afraid of God.  You can actually see and feel how God respects your boundaries and limits and doesn't want to invade or violate you or take you over, but to be separate but near.  We will record parts of this so RCCD community members can do it on their own.    Patroness and Patron  

In this episode we will begin exploring the Wesleyan perspective on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To do this we will be focusing specifically on the views of John Wesley. We start off discussing the differences between cessationism versus continuationism. Then we provide a historical overview of what else was going on in the Protestant world at the time of Wesley. We will focus on the views of the Calvinists, Puritans, and Anglicans during Wesley's time. Then we will look at the views of the Lutherans, Pietists, and Moravians. Then we will look at the views of John Wesley and see how they compared to his Protestant contemporaries. The article we are reading through is: "Wesley and Charisma: An Analysis of John Wesley's View of Spiritual Gifts"  Other Links: Introduction to Wesleyan Theology I by Kenneth J. Collins Introduction to Wesleyan Theology II by Kenneth J. Collins The Theology of John Wesley Audiobook by Kenneth J. Collins Christ is the Cure Interview with Remonstrance  Daily Reformation Interview with Remonstrance  SEA YouTube Interview with Remonstrance 

A Journey across centuries and continents, tracing the relationship between Muslims and Jews through their shared mystical practices, beliefs and texts. Exploring the moments in history of fruitful interaction between Sufism (Islamic Mysticism) and Jewish Mysticism. 02:52 - 11th Century Spain | Bahya ibn Pakuda: Duties of the Heart 05:26 - 13th Century Egypt | Abraham Maimonides: Egyptian Pietism 10:22 - 16th Century Israel | The Kabbalah of Safed 11:17 - 18th Century Eastern Europe | Hasidism If there are any Sufis or students of Sufism out there who are keen to collab and come on the channel, please please please let me know. Please do Follow, Like, Subscribe if you dig this kinda content. #ProjectUnity Thank you to youtube.com/bimbam for the animations. Sources and Further Reading: “Judaism and Sufism”, Paul Fenton, in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue, Philosophy and Mysticism in Bahya ibn Paquda's "Duties of the Heart", Diana Lobel Between Mysticism and Philosophy: Sufi Language of Religious Experience in Judah Ha-Levi's Kuzari, Diana Lobel Jewish Mystical Leaders of the 13th Century, Paul Fenton Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt A Study of Abraham Maimonides and His Times, Elisha Russ-Fishbane Shalom/Salaam: A Story of a Mystical Fraternity, Thomas Block Sufism and Jewish-Muslim Relations, Yafia Katherine Randall Treatise of the Pool, Obadyah Maimonides, translated and introduced by Paul Fenton “How small is your [conception of] God, if it can't include the beauty of the Muslim, the Jew and the Christian.” --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount reviews the Law of Moses but in a strange way. He demands more. At the same time he was notoriously cozy with sinners. How does this work?   Click here to meetup with other channel viewers for conversation https://discord.gg/2uUhZBK The link will prompt you to download the software for this free group messaging service. This link updates every 100 users so look for the most recent videos if this link doesn't work. If you want to schedule a one-on-one conversation check here. https://paulvanderklay.me/2019/08/06/converzations-with-pvk/ There is a video version of this podcast on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/paulvanderklay To listen to this on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-vanderklays-podcast/id1394314333 If you need the RSS feed for your podcast player https://paulvanderklay.podbean.com/feed/ All Amazon links here are part of the Amazon Affiliate Program. Amazon pays me a small commission at no additional cost to you if you buy through one of the product links here. This is is one (free to you) way to support my videos. To support this channel/podcast on Paypal: https://paypal.me/paulvanderklay To support this channel/podcast with Bitcoin (BTC): 37TSN79RXewX8Js7CDMDRzvgMrFftutbPo To support this channel/podcast with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) qr3amdmj3n2u83eqefsdft9vatnj9na0dqlzhnx80h To support this channel/podcast with Ethereum (ETH): 0xd3F649C3403a4789466c246F32430036DADf6c62 Blockchain backup on Lbry https://lbry.tv/@paulvanderklay https://www.patreon.com/paulvanderklay Join the Sacramento JBP Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Sacramento-Jordan-Peterson-Meetup/ Paul's Church Content at Living Stones Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh7bdktIALZ9Nq41oVCvW-A  

A Homily for Epiphany I January 12, 2019 All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ   Text: Matthew 2:1-12   Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.               Shortly after the rise of the puritan movement in England and America, a movement known as the German Pietists arose in mainland Europe. Out of this group came what are now known as the Moravians. Like their English counter parts, the German pietists were interested in personal holiness and a robust pursuit of knowing God. One of the leaders of the Pietists was a man named Count Nikolaus Von Zinzendorf. His adherence to holiness and the pursuit of the intimate relationship with Jesus helped the Wesley’s develop Wesleyan theology, which lead to the formation of the Methodist church. However the thing many remember him for more than anything else is the following phrase:             Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.             This little sentence is perhaps the most beautiful prescription for the Christian. We are not called to be concerned about our brand, to be concerned about the number of bodies we have in church, to be concerned about what kind of car we drive, how cool we are, or whether we have the right friends, no we are called to preach the gospel at all times and in all places. We are called to go out, to make disciples, and to bring them into the covenant of Christ through baptism.             We are called to share with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones what Christ is doing in our lives and what he has done in our lives, we are called to share how is redeeming us from sin, drawing us away from those things that destroy our souls, how Christ has washed us clean from the sin which we were born with, how Christ has healed us from our deepest pain and giving us our deepest joy.             We are called to unashamedly share our lives, to show the ways in which Christ has healed us and is healing us, to show the love of Christ to those in our community that so need love.             Unless Christ returns we will all face death – now Count Zinzendorf is not saying – forget about your loved ones who have died, he is not saying you need to not remember them. Please don’t hear that. Rather – his sentiment is so wonderfully summarized by Rich Mullins, the faithful and thoroughly sincere early nineties Christian singer when he wrote:   If my life is motivated by my ambition to leave a legacy, what I’ll probably leave as a legacy is ambition. But if my life is motivated by the power of the Spirt in me, if I live with the awareness of the indwelling Christ, if I allow His presence to guide my actions, to guide my motives, those sort of things, That is the only time I think we really leave a great legacy.               In other words: preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.   Our calling is that when we go to our eternal rest – that we are forgotten, not because we are so forgettable, but because Christ became so important to us – that all else fades in our lives. Instead of being motivated the self – we are motivated by a deep desire to glorify God in all we do. Instead of being motivated by getting as much treasure in the here and now – we store our treasure in eternity – we make our concern for eternal things.             I remember for some time “developing one’s brand” was a rather popular sentiment, most peculiarly with pastors – people wanted to show off who they were as individuals, and make sure everything was presented perfectly and painted a unique picture.             This was troubling to say the least.             Yesterday, as the class I was attending this past week wrapped up, I was chatting with the professor. I think it will be the last class I’ll have with him, and as we lamented this, I asked him if he would survive without me to blurt out random thoughts in the middle of his lecture. He said that he suspected someone else would fill that hole for me. It was then I remembered this great comfort – the church doesn’t need me. (but how deeply I need the church!)             That is to say: your salvation, your spiritual growth, your sanctification does not depend upon me – but depends upon Christ and Christ alone. Yes – I am called to point you to Christ over and over again. I am called to remind you of who he is, I am called to exhort you to repentance when you have sinned, and comfort you when you’re wounded. I am called to encourage, strengthen, admonish, and direct, but the reality is Christ can use whoever he pleases to accomplish this, but I am so grateful that I get to do this for you all, but still I must remember that ultimately it is Christ who is working in you.   vestments             Traditional, liturgical churches are thoughtfully designed to reorient us, and remind us of this fact. For the priest – my vestments should keep me humble. Our first layer is the cassock, as you can see it is dark black and reminds me that I am spiritual dead – that without Christ, apart from God’s grace and mercy, I have no life in me. Then I put on the surplice, which reminds me of how we are washed white in the blood of Christ, and finally the scarf, or tippet for the daily offices, that is Morning and Evening Prayer or for communion I wear the stole. This reminds us that we are yoked to Christ, that we have authority to preach, teach, exhort, to administer the sacraments but that authority only comes from Christ.               My friends – while I have authority – it is not my own, but only Christ’s, it is borrowed, and I am to use it as a servant.             But, we are all called to live this life of self-giving, of death to self.             We have put such an emphasis on making a mark and a difference and finding our true calling that we sometimes forget that our calling – is to let our light shine wherever God has placed us. If you are here this morning – you are here by the grace of God, you are here because God brought you here. God does move us in and out of things, but I have spent an incredible amount of time comforting young Christians who feel lost because they can’t articulate their calling.             Our calling, if we are followers of Christ – is to glorify him, our calling – if we are not yet His follower is to become followers of Christ, to let Him minister to you, to let his mercy envelop you so that we may all glorify Him and love others as He loves us. Yes – he may call you to some great task that will shape the world, or he might call you to simply be a good husband, a good wife, a good brother, a good sister, a good friend, a good parent, or a good child. But let us be first concerned with loving Him and loving others as He first loved us.             The Magi present for us such a calling. The lore and thoughts around them is seemingly unending. For example – we do not know how many of them there were. The western tradition tells us that there were three, and this is a fine number, for there were three gifts – but there could have only been two or their could have been 102, though the fact that they seemingly all went into a middle eastern house, makes an extremely large number rather unlikely. All we know is that the word Magi is plural in the text, and so there could have been many. In fact, the eastern church disagrees with the west and has settled on 12 magi to be parallel with the twelve tribes of Israel, this is as fine a number as three, but still unprovable.             Next we know very little of who they were. Some traditions tell us that they were kings – in fact this is where those names we hear from time to time – Gaspar, Melchoir, and Balthasar come from. Each of these men were legendary kings from India, Persia, and Arabia and while they were certainly from the east, there is no evidence to suggest that these were actually the men who visited the infant Jesus or even that they were kings.                The term Magi is particularly interesting – and it does give us a hint into who these men were. They were probably a special class of people in the ancient near east who were interested in religion and lore and the pursuit of wisdom, who were something like the combination of a pagan priest and the local wise man, having given their life to study of the ways of the world and also given to leading local religious ceremonies. This does seem to be the most likely explanation as this would mean they would therefore be aware of the world around them, and then having seen Jesus’ star and because they knew where to look they would have known something amazing had happened.             Ultimately, we got lost when we get anxious about who these men were. The point of the story is not that Gaspar, Melchoir, and Balthasar or for that matter Joe, Frank, and Bob took a long journey together – the point is that these men who were not Jewish recognized that God had been born among us and came to worship Him.             Here we get a hint that the magi knew that Christ was more than a man – for they came to worship Jesus, king of the Jews. When we confront those who deny the divinity of Christ, here is one place that they get stuck. We might say to them, “but look! The wisemen came to worship Jesus,” to which they will respond, “but they shouldn’t have.” In fact, in their mind, the wisemen are not heroes of faith, but anti-heroes. They do not believe the wisemen show us the way to life as we believe, but rather a way towards death.             There is an error in their thought here – first scripture makes it perfectly clear that these men worshipped Christ, there is no other way to read the text. Secondly, when worship is wrongly prescribed in the Word of God, we see this in particularly with angels – the text tells us that this is a wrong thing to do, tells us do not worship Angels! No, we worship no one but the one true God who is revealed to us in triune form – and whose second person became incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord. No, if it was wrong for the magi  to worship Jesus, we would know. Rather – they are wise and anonymous forerunners. They tell us – it is good and right to worship Jesus as our God, and we know from later revelations in scripture to worship him as our savior.             Now, let us compare Herod and the religious leaders of Jerusalem’s reaction to the news of the birth of Jesus with that of the Magi. Herod and all of Jerusalem with him was troubled – but the Magi “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” when God revealed the place of the house where Jesus was to them.             What is our reaction to new people visiting our church, what is our reaction to the to the opportunity to love upon someone destitute, to the migrant, to the one who is not like us but so desperately needs to know the love of Christ? Has it occurred to us that perhaps these people are angels, sent to give us an opportunity to ministry as the author of Hebrews tells us? That these people are images of the Christ, whom we have  the opportunity to love upon?               My friends – you so often do a beautiful job of welcoming those who are unknown, but sometimes I grow distressed when I look out and I see someone new sitting alone. One day, I looked out and a man was visiting for the first time and it was as though he had the plague, he sat alone in a pew and no one was even in the pew in front of him!             I know at other times we are amazing at welcoming strangers in amongst us, and I know you all to be profoundly loving – but let us become even better at loving the stranger, let us not be afraid of him or her – for yes, we live in scary times, yes we live in times of deep hate and distrust, but we cannot combat hate with more hate, but only with the divine love of Christ, the sacrificial love of Christ. Let us great each person who enters this building, enters into our life with this love.             Someone posted this past year the three rules of engagement her and her husband have for when they are at church:             First: An alone person in our gathering (that is their worship service) is an emergency.             Second: Friends can wait.             Third: Introduce a new comer to someone else.             My beloved – please – if you see someone alone – even if church has started, even if it is half way through the service, and I know it is awkward, but get up, leave your friends, and quietly introduce yourself and ask if you can sit with them. I have chosen to attend churches because someone has done just that for me. I pray that the love of Christ abounds within our community, may we rejoice greatly when we see someone new.             But here is the second question – to follow Christ is a calling to a continual dying to ourselves. Here is a place I struggle too – when Christ calls us into deeper intimacy, calls us to the death to ourselves, calls us to leave behind some idol of the heart and beckons us into something deeper and more profound with him – are we troubled like Herod, or do we explode forth with joy like the magi?               When Christ calls us to live in a place of deeper faith with him may we rejoice – not be dismayed. May our hearts cry out with joy and not trouble, for how good it is to know Christ!             For in meeting Christ, in being drawn into a relationship with him, we are called to be ill at ease with the status quo, to be ill at ease with the way the world is and anxious for the way the world will be after the great re-creation. T.S. Elliot summarizes the Christian tension we feel in a poem he wrote for Epiphany, it is written from the view of the wisemen sometime after their great journey to worship the Christ:             All this was a long time ago, I remember,             And I would do it again, but set down             This set down             This: were we led all that way for             Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly             We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,             But had thought they were different; this Birth was             Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.             We returned to our palaces, these Kingdoms,             But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation             With alien people clutching their gods.             I should be glad of another death. Christ’s birth in our hearts calls us to shake up our lives, to shake out the old dead gods of our paganism and worldliness – calls us to live deeply profound and intimate lives with Christ and with the people of God. Our lives should not reflect the culture around us, but we should be transformed people, we should be a community that God’s love abounds in.             The wise men, though undoubtedly deeply educated, lacked the formal training of the religious leaders of Jerusalem. In this we are reminded that we are not called to trust in our upbringing or heritage. We are called to trust in Christ alone.             Too often as Anglicans we say “well, I was a cradle Episcopalian,” as though this brings us some status. It is so good to run the race faithfully, to have never turned our back on Christ, but we are not saved because we have attended church for our whole lives – no we are saved because we are in Christ’s covenant with us, because we have a deep and intimate relationship with Him, because every day we die to ourselves, and are born again in Him.               My friends – I am so thankful for the witness of those of you who have not veered from the path that Christ has laid before them, that have walked a life that glorifies God from Birth until this moment. Your witness is beautiful, but trust not in your witness but in Christ and Christ alone.             We see in this text – that the ones who showed true faith in Christ were foreigners, were the outsiders, while the insiders schemed and were troubled by the news. So too, I am thankful for those who lived rough lives, who stumbled and fell hard, and Christ came in and radically changed their hearts.             I remember talking to a friend who had lived a hard, rough and tumble life – and met Christ in jail. He confessed that he often felt intimidated in clergy gatherings because of his past. Yet – he knew Christ, and His power in such a profound way, a way that many of us can barely imagine – because he knew how damaging sin was, he knew both Christ and sin so intimately. Let us rejoice when the prostitute, the criminal, and the drug-addict come to know Christ, not judging them for who they were but rejoicing exceedingly with great joy for what Christ has done. And let us not take for granted our lives because we were born into a Christian home – but take Christ’s saving grace as our own, and abide richly in that.             The wisemen finally arrive at the house where Mary and the child are, and they worship the child and lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Here again the wisemen point us to the fact that this child was more than a baby lying in the arms of his mother, an interesting child, no, my friends - he is king and God.             Both the fact that they worshipped Him and brought these gifts – point us to this incredible truth. For gold, frankincense, and myrrh are gifts are only fit for the incarnate God. They are gifts fit for the one true God born to be amongst us.             It is easy for us to grow popular lore around these wisemen, but in reality they call us to live a life of faith, they set for us an example of Count Zinzendorf call that we may preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten, for they saw an amazing thing happening and set out in faith, were amongst the first to worship the incarnate God, were obedient to God, and went home, and were in the sight of history forgotten.             The great evangelical Anglican bishop J.C. Ryle summarized it perfectly when he wrote: The conduct of the wise men described in this chapter is a splendid example of spiritual diligence. What trouble it must have cost them to travel from their homes to the house where Jesus was born! How many weary miles they must have journeyed! The fatigues of an Eastern traveler are far greater than we in England can at all understand. The time that such a journey would occupy must necessarily have been very great. The dangers to be encountered were neither few nor small. But none of these things moved them. They had set their hearts on seeing Him “that was born King of the Jews;” and they never rested till they saw Him. They proved to us the truth of the old saying, “where there is a will there is a way.             It would be well for all professing Christians if they were more ready to follow the wise men’s example. Where is our self-denial? What pains we take about our souls? What diligence do we show about following Christ/ What does our religion cost us? These are serious questions. They deserve serious questions.   My beloved friends – I know that most of us are likely to be concerned with our legacy, to be concerned with the mark that we leave on the world, and I would be lying if I told you that I was not. I too care and can find myself lost in the wrong questions – am I liked? Do they want me around? Am I good enough? Am I capable of building this church? And what of my reputation?             If we grow too consumed with worldly questions we lose this call to diligence, this call to a death to ourselves, and life in Christ.             May instead we live as the magi, as Count Zinzendorf, as Rich Mullins, and as J.C. Ryle both lived and in doing so call us to live – may we preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten, that we leave not a legacy of self but that all might be drawn unto Christ.             In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.     Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Scripture:  Galatians 5:13–5:15 In this series we'll sort through the drawer marked “religion” and examine the major misunderstandings about the Christian faith and replace them with something better: Jesus. From the Series:  Religion Unraveled At St. Mark Houston we believe that life is a gift from God and that through faith in Jesus Christ we can truly have a fulfilling life.  Join us on  Sundays at 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM for Worship.  Find us on the web at St Mark Houston.org or call us at 713-468-2623.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discussing three identifiable groups within the present evangelical controversy surrounding “social justice.”

The twelfth century was a time of spiritual expansion as the Tosafists transformed the Talmud and the Pietists of Ashkenaz awakened new depths of the soul. Darkness grew as well, as the Crusades rolled through Europe and the terrible new accusation of the blood libel was born. But it was specifically out of this darkness that the depths emerged.

From Chapter 4, "The Third Party System: Pietists vs. Liturgicals".This audiobook is made available through the generosity of Mr. Tyler Folger. Narrated by Graham Wright.

From Chapter 4, "The Third Party System: Pietists vs. Liturgicals".This audiobook is made available through the generosity of Mr. Tyler Folger. Narrated by Graham Wright.

The twelfth century was a time of spiritual expansion as the Tosafists transformed the Talmud and the Pietists of Ashkenaz awakened new depths of the soul. Darkness grew as well, as the Crusades rolled through Europe and the terrible new … Read the rest The post The Jewish Story Episode 23: Depths Out of Darkness first appeared on Elmad Online Learning. Continue reading The Jewish Story Episode 23: Depths Out of Darkness at Elmad Online Learning.

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists' fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), David I. Shyovitz, Associate Professor of History, and of Jewish and Israel Studies, at Northwestern University, plumbs the worldview and theology of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists, who flourished in the Rhine Valley and in Regensburg in the 12th and 13th centuries. Professor Shyovitz marshals compelling evidence to show that the Pietists submitted both the natural world and the human body to close and disciplined empirical study. While they were fascinated by inexplicable phenomena, bodily transformation, spells and incantations, and even bodily and effluvia and excrement, the Pietists’ fascination was driven by their effort to forge links between the natural world and their theological worldview. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther's object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn't work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can't the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

500 years ago, a German monk and professor named Martin Luther started a well-intentioned movement to reform “the Church” (Jesus founded only one, after all). Luther’s object was not to split the Church, but to bring it into conformity with what he thought was the “true Christianity,” the one he discovered (and, he claimed, any believer could discover) in the Scriptures. Things didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, for the Church did split. And split, and split, and split. There are a lot of different kinds of Protestants. In alphabetical order (and not an exhaustive list by any means): Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Calvinists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostalists, Pietists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Quakers. Each of these confessions can be further subdivided. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What happened? Why can’t the Protestants get along? Why do they keep founding new churches?Does anything unite them? And what role did they play in creating modern religious (and political) culture? In his wonderful and witty book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (Viking, 2017), Alec Ryrie offers answers. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The American Economy and the End of Laissez-Faire: 1870 to World War II 4. The Rise and Fall of Monopolies Lecture by Murray N. Rothbard Petroleum entered the industrial scene in 1859 with John D. Rockefeller's hard work. As the first manufacturing corporation, Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard, then, discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896. Pietists, prohibitionists, anti-immigrationists, and women suffragettes had made a big Republican drive before 1890. But then a big, sudden shift in politics occurred, with Democrats capturing the big Midwest states, due to demographics of Germans, higher birth rates, anti-prohibitionists, and hard money standards. After this, the Republican party got more moderate and the  Democratic party got captured by extreme pietists in 1896. The South became a fully Democratic region. The Panic of 1893 resulted in the loss of Democratic seats due to the depression. By 1896 Bryanites were taking over the party. German Lutherans, and Catholics became majority-party Republicans, leaving the Irish to become minority-party Democratic civil servants. This situation lasts until 1932. The parties become non-ideological. Statists prevailed. Lecture 4 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University. This lecture on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fUmK_Kye56w Sourced from: https://mises.org/library/american-economy-and-end-laissez-faire-1870-world-war-ii We are not endorsed or affiliated with the above. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode Presented by: Read Rothbard is comprised of a small group of voluntaryists who are fans of Murray N. Rothbard. We curate content on the www.ReadRothbard.com site including books, lectures, articles, speeches, and we make a weekly podcast based on his free-market approach to economics. Our focus is on education and how advancement in technology improves the living standards of the average person. The Read Rothbard Podcast is all about Maximum Freedom. We look at movies and current events from a Rothbardian Anarchist perspective. If it's voluntary, we're cool with it. If it's not, then it violated the Non-Aggression Principle and Property Rights - the core tenants of Libertarian Theory - and hence - human freedom. Website: http://www.ReadRothbard.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-read-rothbard-podcast/id1166745868 Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Ii45fhytlsiwkw6cbgzbxi6ahmi?t=The_Read_Rothbard_Podcast Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/readrothbardclub Twitter: https://twitter.com/read_rothbard Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/145447582@N05/xB4583 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ReadRothbard Murray Rothbard, Murray N Rothbard, Read Rothbard, Anarchy, Anarchism, Free-Market, Anarcho-Capitalism, News and Events, Podcast, Laissez-Faire, Voluntaryist, Voluntaryism, Non-Aggression Principle, NAP, Libertarian, Libertarianism, Economics, Austrian Economics,

42:54 no Tim Binkley info@hpumc.org (Highland Park United Methodist Church)Highlan

Chris Gehrz, Sam Mulberry, and Mark Pattie talk about the lived experience of worshiping as Pietists and what some people seem to mean when they use the word.

The Age of Enlightenment Son of the Jacobite Rebellion, Löscher vs. the Pietists, Voltaire Presentation Online Giving

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer's account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer's account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is pietism, who were the Pietists, and why does this all matter for contemporary American culture?   We chat about Wesley, Zinzendorf, Spener, Arndt, Haugee etc.

The Age of Enlightenment: Jesuit Missionaries, William Penn, and the Pietists Presentation Online Giving

Chris Gehrz interviews Roger Olson on the contributions that Pietists have made to the philosophy of education.

Mary and William invaded England and took control in 1688. Their takeover is called the Glorious Revolution. William and Mary gave Protestants religious freedom. Confessions of faith were drawn up in order to register with the State. In 1690, the Westminster Confession was made the official confession of the State for the first time. Scotland was set free to be Presbyterian. James II garnered an army and landed in Ireland. William defeated James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The modern Irish problem began at this point. The Pietists considered the essential thing in religion to be devotional life. The Moravians developed out of this group of Pietists. The Moravians instilled the idea that the experience of being born again in Christ is essential to the Christian life. In England there was a revival of salvation by works called Arminianism for the first time. Wesley began preaching in the open air markets. Methodists were so called because they followed Wesley's method. Whitefield preached during the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards was initially suspicious of Whitefield and his street preaching.

Pastor Jeff Williams: December 4, 2011 Meet the Philippians, Part VI: Chapter 2:12-18. I'm still struggling with a sore throat. I've been taking every remedy you've offered. I'm overdosing on Vitamin C, Ricola, herbal tea, Alka Seltzer cold, Tylenol and everything you can think of; so I'll be talking softly again. Although, unfortunately for you, it won't be any shorter than normally. If we were to be honest, there are times when you and I struggle in our faith. There are times we feel like [asking], “Does God really know what He is doing? Would He have me here? Would He have me in this situation? What is it He is trying to teach me? I'm frustrated! I'm confused! I'm angry! I don't really understand what's going on.” Has anybody ever been there in your walk? We have bad hair days-at least some of us do-but we also have bad faith days. We have days when we don't feel like following, days when we are just so frustrated we're tempted to throw in the towel, whatever the case might be. Yet, we are in this struggle. If He's the Master- He's the Teacher-and we're the followers, we don't always get what He's teaching us until we look back upon it. We're going to be talking about that struggle, that whole process that we call sanctification. It reminded me of a clip from a movie that I saw many years ago and enjoyed called, “The Karate Kid.” I told Pastor Jesse I wanted to use a clip from that on Sunday, and he reminded me that there is actually a newer version of that, so we're able to see a little bit more of a modern version than the Ralph Macchio edition. This has Will Smith's son as “Grasshopper.” It is a remake of “The Karate Kid,” and I want to watch this scene because I think there are some analogies we can draw from it. Let's go ahead and show that clip, and we'll come back and get into the Word. (The clip can be viewed by following this link: http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/the-karate-kid/everything-is-kung-fu). It reminds me that so many times in our walk, the Holy Spirit grabs a hold of us and says, “Be firm. Be strong.” Jesus lives in everything you do; everything is about Jesus. There are times where we're just confused and frustrated, but this whole process of sanctification is something that must be done. It's a process of learning; it's a process of growing, and Paul learned. Remember we read in Corinthians a month or so ago how he asked the Lord to take away the thorn and the flesh with His constant buffeting, this constant badgering. By the way, having said that word-badgering, “On Wisconsin!” Yeah! Rose Bowl! You distracted me. Let's go back to where we were. Paul says, “The thorn and the flesh, take it away.” God's response is, “No.” Paul says, “Take it away, Lord, please. I beg you. Take it away.” God says, “No.” Paul says, “I asked a third time, ‘Lord, please take this away.'” God's response was “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Then Paul says, “Therefore, I'll rejoice in my weaknesses for when I am weak, then I am strong.” He found out that God was teaching him-through this frustrating experience that he was going through-how to glorify in his weakness. His weakness showed the strength of God. Here Paul is in this jail, and the church in Philippi writes him a letter. They send a messenger and say, “We just want you to know we're thinking about you. We know that things are hard for you. We want to encourage you. We know you must be depressed. We know you must be upset because your ministry has come to a grinding halt. You're our leader and there you are in prison. Are you okay?” He ends up encouraging them instead of them encouraging him. Have you ever gone to somebody with the intent of encouraging them, and they end up encouraging you more? It ends up that the roles were reversed. That's what happened here with Paul. Paul ends up encouraging them when their intent was to encourage him. Here he is in prison, and he's frustrated. He has lost his freedom. He lost his ministry, apparently. He's frustrated, and he doesn't understand why God “has me here. What is God doing?” Then the light begins to dawn on him. He has a captive audience. One by one, guards are chained to him, and they can't go anywhere. He's going to tell his story, and they will come to Christ-person after person, guard after guard. They're going home, and they're sharing what they learned from Paul with their wives, their children, and their friends. People are coming to Christ, and wonderful things are happening in the government, in Caesar's government. As corrupt as it was, there was revival taking place. Paul says, “I might be in jail, but the Gospel isn't.” What's more, others are stepping up, and they're preaching the Word as never before. There is a new boldness, and Paul begins to count all of his blessings. He begins to recognize that God knows what He's doing. God is in control. He begins to surrender to God's leadership in this situation. Let's open our Bibles up to Philippians 2, and we're going to read Verses 12-18 (page 1162 of pew Bibles). We're going to focus in on [Verses] 12 and 13 because I think those are the two we need to spend most of our time on. Let's read the Passage in its entirety, and then we'll come back and focus on 12 and 13. It says, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…” In other words, this is serious stuff. Take this seriously. Approach this with a sober mind. Approach this very seriously because we're dealing with eternal matters here. “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In other words, here is an example of what I mean when I talk about surrendering to God, when I talk about working out your salvation. If you're living your faith without grumbling, complaining, or arguing with God, then you're on the right track. Paul learned this…how? Through grumbling and complaining. That's how he learned it. It doesn't serve any purpose; it doesn't help any cause. “Instead, when I'm going through those difficult times, when I'm struggling, I begin to ask myself, ‘What do I need to learn? How can I serve God through this? How can I glorify through this? What is He teaching me? How is this strengthening me as a person? How can I help others with what I'm going through?” “…so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…” In other words, if you truly adopt what he is saying here and you follow and do the Will of God, you will stand out in the world. He says, “…as you hold out the Word of life-in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I'm being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” [What Paul is saying is] “I will not stop; I will not change my attitude if the worst happens to me. If I'm poured out-if I die in this jail in Rome because of my faith-I will not change my mind. I will not change my attitude. I will not change how I look at things.” He says, “I encourage you to join me and have this same attitude in yourselves.” What we're talking about today is sanctification. It's a theological word which means to be set apart for God's purposes, to be conformed into the image of Christ, to become holy. All of these things are involved in the process of sanctification. Salvation, the word deliverance, begins, and once salvation begins-when we accept Christ-sanctification follows. That whole process of God working on our attitudes, our actions, our habits and conforming us to His Will and to His purposes-that is a process that begins and lasts for the rest of our lives. It culminates when we die or at His return. We are glorified and made in the image of Christ, so salvation is something that has begun in the past, is going on now, and will continue until it reaches its climax at His coming or our going when we are gathered together with Him. This whole process is something we are going through, and there is a debate as to how much is our responsibility and how much is God's responsibility. Where does God's part end and my part begin? There are two schools of thought on this. There are actually more than that, but there are two dominant schools you hear about. One is pietism. Pietism teaches and emphasizes the will of man. Listen, if you want to be Godly, you have to work really hard. You have to strive, struggle, and you have to work the disciplines. You have to resist temptation. Basically, it is on you. God has given you all the tools, all the gifts you need, and it's on you. You have to own this thing called holiness, and you have to strive, work, sweat, and sacrifice; and through enough effort on your part, you can become like Christ. You have to forsake the things of the world, focus on the things of the Kingdom, and become holy. So pietism loves Verse 12 where he says, “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…” Yeah, Amen, Paul. That's right. We have to work hard. You might have come from a church that had a background in pietism. It may have been a very legalistic church. It might have taught you that “Christians don't do this, and we do this. You have to dress this way and talk this way.” Greatly stressed was “hard work and discipline. Disciplines were good, but you have to work hard. You have to strive and struggle to be like Christ.” The oneness is on us. The flipside of the coin is a school of thought called quietism. Quietism teaches quite the opposite. Quietism teaches just like it sounds-quiet. “Be still and know that I am God.” You simply submit. You don't have to work hard. It's not a struggle; it's not an effort. If it's a struggle and an effort, that means you're not submitting. You simply need to just abide, “Like fruit in the vine…” The apple doesn't struggle as it grows. The grape doesn't struggle. It simply abides. You simply rest in His presence, rest in His promise. Then He will do the work. Your job is simply to get out of God's way. That's what the quietists teach you to believe. Quietists love Verse 13. Paul says, “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” To that, they say, “Amen. It's all God. From beginning to end, it's God. It's not you at all.” The problem is Verses 12-13 are both in our Bibles. In fact, they're both in this text. Paul is preaching as though they're not at war with one another at all. They're working together hand in hand. God certainly is a source of salvation from beginning to end, but we have a part to play too. God certainly is sovereign, but our wills make a place too. They have a role too. It is both. We're going to introduce a new theological term this morning. We can do that. Somebody has to start it, so we're going to start it. We'll call it partnerism. We could say Koinoniasm because it's the Biblical word for fellowship or partnership-Koinonia. It's probably easier to remember and say: partnerism. It is working together with God, partnering with God. It says, “We work out, and He works within.” Do you know what it says? “Work out your salvation for God is at work within.” You know when you're trying to get a stain out that won't come out? You have to work out. You have to put a little elbow grease on there, but it still isn't coming off; so you go out and buy a chemical. You ask, “What works for getting this stain out?” They give you something, and you pour it on the stain and it starts bubbling. If it doesn't bubble, it's not working correctly. It has to bubble. I dropped my Alka Seltzer in the water, and it had to bubble. Otherwise it doesn't work. If you see a bubble, you know it's working. Pretty soon that stain starts to dissolve. You put a little elbow grease on it, and the stain comes out. You're like, “Wow! I work on it, but this chemical works within it. We're a partner. We've worked together to solve the problem.” That's what it's teaching. It's the verb here “to work out.” It means “to bring to completion, to keep on working until something is done.” Paul is saying, “Be relentless. Work hard. There are no shortcuts to this thing called sanctification, Christ-likeness. It involves work, effort, and sacrifice on your part.” Notice he doesn't say, “Work for your salvation.” He says, “Work out your salvation. You already have it, but now there are things you need to work on within yourself.” How many of you have things you are working on within yourselves? Let me see your hands. The rest of you have already arrived. Maybe you should be preaching the sermon, telling us what your secret is. We all have things we are working through. God works in, and we work out. The old adage goes, “No pain, no gain.” Let's say you go to the gym, and you want to increase your strength or your endurance-whatever that might be-the more you put into that exercise, the more you put into that workout, the more you're going to gain, right? I've seen it happen where I've gone to the gym or maybe when I was rehabbing my knee after one of my surgeries, and I'm trying to do some water workouts, and I see someone in there moving at a snail's pace in the water. You are like, “Well, what good is that? How could that be doing anything?” They might be on a machine lifting the equivalent of what an ant could do. You're thinking, “How does that help you?” They might be on a treadmill and are barely moving. You just want to say, “You're wasting your time. You're never going to make a difference if that's how you're going to work out because you have to put in something to get something out.” You hear these infomercials all the time. They say, “Would you like to lose weight without having to worry about diet or exercise?” “Yeah!” They must sell those things because these infomercials have been going on as long as I can remember. People must be buying them. “Just drink this.” “Just take this pill and you'll look like this guy.” “Just stand there and hold this dumbbell. Do that for 20 minutes a day, and in three weeks you'll look like this guy.” He has the six-pack, and you're thinking, “Are these people just crazy?” But somebody must be buying this stuff. This whole thing about the shortcut… [What is the truth?] “No pain, no gain.” That just isn't true. Those pills do not exist. That drink does not exist. There are no shortcuts. You have to get on your gym clothes and work out. You have to run; you have to lift. When you lift, you tear that muscle down. When it builds up, that muscle fiber builds up stronger. The body says, “Oh, okay. We're going to get some work done now, ha? Oh, we're going to run now, ha?” The body starts gearing up. You have a part to do. You have to go work out. Then you have to get rest because you can't work out hard, do your bench-press on Monday and then the next day and the day after do the bench-press again. You have to let those muscles rebuild. You have to give them 42 to 72 hours before you can go at it again. Then you have to add protein so those muscles can rebuild. You have things you have to do, but then God has put the systems to work in your body so that muscle will rebuild, so those lungs will work, and so that heart will pump. Your endurance or your strength will grow. Whatever it is that you're working on, as you perform those exercises and put in diligent routine, it will make a difference. Paul says, “Yes, God's working within you, but you can make a difference in how productive that work is.” You can choose to cooperate with God, work with God and put in the time and effort. He says, “The disciplines are hard work. Prayer is hard work. Sacrifice and servitude are hard work. Using your gifts, growing in knowledge, fasting, and meditation-it's hard work! It requires effort. Resisting temptation, spiritual warfare: it is hard work!” He says, “You have to be willing to pay the price. However, it's not all on you. You're not in this battle alone-far from it,” Paul says. He says, “For it is God Who is at work within you to will and to do His good purpose.” This word work is the word we get energize from, energy. It's the word energize. God is at work energizing. God is relentless; God doesn't give up. It's like the old ad campaign for the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going and going-like one of my sermons. It just never ends (congregation laughing). It just never ends, right? God is in you, and He's energizing. He's relentless. It's like when you have a bad attitude; God doesn't give up on you. God works to help shape that attitude to a right attitude. When you become lazy or complacent, God energizes you and He works on you to quicken you, to get you to wake up, to get you to get back in the game. When you become distracted and start paying attention to things that you shouldn't-like cell phones, shopping, or whatever it might be-God draws your attention to where it is supposed to be. Don't feel bad if you're one of those cell phone people; it happens to me too. It happened to me last night. My cell phone went off during the sermon. It happens; don't feel bad whomever you are. This is the kind of thing: when I get distracted, God brings me back. When I'm discouraged, the Holy Spirit works to encourage me. When I need guidance, He works to give me guidance-even when I'm at rest. How many of you have ever had a situation where you've said, “Lord, I need wisdom! Lord, I need direction,” and you go to bed not knowing what you're going to do? You don't know what decision you're going to make, but when you wake up, you know what to do. You have an understanding about what to do? Has anybody experienced that? Yeah, it's like God is at work even when I'm asleep. There have been times when I've been grappling with how I'm going to illustrate something in a sermon. I'll go to sleep thinking, “I don't know how I'm going to illustrate that. I'll wake up and say, “I've got it!” First thing in the morning, I'll wake up and say, “I have to write that down!” Now I text myself instead. I give myself a text message, and it's right there. God is just relentless. He just keeps working. When we're tired, He keeps working. When we say, “I just need to rest,” [He continues to work]. You go to the airport, and they have those people movers in there. You have your luggage with you. If you are walking at a normal pace, you don't slow down; you can walk a little faster because it just never ends. There is no wasted movement. It's always moving you forward, but there are times when you're tired. You might use that thing for just a little bit of a rest period. You can put down those heavy suitcases. I've been in airports like that where sometimes I've used it to get from one end to the other quickly. Other times, I use it for break time. I put the load down and just relax a little bit. I keep moving forward. God does that too. Even when we're tired, He can keep moving us forward. Even when we say, “I just want to rest. I just want to put this down for a while,” He energizes us. He keeps going and going to bring us to completion. So when asked [which is better: pietism or quietism], the answer is it's both. We don't need to argue about this anymore. Pietists and Quietists shake hands and give each other a hug. Become partners. Realize that we are working together. Let me give you an illustration from the Scripture of this. Let's look in the Book of Nehemiah together, Nehemiah 4. What's taking place here is Nehemiah is leading this endeavor to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital, and they have been taken into captivity. Now they are returning from captivity, and they're going to reestablish their nation. Their first line of defense is their wall. If you don't have a wall, then you're vulnerable to the enemy. You are exposed to attack. You had to have a wall, a literal wall around your city. Otherwise you're a laughing stock. So if they were to become a country again, if this were to be their capital again, the wall had to be rebuilt. Nehemiah sets out for this quest, and it's an ominous task. They're discouraged because of the sheer volume of the task; but if that were not enough, they have enemies. Those enemies do not want to see Israel reestablished as a nation. They do not want to see Jerusalem as a capital, so they are working against Nehemiah. They start off by insulting, mocking, and ridiculing them. One of the men by the name of Sanballat says, “If as much as a fox jumps on that wall, it's so weak that it's going to fall down.” That's one thing, but when Israel continues their quest to rebuild the wall and then gets to the halfway point, it looks like they're really going to get this done. They see that as a threat to their security as a nation, so they then begin to threaten Israel. They begin saying, “We're going to attack them.” They don't tell Israel that. They just talk amongst themselves. They say, “We're going to attack them. We're going to kill them. We're going to literally kill them to prevent them from reestablishing.” Word begins to get back to Nehemiah of what they are plotting to do. Let's pick up the story in Verse 10 (of Chapter 4, page 475). Watch for signs of partnerism here. “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, ‘The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.'” They're tired, and they're saying, “Look, we're just tired, and there is too much to do. We can't do it.” Verse 11, “Also our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.'” Surprise attack-that element of surprise was huge, and they were just going to spring on them when they least expected it. They were going to kill them and destroy them. “Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, ‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.'” What he's saying here is that there are these Jews around that are like spies. They're hearing this, and they're going back to Nehemiah and saying, “Look, we are surrounded. They're going to attack. Everywhere we turn, anywhere we go, they're going to be there. You have to do something about this because they are going to attack.” “Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.' “When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.” So there was a timeout. Nehemiah began to rally the troops. The enemies of Israel found out that there was no surprise attack, and that was a little discouraging to them. Although the threat of attack was still there, they were frustrated by that, by how that got leaked out to their enemies. Israel began to work, but it was different. It says in Verse 16, “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me,” says Nehemiah. “Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there.'” Listen to this next phrase, “‘Our God will fight for us!'” Here are two schools of thought: if you are a Pietist, what might you say here? There is a battle going on. Forget the work. Forget the wall right now. Everybody pick up a sword. Everybody pick up a spear and a shield. It's time for battle. We have to start training. We have to start practicing. We have to start going through drills. We have to begin sharpening our weapons and making weapons. We have to be in a warfare mentality. We have to attack our enemies and defeat them, and we have to work hard, train, and go fight to win.” The Quietist would say, “Oh, no, no, we don't. We don't need to pick up warfare weapons at all. It's God's wall. It's God's city. It's God's task. Turn your back and don't look back. Don't even worry about guards. This is God's project. All we need is brick and mortar. Let's just rest in God. We'll pray on the wall, but we're going to trust because He sent us here. He told us that this was His wall, so we're not going to worry about that. We're simply going to build the wall. That's all we're going to do. We're just going to have fun. We're going to whistle. We're not going to worry about the enemies because God is greater than that!” What does Nehemiah do? Nehemiah takes the role of somebody who is in partner with God. He says, “God will fight for us.” Did he mean they're going to lay down their weapons? No. He says, “We are going to be ready. We are going to be prepared. We are going to have our weapons, and we will fight if necessary. However, if we fight, we are trusting God. He will energize us. He will give us wisdom, discernment, and strength; and He will ultimately give us victory. It is going to be us working on the outside and God working within.” There is going to be a partnership. That's why Paul talks about the weapons of our warfare are mighty. They're not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. He encourages us. He says, “You're in a battle. You're in a fight, so pick up the shield of faith. Pick up the sword of the Spirit. Be ready. Be ready to fight, and at the same time trust and rest in the provision of God.” They work in agreement. They work in harmony. They work together. I ask you to just reflect right now on your walk. What does it look like? Are you one who is striving, trying, and just struggling? You're failing because you're just trying to simply do things on your own strength. Maybe you're one of the ones who just says, “Let go, and let God.” You're finding that hasn't been effective either because you've actually become spiritually complacent and lazy. Paul says, “For this, we labor and strive because we've put our hopes in the living God.” You say, “Well, there's no striving. There isn't laboring in my walk.” The truth of the matter is it is both. There is submission, and there is work to be done. There is a partnership between the Divine and the human. There is the sovereignty of God, and there is the will of man; and we work together to form Christ-likeness in ourselves. I'm not alone. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” He doesn't delegate that to anything else. He doesn't delegate it to your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, a spiritual mentor, or an angel. God Himself takes on that task. It says, “God is at work within you to will and to work His good Purpose.” Let's pray together: Father, as we come to communion, we think about this partnership. We recognize that You are the One who started it all. What separates our faith is that Christianity is not man who reached up first to God; it was God who reached down first to man. He offered friendship, offered relationship and fellowship, and partnership. If we are to reach up by faith and take that hand, we have made a commitment to live for You, to trust You, to serve You. Lord, it requires work; it requires sacrifice and effort. Lord, you are there. You're within us. You energize us. Lord, when we're working out, it's wonderful to have a Partner or Trainer who can spur us on, who can encourage us and teach us. It's wonderful to have that Trainer live within us and be our God. How wonderful is that! God is at work within us, and that is the promise of Scripture: that He will bring to completion what He has promised. So, Lord, today we come to remember the Lord's sacrifice, His love, and His grace that is put among us to share. It's in His name, we pray, Amen.

Petroleum entered the industrial scene in 1859 with John D. Rockefeller's hard work. As the first manufacturing corporation, Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard, then, discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896.Pietists, prohibitionists, anti-immigrationists, and women suffragettes had made a big Republican drive before 1890. But then a big, sudden shift in politics occurred, with Democrats capturing the big Midwest states, due to demographics of Germans, higher birth rates, anti-prohibitionists, and hard money standards. After this, the Republican party got more moderate and the Democratic party got captured by extreme pietists in 1896. The South became a fully Democratic region. The Panic of 1893 resulted in the loss of Democratic seats due to the depression. By 1896 Bryanites were taking over the party. German Lutherans, and Catholics became majority-party Republicans, leaving the Irish to become minority-party Democratic civil servants. This situation lasts until 1932. The parties become non-ideological. Statists prevailed.Lecture 4 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University.

Category: Messages, 2008, July 2008 Verses:

Although it surely would have grieved him had he lived to see it, Martin Luther's legacy in the years after his death a Century of war. This war didn't only pit Catholics against Protestants. Various factions among the Protestants warred with each other. If the Reformers hoped to purify the Church of both theological error and political corruption, they may have succeeded in the first endeavor but failed miserably in the second. Those who want to use religion for personal ends don't care what face the mask bears, so long as it gets the job done. Some of the more devastating wars included the French wars of religion, the Dutch revolt against Philip II of Spain, the attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada, the 30 Years War in Germany, and the Puritan revolution in England.The 17th C was a time of theological and political entrenchment. European Christendom was now divided into four groups: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and the Anabaptists. The first three became officially associated with regions and their governments, while Anabaptists, after their disastrous failure at Munster, learned their lesson and sought to live out their faith independently of entanglements with civil authority. During the 17th C, Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed developed impenetrable confessional bulwarks against one another.As we saw in a previous episode, Catholic orthodoxy achieved its definitive shape with the Council of Trent in the mid-16th C. The Jesuits played a major role at Trent, especially in answering the challenge presented by Luther's view on justification and grace. The Council affirmed the importance of the sacraments and the Roman church's theological position on the Eucharist. At Trent, the Jesuits affirmed the importance Thomism, that is, the work of Thomas Aquinas, in setting doctrine. The triumph of Thomism at Trent set the future trajectory of Catholic theology.In the last episode, we looked at the rise of Protestant Scholasticism in post-reformation Europe. While Protestant orthodoxy is concerned with correct theological content, Protestant Scholasticism had more to do with methodology.From the mid-16th thru 17th C, Protestant orthodoxy clarified, codified, and defended the work of the early Reformers. Then, after the careers of the next generation of Reformers, it's convenient to identify three phases orthodoxy moved through. Early orthodoxy runs from the mid-16th to mid-17th C. It was a time when Lutheran and Reformed groups developed their Confessions.  High orthodoxy goes from the mid- to late 17th C. This was a time of conflict when the Confessions hammered out earlier were used as a litmus test of faith and formed battlelines to fight over. Late orthodoxy covers the 18th C, when the people of Europe began to ask why, if Protestant confessions were true, rather than leading to the Peace the Gospel promised, they lead instead to war, death, and widespread misery.In truth, people had been asking that question for a lot longer than that; ever since the Church and State became pals back in the 4th C. But it wasn't till the 18th they felt the freedom to voice their concerns publicly without the certainty they'd be set on by the authorities.As Protestants and Catholics identified their differing theological positions, they became increasingly mindful of their methodology in refining their Confessions. Each appealed to the intellectual high ground, claiming a superior method for defining terms and reasoning. This was the age when there was a return by Christian theologians to Aristotelian logic.Once the Council of Trent concluded and the Roman Church fixed its position, the opportunity for theological dialogue between Protestants and Catholics came to a firm end. After that it was simply up to the various major groups to fine tune their Confessions, then fire salvos at any and everyone who differed. It was the Era of Polemics; of diatribes and discourses disparaging those who dared to disagree.In a previous episode we dealt with the career of Jacob Hermanzoon; AKA Jacobus Arminius. Arminius rejected the Calvinism promulgated by Calvin's protégé Theodore Beza. Arminius' followers developed what they called the Remonstrance, a five-part summary of what they understood Arminius' positions to be on key issues of Reformed Theology. A theological and, wouldn't you just know it, political controversy ensued that was addressed at the Synod of Dort. The Synod declared Arminius a heretic, the Remonstrance in error, and the five-petals of the Calvinist Tulip were framed in response to the five-points of the Remonstrance. A few Arminianist leaders were either executed or jailed while some two-hundred pastors were removed and replaced with Dort-aligned ministers. Despite this, the Arminianist-position endured and continued to hold sway over the conscience of many.A couple decades after the Synod of Dort, another controversy surfaced among Reformed churches in France. It centered on the work of the brilliant theologian Moses Amyraut, professor at the then famous School of Samur. Amyraut took issue with one of the articles of the Canons of Dort, the doctrine of limited atonement. He argued for unlimited atonement, believing that Christ's atonement was sufficient for all humanity, but efficient only for the elect. His view is sometimes known as “Hypothetical Universalism” far more commonly as four-point Calvinism.In A Short Treatise on Predestination published in 1634, Amyraut proposed that God fore-ordained a universal salvation through the sacrifice of Christ for all but that salvation wouldn't be effectual unless appropriated by personal faith.Amyraut's modification of Calvinism came to be labeled as Amyraldism and led to recurring charges of heresy. Amyraut was exonerated, yet opposition endured in many churches of France, Holland, and Switzerland.Sadly, after Luther's death, the movement that bore his name fell into disarray and in-fighting. Lutherans broke into 2 main camps. Those who claimed to stay strictly loyal to Martin, and those who followed his cheif assistant, Philip Melancthon. They remained at something of a theological stalemate until the Formula of Concord in 1577, the definitive statement of Lutheran orthodoxy. Much of the destruction of the Thirty-Years War took place on German soil. Agriculture collapsed, famine spread, and universities closed. By the end the war, there were at least 8 million fewer people in Germany.The Peace of Westphalia made room for Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, depending on the religious leaning of the ruler. Weary of bloodshed, the three communions withdrew behind polemic-firewalls. Instead of firing cannonballs at each other, they lobbed theological word-bombs.Pietism was a kind of war-weary reaction to the new scholasticism the theology of Lutheranism settled into. Pietists viewed what was happening in the retrenchment in Lutheran theology as a “deadening orthodoxy” that stole the life out of faith. Pietism didn't set out to establish a new church. It simply sought a renewal that would turn dead orthodoxy in a living faith. Pietism saw itself as an Ecclesiola in Ecclesia, that is, “a little church within the larger church.”It seems Pietism has been loaded with a lot of emotional baggage and negative connotation of late. Critics today regard Pietists as aiming to privatize their faith, to withdraw from the public square and divorce faith from the wider world. To use Jesus' term, they see pietism as an attempt to hide you light under a basket, to put the city, not just in a valley, but in a cave. While some Pietists did privatize faith, that wasn't the goal of Pietism.It was a movement that simply sought to keep piety, the practice of godliness, as a vital and integral part of daily life. It was understood that godliness wasn't the result of rules and regulations but of a genuine relationship with God. Pietism was a reaction to the dead orthodoxy of the State-approved Lutheranism of the early 17th C.This is not to say scholastic theologians were all lifeless profs. Some of them produced moving hymns and stirring devotional writings. But, if we're honest, we'd have to say the practical faith of a large portion of Protestant scholastics had indeed become moribund.Philipp Jakob Spener is known as the “Father of German Pietism.” Born at Rappoltsweiler in 1635, Spener was raised by his godmother and her chaplain, Joachim Stoll who became Spener's mentor. Stoll introduced him to writings of the English Puritans.Spener went on to study theology at Strasbourg, where his main professor was Johann Dannhauer, a leading Lutheran theologian of 17th C. Dannhauer deeply inspired the young Spener.When he entered his first pastorate in Frankfurt in 1666, Spener was convinced of the necessity of a reformation within Lutheranism. His sermons emphasized the necessity for a lively faith and holiness in daily life. His most significant innovation was the establishment in 1670 of what today we'd call small groups. These were gatherings of about a dozen church members in homes to discuss sermons, devotional reading, and mutual edification.In 1675, Spener was asked to write a preface for a collection of sermons by Johann Arndt. The result was the famous Pia Desideria (= Pious Wishes), which became an introduction to German Pietism.While this is a bit more detailed than our usual fare here on CS, I thought it might be interesting to hear the main points Spener made in the Pious Wishes.He enumerates 6 things as important for the Church to embrace. . .1) He called for “a more extensive use of the Word of God.” To that end, Spener advocated small groups to encourage greater study of the Bible.(2) He urged a renewed focus on the role of the laity in Christian ministry.(3) He placed an emphasis on the connection between doctrine and living.(4) He counseled restraint and charity in theological disputes.(5) He urged reform in the education of ministers. They ought to be trained in piety and devotion as well as academics.(6) He said preaching ought to edify and be understandable by common folk, rather than sermons being technical discourses only an educated few could understand.Spener's Pious Wishes won him many followers, but aroused strong opposition among Lutheran theologians and not a few fellow pastors. Despite criticism, the movement grew rapidly.Pietism had the good fortune of seeing Spener succeeded by August Francke. Francke was born in Lübeck and graduated from the University of Leipzig, where he excelled in biblical languages. While a student in 1687, he experienced a dramatic and emotionally charged conversion, which he described as the “great change.” Francke's conversion became something of a model for Pietism. In order for conversion to be considered legitumate, it needed to be preceded by a profound conviction of sin that's a datable event to which one can point for confirmation.Returning to Leipzig, Francke led a revival in the college that spilled over into the town. It provoked conflict, and Francke was expelled from the city. At this point the term “Pietist” was first coined by a detractor, Joachim Feller, professor of rhetoric at the university. A Pietist, Feller asserted, was “someone who studies God's Word and, in his own opinion, also leads a holy life.”By this time, Francke had become closely associated with Spener. It was due to Spener's influence Francke was appointed to the chair of Greek and Oriental languages at the new University of Halle. Francke emerged as the natural successor to Spener. From his position at Halle he exercised enormous influence in preparing a generation of Pietist pastors and missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, the university showed what Pietism could mean when put into practice. In rapid succession, Francke opened a school for poor children, an orphanage, a home for indigent widows, an institute for the training of teachers, a medical clinic, a home for street beggars, a publishing house for Christian literature, and the famous Paedagogium, a preparatory school for upper-class students.For 36 years his energetic endeavors established Halle as the center of German Pietism. Together, Spener and Francke created a true Ecclesiola in ecclesia.Spener and Francke inspired other groups of Pietism. Count Nikolas von Zinzendorf, was Spener's godson and Francke's pupil. Zinzendorf organized refugees from Moravia on his estate and later shepherded them in reviving the Bohemian Unity of the Brethren.The Moravians carried their concern for personal piety literally around the world. This was of huge significance for English Christianity when John Wesley found himself in their company during his voyage to Georgia in 1735. What he witnessed in their behavior and heard in their faith after returning to England led to his own spiritual awakening.

The title of this episode is Moravians and Wesley.We took a look at Pietism in an earlier episode. Pietism was a reaction to the dry dogmatism of Protestant Scholasticism and the reductionist rationalism of Enlightenment philosophers. It aimed to renew a living faith in a living Christ.As a movement, it was led in the 17th C by Philip Jakob Spener and August Francke.Spener's godson was a German Count named Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, who even as a child bore a deep devotion to God.  His parents were devout Pietists and sent him to the University of Halle, where he studied under the Pietist leader Francke. Later he went to Wittenberg, a center of Lutheran orthodoxy, where he repeatedly clashed with his teachers. After travel and study at law, he married and entered the service of the Court of Dresden. There Zinzendorf first met a group of Moravians who changed the course of his life.Moravia lies in the southeast of what today is the Czech Republic. Moravians were Hussites; long-time adherents to the renewal begun by Jan Hus. They were forced by persecution to forsake their native lands. Zinzendorf offered them asylum. There they founded the community of Herrnhut. It so appealed to Zinzendorf he resigned his cushy post in Dresden and joined it. Under his direction, the Moravians became part of the local Lutheran parish. But the Lutherans were unwilling to trust foreigners who were also Pietists.In 1731, while visiting Denmark, Zinzendorf met a group of Inuit believers brought to faith in Christ by the Lutheran missionary Hans Egede.  This kindled in the Count an interest in missions that would dominate the rest of his life. Soon the community at Herrnhut was on fire with the same zeal, and in 1732 its first missionaries left for the Caribbean. A few years later there were Moravian missionaries in Africa, India, and the Americas. They founded the communities of Bethlehem and Nazareth in Pennsylvania, and Salem, North Carolina. In just twenty years a movement that began with two hundred refugees had more missionaries overseas than had been sent out by all Protestant churches since the Protestant Reformation a couple of centuries earlier.In the meantime, conflicts with Lutherans back home in Germany grew. Zinzendorf was banned from Saxony and traveled to North America, where in 1741 he was present at the founding of the Bethlehem township. Shortly after his return to home, peace was hammered out between Lutherans and Moravians. It failed to last. Zinzendorf agreed to become a bishop for the Moravians, from a spiritual line of ecclesiastical authority reaching back to Jan Hus. Lutherans didn't recognize Hus; they wanted the Count's authority to link to Luther. This is odd since Luther honored Hus as an influence in the development of his own ideas.A personal aside. What silly things Christians bicker over. Doesn't a person's spiritual authority rest in their being called by God, not man? What matter is it that it comes through this or that one-time leader? It's the original source that matters.Zinzendorf died at Herrnhut in 1760, and shortly after, his followers broke with Lutheranism. Although the Moravian church never had a large membership and was unable to continue sending so many missionaries, its example contributed to the great missionary awakening of the 19th C. Perhaps the greatest significance of the movement was its impact on John Wesley and, through him, the Methodist tradition.In late 1735, early ‘36, a group of Moravians sailed to North America hoping to preach to the Indians of Georgia. Onboard was a young Anglican priest, named John Wesley, whom the Georgia Governor Oglethorpe had invited to serve as a pastor in Savannah. The young Wesley accepted the offer and hoped to preach to Indians. The early part of the voyage was calm and Wesley learned enough German to communicate with the Moravians. Then the weather turned and the ship was soon in real danger. The mainmast split, and panic nearly ruined the crew. The Moravians, by contrast were utterly calm and sang hymns throughout the ordeal. Meanwhile, Wesley, chaplain of the vessel, came to the realization he was more concerned for himself than his shipmates. After the storm, the Moravians told him they were able to brave the storm and reality of death because of their conviction their lives were in God's hands, and should they perish at sea, they would but pass into the Hands of their glorious King. Wesley simply couldn't relate to that kind of peace born of faith in the God he served.Arriving in Savannah, Wesley asked one of the Moravians named Gottlieb Spangenberg for advice regarding his work as a pastor and missionary. He left a record in his diary of the conversation:Spangenberg asked, “My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit, that you are a child of God?”Wesley wrote, “I was surprised, and knew not what to answer. He observed it, and asked, ‘Do you know Jesus Christ?' I paused, and said, ‘I know he is the Savior of the world.' ‘True,' replied he; ‘but do you know he has saved you?' I answered, ‘I hope he has died to save me.' He only added, ‘Do you know yourself ?' I said, ‘I do.'Then Wesley adds, “But I fear they were vain words.”These experiences left Wesley both profoundly moved and confused. He'd always thought himself a good Christian. His father, Samuel, was an Anglican priest, and his mother Susanna the daughter of another. She'd been particularly careful in the religious instruction of her (get this) nineteen children. When John was five, fire broke out in their home. He was miraculously saved, and after that his mother thought of him as “a brand plucked from the burning.” There was little doubt in her mind God had a special plan for him.At Oxford, Wesley distinguished himself academically and in religious devotion. After helping his father's parish work, he returned to Oxford, where he joined a religious society founded by his brother Charles and a group of friends. Its members made a covenant to lead a holy and sober life, to take communion weekly, to be faithful in private devotions, to visit prisons, and spend three hours every afternoon, studying scripture and reading devotionals together. Since John was the only ordained priest among them and since he possessed an aptitude to teach, he was the group's leader. It didn't take long before other students mocked the group, calling it the “holy club” because of their methodical lifestyle è Leading to them being called “Methodists.”All that preceded his trip to Georgia. But now, he began to doubt the depth of his faith. Adding to this was the fact he failed miserably as a pastor. He expected his parishioners to behave as his holy club back in England. For their part, his parishioners expected him to be content with their attendance in church. John's brother Charles, also in Georgia serving under Governor Oglethorpe, was disappointed with his work as well and decided to return to England. John stayed on, only because he refused to give up. Then he was forced to leave under messy circumstances. A young woman he'd courted but broken up with married another. Wesley, judging her fickle, denied her communion. He was sued for defamation. Angry at this treatment, though mostly self-inflicted, he returned to England, to the rejoicing of the people of Georgia glad to be rid of their depressed and depressing minister.At a low point and not knowing what else to do, Wesley contacted the Moravians. Peter Boehler became Wesley's counselor and confidant. He concluded while Wesley had the facts of theology down, he has yet to personally trust in Christ. He recommended that until John possessed the confidence he was indeed born again, he should stop preaching.Finally, on May 24, 1738, Wesley had the experience that changed his life. He wrote …In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.Wesley no longer had any doubt of his salvation. The obsession he'd had before about wondering if he was saved was replaced by a confidence that freed him to turn his considerable intellect to other things. Mostly, to the salvation of others. He went immediately to visit the Moravian community at Herrnhut. Although inspiring, the visit convinced him Moravian spirituality was ill-suited to his temperament and involvement in social issues. In spite of his gratitude at the role they played in leading him into saving faith, he decided to not become a Moravian.While all that was taking place, another former member of the “holy club,” George Whitefield, had become a famous preacher. A few years earlier Whitefield was moved by an experience similar to Wesley's at Aldersgate. He now divided his time between his parish in Georgia and preaching in England, where he had remarkable success, especially at the industrial center of Bristol. Whitefield's preaching was emotional, and when critics objected to the way he used the pulpit he began preaching in outdoors; in the open air, as he had in Georgia where the rules about when and where pastors could preach were less strict than back in England. When the work in Bristol multiplied and he knew he'd need to soon return to Georgia, Whitefield asked Wesley to help by taking charge during his absence.Wesley accepted Whitefield's invitation. But Whitefield's fiery preaching was not Wesley's cup of tea. He objected to open-air preaching. Later he commented on those early days, declaring that at that time he was so convinced God wished everything to be done in order, that he assumed it a sin to save souls outside a church. Over time, in view of the incredible results and dramatic conversions, Wesley gave a reluctant nod to open-air work. He was also worried about the response to his preaching since it was so very different from Whitefield's. But people often exhibited the same kind of response to his preaching they had to Whitefield's. Some wept loudly and lamented their sins. Others collapsed in anguish. They'd then express great joy, declaring they were wonderfully cleansed. Wesley preferred more solemn proceedings but eventually decided what was taking place was a struggle between the devil and the Holy Spirit, and he ought not hinder God's work. Over time, these emotion-filled reactions of new converts diminished.Wesley and Whitefield worked together for some time, although Wesley eventually became the leader of the movement. They eventually parted due of theological differences. Both were Calvinists in most matters; but, on the issue of predestination and free will, Wesley departed from orthodox Calvinism, preferring the Arminian position. After several debates, the friends decided each should follow his own path, and that they'd avoid controversies. That agreement was kept well by their followers. With the help of the Countess of Huntingdon, Whitefield organized the Calvinist Methodist Church, the strongest in Wales.Wesley had no interest in founding a new denomination. He was an Anglican, and throughout his life remained so. His goal was to cultivate the faith of the populace of England, much as Pietism was doing in Germany among Lutherans. He avoided scheduling his preaching in conflict with the services of the Church of England, and always took for granted that Methodist meetings would serve as preparation to attend Anglican worship and take communion there. For him, as for most of the Church through the centuries, the center of worship was communion. This he took and expected his followers to take as frequently as possible, in the official services of the Church of England.Although the movement had no intention of becoming a separate church, it did need some organization. In Bristol, the birthplace of the movement, Wesley's followers organized into societies that at first met in private homes and later had their own buildings. When Methodist societies grew too large for the effective care of their members, Wesley followed a friend's suggestion and divided them into classes, each with eleven members and a leader. These met weekly to read Scripture, pray, discuss religious matters, and collect funds. To be a class leader, it wasn't necessary to be wealthy or educated. That gave significant participation to many who felt left out of the Church of England. It also opened the door to women who took a prominent place in Methodism.The movement grew rapidly, and Wesley traveled throughout the British Isles, preaching and organizing his followers. The movement needed more to share the task of preaching. A few Anglican priests joined. Most noteworthy among them was John's brother Charles, famous for his hymns. But John Wesley carried the greatest burden, preaching several times a day and traveling thousands of miles on horseback every year, until the age of seventy.Conflicts in the movement weren't lacking. In the early years, there were frequent acts of violence against Methodists. Some of the nobility and clergy resented the authority the new movement gave people from the lower classes. Meetings were frequently interrupted by thugs and toughs hired by the movement's opponents. Wesley's life was often threatened. As it became clear opposition did nothing to slow or stop it, they gave up.There were theological conflicts. Wesley grudgingly broke with the Moravians, whose inclination toward a contemplative Quietism he feared.But the most significant conflicts were with the Anglican Church, to which Wesley belonged and in which he hoped to remain. Until his last days, he reprimanded Methodists who wanted to break with the Church of England. They saw something he seemed unwilling to see, that a breach was unavoidable. Some Anglican authorities regarded the Methodist movement as an indication of their shortcomings and resented it. Others felt the Methodist practice of preaching any and everywhere, without regard for ecclesiastical boundaries, was a serious breach of protocol. Wesley saw and understood these concerns, but thought the needs of the lost trump all such concerns.A difficult legal decision made matters tenser. According to English law, non-Anglican worship services and church buildings were to be allowed, but they had to be officially registered. That put Methodists in a difficult place since the Church of England didn't acknowledge their meetings and buildings. If they registered, it would be a declaration they weren't Anglicans. If they didn't, they'd be breaking the law. In 1787, after much hesitation, Wesley told his preachers to register, and the first legal step was taken toward the formation of a separate church. Three years earlier, Wesley took a step that had even more drastic implications, at least theologically. For a long time, as a scholar of Patristics, the study of the Church Fathers, Wesley was convinced that in the early church the term bishop was synonymous with elder and pastor. That led him to the conviction all ordained presbyters, including himself, had the power to ordain. But he refrained from employing it to avoid further alienating the Anglican leaders.The independence of the United States posed different difficulties. During the Revolutionary War, most Anglican clergy were Loyalists. After independence, most of them returned to England. That made it difficult, impossible even, for US citizens to partake of communion. The bishop of London, who still had jurisdiction over the former colonies, refused to ordain clergy for the United States. Wesley deplored what he took to be the unwarranted rebellion of Britain's former colonies, both because he was a staunch supporter of the king's authority and because he could not fathom how the rebels could claim that they were fighting for freedom while they themselves held slaves. But, convinced communion was the heart of Christian worship, Wesley felt that no matter what their political stance, US citizens ought not to be deprived of the Lords' table.So in 1784, he ordained two lay preachers as presbyters for the new country and made Anglican priest Thomas Coke their bishop. Later, he ordained others to serve in Scotland and elsewhere. In spite of having taken these steps, Wesley continued insisting on the need to avoid breaking with the Church of England. Charles told him the ordination of ministers for the New World was a break. In 1786, the Methodist leaders decided that in those places where the Anglican church was neglecting its Gospel duties, it was permitted to hold Methodist meetings at the same time as Anglican services.Although Wesley refused to acknowledge it, by the time of his death in 1791, Methodism had become a separate church.

This episode is title “Pressed.”In our last episode, we took a look at the French church of the 17th C and considered the contest between the Catholic Jansenists and Jesuits.It's interesting realizing the Jansenists began as a theological movement that looks quite similar to Calvinism. Their theology eventually spilled over into the political realm and undercut the Divine Right of Kings, a European political system that had held sway in for centuries, and reached its apex in France under Louis XIV, granting him the august title of The Sun KingIn this episode, we'll take a look at what happened to the French Protestants, the Huguenots.By the mid 16th century, Huguenots were 10% of the French population. They hoped all France would one day adopt the Reformed Faith. But their hopes were shattered by defeat in nine political and religious wars.You may remember from an earlier episode that Henry IV, a convert to Catholicism from Protestantism, that conversion being a purely pragmatic and political maneuver, granted the Huguenots limited rights in the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Thirty years later, those rights were revoked by the Peace of Alais. Then the fortified Protestant city of La Rochelle surrendered in 1628, ending any hope of France's conversion to Protestantism.For twenty-four years, Louis XIV waged a devastating anti-Protestant campaign. Nearly 700 Reformed churches were closed or torn down. And in 1685, Louis replaced the Edict of Nantes with the Edict of Fontainebleau.He ordered uniformed troops called dragoons to move into the Huguenot homes in Protestant centers. These troops were allowed by the king's decree to use whatever means they wanted, short of murder and rape, to intimidate Huguenots into converting to Catholicism.Some 200,000 Huguenots fled France. They took refuge in Geneva, Prussia, England, and North America. Those refugees were often people of great learning and skill who enriched the intellectual and economic life of their adopted realms.But thousands of Huguenots stayed in France. Many made a show-conversion to Catholicism, while secretly remaining Protestants. They formed an underground church known as the “Church of the Desert.”  From 1684 to 98, twenty Huguenot pastors were hunted and killed.Louis XIV feared the Huguenots because he equated them with the Puritan rebels who'd executed Charles I in England in 1649. Louis was also in competition with the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, for hegemony in Europe. Allowing a large and politically powerful Protestant base in his realm didn't commend Louis as a strong Catholic leader. He already faced criticism for not sending troops to defend Vienna from invading Turks while Leopold had. It was Louis's plan to attack the Turks AFTER they'd taken Vienna! His plan fell apart when the Europeans managed to defeat the enemy before Vienna's walls.Louis' suspicion of the Huguenots seemed justified by the Camisard War of 1702 to 4. They called for “freedom of conscience” and “no taxes.” Protestant prophets predicted a liberation from their oppressors. But the prophets were proven to be of the false variety when the revolt was put down.In 1726, an underground seminary for young men was established in Lausanne, Switzerland. It received financial support from Protestants in Switzerland, England, and the Netherlands. Studies lasted from six months to three years. After that, graduates returned to minister to outlawed churches in France. If captured, they were executed.During the Seven Years War, known in the US as the French and Indian War, French Protestants became the beneficiaries of unofficial toleration. While no friend to Christianity, Voltaire assisted Huguenots by writing a book defending toleration. Finally, in the Edict of Toleration of 1787, Louis XVI gave Huguenots the right to worship.But in the three years BEFORE that, 7000 Huguenots were executed, another 2000 forced to serve in the French Navy, a kind of living death if you know anything about the life of a lowly sailor at that time.After 1760, some Reformed pastors, influenced by Voltaire, moved toward theological liberalism.From the late 17th to late 18th century, what we know as Germany today was a patchwork quilt of over 300 mostly autonomous principalities, kingdoms, electorates, duchies, bishoprics, and other political enclaves. Rarely used, the term “Germany” meant a nebulous region that included many of these regions, much like the term “Europe” refers to a continent with many nations. Germany was just one part of a larger entity known as the Holy Roman Empire. That realm included 1,800 territories. Places like Poland, the Hapsburg Empire, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Transylvania, and Italy.A Council of Electors, ranging from seven to nine, picked the Holy Roman Emperor.The Emperor's ability to raise armies, collect taxes, and make laws was often hampered by the many groups in the empire that enjoyed a measure of their own sovereignty. The fiction known as the Holy Roman Empire ended under Napoleon.In the 1740s, Frederick the Great, King of Brandenburg-Prussia from the Hohenzollern family and Calvinists since 1613, challenged the Hapsburg's power. At the outset of the War of the Austrian Succession, Frederick's troops seized Silesia and Prussians became THE military power in Europe.In Germany, the leading kingdoms were Brandenburg-Prussia, Saxony, the Rhineland Palatinate, Hanover, and Bavaria. Following the principle established by the Peace of Westphalia, the religion of these kingdoms was that of their prince.While Bavaria was staunchly Catholic, Brandenburg-Prussia was Calvinist with strong pietistic leanings. The rest of Germany was Lutheran of the pietist mold. A unified Germany nation would not emerge until the days of the “Iron Chancellor” Otto von Bismarck in the second half of the 19th century.The emergence of Prussia as a great military power in the 18th century impressed their European neighbors. The kingdom's army of some 83,000 ranked fourth in size among the European powers, though its landmass was a tenth of the area and only thirteenth in population. Its rulers promoted a disciplined lifestyle like that of the Pietists as a model for Prussian bureaucrats, military, and nobles (called Junkers). The highly militaristic Frederick III ruled Brandenburg from 1688 to 1713. Being reformed in theology, he encouraged French Huguenots who'd fled France to settle in his kingdom. In 1694, he founded the University of Halle as a Lutheran university. He welcomed Pietists like Jakob Spener and Hermann Francke. In 1698, Francke began teaching theology there. Frederick III made the University of Konigsberg another Pietist center.In his work Pious Desires, published in 1675, Spener, who you'll remember was the founder of Pietism, centered his call for reform of the Church in the faithful teaching and application of Scripture. He called for daily private Bible reading and meditation and the reading of Scripture in small groups.Spener urged that pastoral training schools should not be places for theological wrangling, but as “workshops of the Holy Spirit.” Nor should seminary professors seek glory by authoring lofty tomes filled with showy erudition. They ought instead to be examples of humble service. Spener emphasized the priesthood of ALL believers. Ministers should seek help from laypeople to assist in the task of tending to the needs of a congregation instead of assuming they had to do everything themselves. Spener took this idea from what the Apostle Paul had written in Ephesians 4. As described there, pastors were to equip believers so they could do ministry.At the University of Halle, Hermann Francke insisted that those training for pastoral ministry ought to study Scripture in its original languages of Hebrew and Greek. Francke wrote: “The exegetical reading of Holy Scripture is that which concerns finding and explaining the literal sense intended by the Holy Spirit Himself.”In 1702, Francke founded the Collegium Orientale Theologicum. Advanced students could learn Aramaic, Arabic, Ethiopian, Chaldean, Syriac, and Hebrew.Francke established an orphanage in Halle in 1695. He created schools and businesses including a printing house where orphans could learn a trade. By 1700, Francke's various institutions gained the support of Emperor Frederick III, who valued their contribution in fostering Christian discipline among his students, the Prussian populace, and his soldiers. Francke wanted to make Halle a center for Christian reform and world missions. In anticipation of what George Mueller would later give testimony to, Franke wrote of examples of how he prayed for specific needs and provision came to feed the poor and keep the schools open, sometimes arriving at the last moment. He wrote: “These instances I was willing here to set down so that I might give the reader some idea both of the pressing trials and happy deliverances we have met with; though I am sufficiently convinced that narratives of this kind will seem over-simple and fanciful to the great minds of our age.”On one occasion, Frederick IV, King of Denmark, gave a direct order to his chaplain: “Find me missionaries.” That chaplain asked Francke for help. Francke proposed two students from the University of Halle. The Danish-Halle Mission was launched. On Nov. 29, 1705, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau set sail for India. Eight months later they arrived. They were dismayed to discover the horrid immorality of the Europeans there. Claiming to be Christians, the Indians assumed all believers in Christ were immoral. There was great resistance to the Gospel at first, but the missionaries' faithfulness eventually softened the hearts of the Hindus. Ziegenbalg translated the Bible into Tamil and set up a school and a missionary college before he died at the age of 36.Christian Schwartz also served as a missionary in India. Johann Steinmetz ministered in Teschen, Silesia, Moravia, and Bohemia. Others took the gospel to Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. Halle missionaries met the physical and spiritual needs of captured Swedish troops who, when they returned to Sweden, spread Pietism in their homeland. Sixty students went forth from the University of Halle as missionaries.The press of the Bible Institute in Halle produced more than 80,000 copies of complete Bibles and another 100,000 copies of the New Testament.In 1713, the Pietitst Frederick William I became king. He not only built up the military, he funded the production of thousands of Bibles so that all his subjects could read it for themselves. When he died in 1727, some 2000 students attended the school in Halle. His orphanage served as a model for George Whitefield's in Savannah, Georgia.We need to do a bit of summarizing now so we can avoid that thing we've talked about before – the reporting of history as a bunch of dates and names. I'll do so by simply saying the Enlightenment that swept France and England, also impacted Germany. The original faculty of the University at Halle would have been shocked to see the way later professors turned away from what they considered orthodoxy.We'll jump ahead to a bit later in the 18th century and the work of Johann Semler considered the Founder of German Higher Criticism.Semler began teaching at Halle in 1751. He'd been a student of professors who merged Enlightenment philosophy with the Faith. For twenty-two years, from 1757 till ‘79, Semler was the most influential of the German theologians. He called for a more liberal investigation of the Bible, one not tethered to long-held orthodox assumptions about the canon of Scripture or its infallibility.Semler held forth that religion and theology ought not be linked. He also set a divide between what he called the “Word of God” and “Scripture.” He maintained that not all the books or passages of the Bible were in truth God's Word and that God's Word wasn't limited to the Bible.He taught that the authors of scripture accommodated their writings to the errant ideas of their times, especially the Jews. Sifting out the authentic Word of God from the mythological, local, fallible, and non-inspired dross in Scripture, by which he meant a belief in the supernatural, was the task of the wise Bible student. Then, once the authentic canon within the Bible was identified, real doctrines would need to be parsed.Astonishingly, Semler claimed his ideas were faithful to the work of Martin Luther, which they most certainly were NOT!The reaction to Semler was mixed. Some scholars supported him because his work opened a lot of wiggle-room that allowed them to accommodate the growing popularity of Enlightenment skepticism. But his critics pounced, accusing him of abandoning the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible.When Frederick the Great died in 1786, his nephew Frederick William II became King of Prussia. He attempted to rein in the growing volume of literature now exposing the German populace to heterodoxy; that is, ideas outside the pale of orthodoxy, by passing an edict calling for censorship of any work about God and morality. Any such work was to be submitted to a government commission of censors for approval.  Several Lutheran pastors resigned in protest, and the main publisher of such works moved his operations out of Berlin. The government feared radical expressions of the German Enlightenment would subvert the faith of the people and their loyalty to the State.In March 1758, Johann Hamann was converted to Christ and became a brilliant counter to the Enlightenment. He pointed out the errors in Kant's philosophy and said the light of the so-called “Enlightenment” was cold, more like the moon, compared to that which comes from the Sun of Christian revelation in Scripture and nature.

This episode is titled Coming ApartEurope in the late 19th C was recovering from the Napoleonic Wars. War-weary, nations longed for a prolonged peace in which to take a breath, and consider HOW they were going to rebuild from the devastation recent conflicts had left. A plethora of new economic and political theories were available for them to choose from as they rebuilt. Most settled on economic and political ideas that were more liberal toward individual rights. The prosperity that marked Holland became a model for a good part of Europe as they moved to a free-market system. With few exceptions, the governments of Europe adopted modified parliamentary systems.This is the time when Europe moved from kingdoms to the more modern notion of nation-states.  Religious affiliation keying off the Reformation and Counter-reformation often played a part in defining borders. For instance, under the influence of Prussian leadership, Germany was fiercely Protestant while Austria was doggedly Roman Catholic. Belgium was Catholic while The Netherlands were Protestant.But maybe the most important development that occurred from the mid to late 19th C in Europe was the escalating divide between church and state.Following the Reformation, in those regions where Protestantism reigned, the church maintained a relationship with the State, much as the Catholic Church had before. But after the French Revolution, things changed. This was due to the emerging power of civil governments no longer beholden to clerical authority. The laisse-faire economics practiced across Europe birthed an economic boom that had a remarkable impact on the way people regarded much more than just economics. While many nations kept a State church subsidized by public funds, there was a boom in free churches supported solely by the offerings of their members. Being economically independent, they didn't see the need to comply with some overarching ecclesiastical hierarchy. Freedom of thought and the freedom of the individual conscience so exalted by Enlightenment philosophy was linked solidly to the Reformation principle of Sola Scriptura, so that people valued their right to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. It got to the point where the free churches considered themselves as the real bastions of orthodoxy since their doctrine wasn't tainted by economic interests and the need to endorse the State in order to keep their subsidy.While Great Britain followed a parallel track to that of the Continent in the 19th C, the Industrial Revolution had a greater impact there. The Industrial Revolution benefitted the middle class and those entrepreneurs who rode its wave, while diminishing the wealth and influence of the old nobility and pulverizing the poor. The too-rapid growth of cities led to overcrowding, slums, and increased crime. The poor lived in miserable conditions and were exploited at work. That led to a mass migration to the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It also led to the birth of the Labor Party which became a potent force in British politics. It was in England, against the back-drop of the abuses of the Industrial Revolution, that Karl Marx developed many of his economic theories.All this influenced the Church in England. During the French Revolution, it held several of the evils that had characterized the worst of the medieval church: Errors such as clerical absenteeism and holding multiple church offices for nothing more than personal gain. Then, a major renewal shook the Church of England. A reform-minded clergy took charge and bolstered by laws enacted by Parliament, were able to roll back the abuses. These reformers where of the Evangelical movement within Anglicanism, Pietists who longed to move away from the high-church magisterialism of Anglicanism to a greater solidarity with Continental Protestantism. A counter-movement responded in the Oxford movement, which  produced a kind of Anglo-Catholicism. Heavily influenced by Romanticism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the Oxford movement emphasized the authority of tradition, apostolic succession, and Communion, rather than preaching, as the center of Christian worship.But it was in the free churches in England that most spiritual vitality was found during the late 19th C. The growth of the middle-class resulted in an surge in membership at free churches. Outreaches to the poor helped alleviate the suffering of tens of thousands. Others worked to enact laws to curb abuse of workers. This was also a time a massive missionary outreach from England. In a desire to help the poor, Sunday Schools were started. Others organized the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA, as well as a women's version, YWCA. New denominations were born, like the Salvation Army, whose primary focus was to help urban poor.Methodists, Quakers, and others led in the founding of labor unions, prison reform, and child labor laws. But the most important accomplishment of British Christians during the 19th C was the abolition of slavery. Quakers and Methodists had condemned slavery for yrs. But now, thanks to the leadership of William Wilberforce and other believers, the British government ended slavery. They first ended the slave trade. Then decreed freedom for slaves in the Caribbean. Following that, slavery ended in other English colonies. The British prevailed on other nations to end the slave trade. The British Navy was authorized to use force against slavers. Soon, most Western nations had abolished slavery.In the Portuguese and Spanish colonies of Latin America in the 19th C, the tension between the immigrants recently arrived from Europe called peninsulares;, and the criollos; descendants of earlier immigrants, was high. The criollos had become wealthy by exploitation of Indians and slaves. They thought themselves more astute at running the affairs of the colony than the recently arrived peninsulares. The problem was, the peninsulares had been appointed to both governmental and ecclesiastical positions by officials back home. Despite the fact that the wealth of the colonies had been dug out by the sweat and toil of the native population and imported slaves, the criollos claimed they were the cause of the wealth. So they resented the intrusion of the peninsulares. Although remaining faithful subjects, they abhorred laws that favored the home country at the expense of the colonies. Since they had the means to travel to Europe, many of them returned home imbued with the new political and economic ideologies of the Continent. The criollos were to Latin America what the bourgeoisie was to France.In 1808, Napoleon deposed Spain's King Ferdinand VII, and replaced him with his brother Joseph Bonaparte. Resistance to King Joe centered at Cadiz, where a council called a “junta” ruled in the name of the deposed Spanish monarch. Local juntas were also set up Latin America. The colonies began ruling themselves, in the name of the Spanish king. Then when Ferdinand was restored in 1814, instead of gratitude for those who'd preserved his territories, he reversed all that the juntas had done. When he abolished the constitution the Cadiz junta had issued, the reaction was so strong he had to reinstate it. In the colonies, the criollo resentment was so strong to his iron-fisted attempt to re-assert control, they rebelled. In what is today Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay—the junta simply ignored the mandates from Spain and continued governing until independence was proclaimed in 1816. Two years later, Chile followed suit. To the north, Simón Bolívar's army defeated the Spanish and proclaimed independence for Greater Colombia; which was eventually broken up into Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama. Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivar soon joined the independence parade.Brazilian independence came about as fallout from the Napoleonic Wars. In 1807, fleeing Napoleon's armies, the Portuguese court took refuge in Brazil. In 1816, João [joo-auo] VI was restored to rule but showed no desire to return to Portugal until forced to 5 years later. He left his son Pedro as regent of Brazil. When HE was called back to Portugal, Pedro refused and proclaimed Brazilian independence. He was crowned Emperor Pedro I. But he was never really allowed to rule as his title implied. He was forced to accept a parliamentary system of government.Events in Mexico followed a different course. The criollos planned a power-grab from the peninsulares but when the conspiracy was discovered, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, proclaimed Mexican independence on Sept 16, 1810 at the head of a motely mob of 60,000 Indians and mestizos—persons of mixed Indian and Spanish blood. When Hidalgo was captured and killed, he was succeeded by the priest José María Morelos. The criollos regained power for a time, but under the leadership of Benito Juárez, native Mexicans re-asserted control. Central America, originally part of Mexico, declared independence in 1821, and later broke up into Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.Haiti's independence was another result of the French Revolution. As soon as the French Revolution deprived the white population on the island of military support, the majority blacks rebelled. Independence was proclaimed in 1804, acknowledged by France in 1825.Throughout the 19th C, the overarching ideological debate in Latin America was between liberals and conservatives. Leaders of both groups belonged to the upper class. And while conservatives tended to be located in a landed aristocracy, liberals found their support among the merchants and intellectuals in urban centers. Conservatives feared freedom of thought and free enterprise while those were cardinal virtues for liberals, because they were modern and were suited to their interests as the merchant class. While conservatives looked to Spain, liberals looked to Great Britain, France, and the USA. But neither group was willing to alter the social order so lower classes could share the wealth. The result was a long series of both liberal and conservative dictatorships, of revolutions, and violence. By the turn of the century, many agreed with Bolívar that the continent was ungovernable. The Mexican Revolution seemed to make the point. It began in 1910 and led to a long period of violence and disorder that impoverished the land and caused many to emigrate.Throughout this colonial period in Latin America, the Church was under Patronato Real = Royal Patronage. The governments of Spain and Portugal appointed the bishops for the colonies. Therefore, the higher offices of the church were peninsulares while criollos and mestizos formed lower clergy. While a few bishops came to support the cause of independence, most supported the crown. After independence, most returned to Spain, leaving their seats empty.Now, we might think, “Well, that's not difficult to sort out. Why didn't those local sees just appoint their own bishops?” They wanted to, but in the tussle between Spain claiming the right to appoint bishops and the locals claiming the right, the Pope wavered. He did so because Spain was still a much-needed ally, while the new nations of Latin America were a substantial part of the Catholic flock. Papal encyclicals tried to walk a thin line between honoring European monarchs while at the same time culling back to the Vatican the ability to name its own bishops. It was a political sticky wicket that dominated the diplomatic scene for years.The attitude of the lower clergy, again, made up mostly of criollos and mestizos, contrasted with that of the bishops who tended conservative. In Mexico, three out of four priests supported the rebellion. Sixteen out of the twenty-nine signatories of Argentina's Declaration of Independence were priests.You may remember the Liberation Theology movement popular across Latin America in the early 80's. It was led largely by Roman Catholic priests. They followed in the footprints of earlier priests from a century before.

One of the features of Church History is the tendency for the theological pendulum to swing to one extreme, then back in the other direction to another. At the risk of being simplistic but in an attempt to keep it brief, let me condense things like this . . .The theological discussion of the early church struggled first with how to understand Jesus and His place in the Godhead; His identity as both God and Man and how both the Son and Holy Spirit related to the Father in the Trinity. Nailing that down with just the right terminology, they then dove deeper into Who Jesus was, seeking to understand how his identity as both God and Man related to each other. All that was the subject & theological fodder for the first great Church Councils and their Creeds that have for the most part come to define Christian Orthodoxy.But theologians didn't all then hang up their scholarly hats and sail off to a tropical isle to lounge in beach chairs and sip fruit drinks with little umbrellas. They kept on theologizing; and theologizing and then theologizing some more. They made a list of all the things people wondered about related to the faith and went in search of answers. When they ran out of questions, they started making new ones up about things people had NOT been wondering over – like, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? And, why would an angel WANT to dance on a pin's head? How big should a pin's head be? à You get the idea.This period of theology began in the 12th C as a part of Medieval Theology and is known as Scholasticism. Some of the names associated with Scholasticism are Anselm, Abelard, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and the Big Daddy of them all Thomas Aquinas who lived during the 13th C.The problem with Scholasticism is that it became a purely academic movement that appealed only to intellectuals. Theology became the realm and prerogative of an elite class of highly educated academics. Gone were the days when theology touched the lives of the common people and informed them about their relationship with God. PRACTICAL theology was set aside in favor of theoretical ponderings on philosophical details. Commoners were too busy trying to survive to pay attention to all that. The Middle Ages in Europe saw a growing disconnect between theology and the common man. Priests, who'd been the interface between the workaday world and the Church, were torn between competing pulls. One pull was the desire to minister to commoners with their needs, pedantic & mundane as they often were. The other attraction was the desire to be honored among their theological peers as a learned & erudite man of the cloth. While some priests eschewed the later appeal in favor of keeping it simple and ministering to the needs of common people, many others succumbed to the draw of the hallowed halls of academia and Scholasticism.The result was that path leading to a moribund church needing renewal and reform we looked at in Season 1 in the series “The Long Road to Reform.”So the theological pendulum swung in Scholasticism way out toward a purely academic philosophizing. Then in the Reformation swung back toward Scripture as the basis of Faith and practice. But the Reformation didn't produce a single brand of Protestantism; it launched a bunch. Each of them took on the task of justifying itself as the right one; most faithful to Scripture. Reformation theologians embarked on a kind of Protestant Scholasticism; at first producing pamphlets, then books and finally several volumes defending their views and attacking others. Polemics, that is works attacking other positions were frequent among Protestant theologians after the Reformation. A polemic became the cause of a reply, which itself would turn to a polemic, which would call up more responses. It was a War of Words & Ideas. Fought with the ammunition of paper & ink, and eventually, with real swords and spears and cannons as lines were drawn and being a heretic became just cause for killing.Just as Catholic Scholasticism helped paved the way for the Reformation, it was inevitable Protestant Scholasticism would prompt its own Response. It came in what's called Pietism, regarded by some as the most important movement between the Refor­mation and theological liberalism.The first stirrings occurred among Calvinists in the late 16th & 17th C in the Northern European reaches of the Netherlands & Germany mainly among Lutherans. It's main leaders were German Lutherans; Philipp Spener, August Francke, and Nikolaus von Zinzendorf. It was picked up and carried along by John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism.By the middle of the 17th C, Protestant dogmaticians defined the fundamentals of saving faith in such elaborate detail no one but an advanced scholar could hope to know them. Theology, which the Early Reformers delighted to return to the common man was once again being sequestered in the skulls of academics. Luther used theology to reform public morality in Wittenberg. Calvin did the same far more systematically in Geneva. Both had the support of the State & a large part of the population. But by the end of the C, it looked like the Reformation had stalled. With rare exception, both nobility & commoners were as immoral as before the Reformation.What came eventually to be called Pietism began simply as several uncoordinated efforts on the part of pastors to get their people to live out what they claimed to believe. There was no thought among these church leaders to start a movement and give it a distinctive label people would write books and do podcasts on hundreds of years later. They didn't think of it as “Pietism;” they considered it normal Christianity – Following Jesus.A forerunner of Pietism was John Arndt. Arndt resisted the trend of his day for pastors to pursue heady theology & advocated instead an intense pursuit of a personal, real, warm relationship with Christ. It wasn't that Arndt rejected theological educations and discussions. It's just that he felt they'd become a substitute for a genuine walk with God. His ideas quickly took root and moved other pastors to a similar message.The first Pietists regarded themselves, not as in­novators, but as heirs of Luther. They weren't launching some new movement; they were getting back to Martin. Pietism did develop distinctive emphases that set it apart from the emerging Lutheran orthodoxy. By far its most important emphasis was its belief in each Christian having a conversion experience in which they were born again. Pietists believed they had more than sufficient warrant for this in what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3 – “You must be born again.” That was NOT an emphasis in standard Lutheranism.Pietism was intensely personal. It urged people to take their commitments as a sacred oath & obligation. In so doing, it made them better members of society and so came to the attention of civil rulers as a useful tool. So it was encouraged.Pietism never became an established church or denomination. Rather, it was a movement that infiltrated most of the Protestant groups of Europe and aboard. It was the Pietistic urge to walk humbly with God that launched may of the distinctives that have marked a vibrant Evangelical Faith. Things like Bible printing and distribution, foreign missions, orphanages & schools, hospitals & ministries for the disabled & elderly. Pietists did all they could to fulfill the commandments to love God & others, and to carry the Gospel to the lost.But, and here's where the swinging pendulum ran too far with the Pietistic reaction to Protestant Scholasticism—In the move to prove true faith changes lives, some Pietists embraced the slogan “Life, not doctrine.” Instead of a balanced Both/And, they advocated an Either/Or that pitted theology against behavior.Orthodoxy & Orthopraxy were divorced.This indifference to doctrine saw Pietism becoming an unwitting ally to the Enlighten-ment's attack on the Central Truth claims of Orthodox Christianity. Then it helped fuel the sentimentalism of the Enlightenment's own pendulum swing into Romanticism.With Pietism's emphasis on the individual experience of conversion and a personal walk with God, the sense of Christian Community took a massive hit as well. Jesus wasn't just the Savior of the world, He was now a PERSONAL Savior; the Savior of ME, rather than US. So, one of The Gospel's greatest attractions, the priority & reality of restored love for God and others that had been so appealing since the first days of the Church, was diluted. Under a maturing Pietism, Christianity went from being a Faith that called people into community through a mutually shared life, to more of an individualistic focus on one's personal experience of conversion & a daily walk with God.A thoughtful reflection on modern Evangelicalism, especially as evidenced in North America, reveals the many connections to Pietism.  Many, maybe most, independent Protestant churches are thoroughly pietistic. Much of crusade-style evangelism flows from the pietistic urge to promote a conversion experience.So, some might ask – Why are we talking about Pietism in a series on Heretics and Heresy?Good question.Pietism itself isn't heretical, not even close. But its history reveals an important truth the wise will glean. In emphasizing one thing, there's the tendency to de-emphasize another. When balance is lost to the swinging pendulum of trends in human society, a door is opened to errors that can do great harm.Pietism's emphasis on personal conversion and the individual's walk with God became an unwitting ally to the Enlightenment's assault on historic, orthodox Christianity. It helped pre-position hundreds of thousands for the sentimentality, emotionalism, and anti-intellectualism of Romanticism.Pietism is one of many reminders that a good thing can become a bad thing when it's not carefully made to be a balanced thing.

In this episode of CS, we'll take a look at something many of our listeners are familiar with; at least, they think their familiar with it – Evangelicalism. Not a few of them would describe themselves as Evangelicals.  But if pressed to describe what exactly that means, they'd be hard pressed to say. And they have little to know awareness of the historical roots of the movement they are indeed a part of. // So, let's start off with a little definition of terms.Evangelicalism is a global movement within Protestantism that crosses denominational lines. Instead of Evangelicals having a comprehensive and extensive list of doctrinal distinctives, they rally round a core of just a few. At the heart of their faith is a conviction that the Gospel, or Evangel, from which they draw their name, is that salvation is by God's grace, received by faith in Jesus Christ's atoning work. Salvation commences with a conversion experience called, being “born again.” They hold to the authority of the Bible as God's Word and the priority of sharing the Gospel message.As a discernable movement, Evangelicalism took form in the 18th C. But it didn't rise out of a vacuum. There were numerous trends that merged to for m it. Most important to Evangelicalism's rise was John Wesley and the Methodists, the Moravians under the leadership of Count Zinzendorf and their community at Hernhutt, and Lutheran Pietism.As we saw in Season 1, Pietism emerged in Germany in the 17th C as a reaction to a moribund Lutheran church. It protested the cold formalism the institutional church had adopted under Protestant scholasticism. Pietists called for a faith that experienced a real relationship with God. It set high standards of piety for both clergy and laity. Pietism crossed all lines in terms of those who embraced it; from those who stayed in the State Church and followed the old rituals, to separatists who rejected such trappings.Pietism jumped its Lutheran hothouse to influence other groups. When it entered the Presbyterian realm in Britain, it took on a concern for Protestant orthodoxy, as well as an openness to revivalism, a tradition that went all the way back to the 1620s. Puritans added an emphasis on the need for personal experience of conversion to be a part of the church, as well as a dedication of individuals to the study of Scripture.With this involvement of Lutherans, Pietists, Presbyterians and Puritans, we'd assume High-Church Anglicans would have stayed far away. But the movement's appeal attracted even some of them. They brought to the burgeoning movement of Evangelicalism several traits that would mark the movement. One was a concern for recapturing the essence of “primitive Christianity,” manifest mainly in imitating the ascetic practices of early Christians, as well as a more frequent celebration of Communion than either he Presbyterian or Puritans followed. Anglicans also encouraged the forming of voluntary religious societies and groups.It was in the 1730s when Evangelicalism emerged as a distinct movement. It was a product of revivals in Old & New England. While the Church had witnessed revivals before, those of the 18th C seemed more fervent and far reaching. It began with the First Great Awakening in the 1730s in New England. Then it hopped the Pond and broke out in England & Wales. This was the time of the careers of such famous revivalist as George Whitefield and the  Wesleys. Pietism entered the Evangelical stream through several ports, but primarily through John Wesley, who was deeply impacted by the example of the Moravians.Established Christians and New Converts alike were emboldened with confidence and enthusiasm to share the Gospel, leading to the conversion of thousands more and the planting of hundreds of new churches.If we're looking for the real dynamism that infused Evangelicalism and made it such a pervasive trait of Protestantism during the 18th & 19th Cs, we could say it was the conviction of those converted to the Faith that they'd really had a supernatural experience of salvation. Their conversion had not just gained them heaven after they died; it ushered them, then and there, into a new relationship with God that became the new center and ordering principle of their lives. And while pastors and other church leaders might have a unique role to play in leading the local church, each individual Christian had equal access to God without the need for the mediation of a priestly class or ritual. Each and every Evangelical felt a very real connection to God and owned a sense of their personal responsibility to apply themselves to the practice of their faith. In other words, the duty of religion for the medieval Christian was traded in for the privilege of relationship for the modern Christian.The dawn of the 19th C was a time of increased outreach both locally and abroad with several mission societies being started. The Second Great Awakening  spanning the transition from the 18th to 19th Cs, was centered largely in the US. It boosted the ranks of Methodist and Baptist churches. Charles Finney was a major figure in this revival.19th C Evangelicalism in England carried a distinct social justice flair. British Evangelicals bore the conviction that their Faith ought to be more than a privately held affair. To be real, it ought to impact the world for good. They became leaders in the movement for reform and the end of corruption in government and commerce. They led the charge for Abolition under such notables as William Wilberforce.Toward the end of the 19th C, that party within the Methodists who'd long argued for what they called “entire sanctification” started a Holiness Movement that  separated itself from the rest of Methodism. While it was never popular in England, certain portions of rural America proved fertile soil for it.It was during the 19th C that an Irish-Anglican minister named John Darby popularized an emphasis on End Times Prophecy, a subject that had languished in obscurity for hundreds of years. This interest in the End Times was layered over Darby's system of dividing history into different eras, called dispensations, in which God's overall plan went forward with a different focus in the various dispensations.  Others took Darby's ideas and edited them to their own taste, but Dispensationalism proved to be a convenient way for people to better understand both the Bible's story and how it related to history at large. It became a part of the emerging energy within Protestantism now called Evangelicalism. What kicked Dispensationalism into high gear was the publication of the popular Scofield Reference Bible, a King James Bible with a comprehensive set of notes that helped readers parse Scripture, along Scofield's framework, that is. Through Scofield's influence, Evangelicalism adopted a literalist view of interpreting Scripture.Notable figures for the last half of 19th C Evangelicalism are CH Spurgeon & Dwight Moody. These men began a trend in Evangelicalism to see the movement led & represented by well-known religious celebrities, whose fame was tied to their ability to preach to large audiences.Founded in 1812, Princeton Theological Seminary stepped into the role of being the intellectual center of Evangelicalism from 1850 to the 1920's. Under the guidance of  Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander, and BB Warfield, Evangelicals were armed with an erudite defense of conservative orthodoxy in that face of the challenge presented by European Liberalism. When in the 1930's, the governors of Princeton decided to open the school to Theological Liberalism, the conservatives left to start Westminster Theological Seminary. But the theological work of the Princeton theologians continues to shape the core of conservative Evangelicalism.Church h istorian Mark Noll, describes this as influence as including, a devotion to the Bible, concern for religious experience, sensitivity to the American experience, Presbyterian confessions, Reformation systematics, and Common Sense Realism, which we talked about in Season 1.[1]  Common Sense Realism was a push-back by several Scottish philosophers to the skepticism of David Hume.As Theological Liberalism pressed in to challenge the centers of Evangelicalism in the early 20th C, a reaction rose that came to be known as Fundamentalism. It drew its name from its insistence there were certain fundamentals that could not be negotiated, essentials of The Faith apart from which no one had the right to say they were a Christian. The main point of contention with Liberalism was over the inerrancy of Scripture.  This became the main point of contention because Evangelicals regard God's Word as the ultimate authority. Everything else flows from Scripture. Theological Liberals honor the Bible as a record of humanity's progress. It's instructive, but not ultimately authoritative. It's ideas at points may be inspired and it is certainly inspirational, but no more than that. Human reason, aided by the scientific method, is a superior source of knowledge. Fundamentalists replied that not only is the Bible inspired, that inspiration extends beyond its ideas to its words. The Bible isn't just the ideas of God filtered through bumbling scribes, it is the Word & words of God Himself, transmitted through human agents, who when they penned, infallibly reported what God wanted written.Needless to say, the contest between Liberals & Fundamentalists was fierce. It lives on to this day. Every decade or so, Theological Liberalism hoists its battering ram and makes another raid on the fortress of Evangelicalism's tenacious clinging to Scripture's Inspiration, Infallibility & Inerrancy. They batter the door of this Evangelical group or that denomination. And while mainstream Evangelicalism still adheres officially to the doctrine of Inerrancy, the long-range effect of the contest has been a softening round the edges, so that many Evangelicals are barely aware what's at stake in the whole debate.Up to the dawn of the 20th C, Evangelicalism was largely a white church deal centered in North America and the UK. A major boon to the energy of Evangelicalism and a subsequent movement into world missions  came about after the Welsh Revival of 1904-5. The Revival swept across Europe and reached into far-flung regions across the globe. The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 in Los Angeles birthed Pentecostalism which added even more spiritual energy and motivation to Evangelicalism.Following WWII, Evangelicals split between those who wanted to engage the culture and those who felt the best way to live was to withdraw. It seemed a reprise of the old Anglican argument between the Puritans and Separatists. In this case, the Separatists were the Fundamentalists while those who wanted to engage culture were mainstream Evangelicals. Many Evangelicals had come to regard Fundamentalists as narrow-minded moralists wed to traditions that were no longer relevant . While this is an oversimplification, let me illustrate this way . . .Fundamentalists had staunchly defended the doctrine of inerrancy, right? What they defended of course, at least in the popular sense, for the Fundamentalist on the street at least, was the King James Bible. THAT Bible was inspired & inerrant. So any other translation or version was suspect. Fundamentalists were determined defenders of The Reformation; they adored the Reformers, but were suspicious of more modern authors & theologians. That suspicion grew to be a kind of general negativity to the wider culture and society. The world was wicked, under God's wrath; something to be shunned. The result was that Fundamentalists began to be viewed by society as misanthropes. They became the subject of jokes.Most Evangelicals saw what was happening to Fundamentalism and set another course. Called   Neo-Evangelicals, they adopted a positive posture of engaging the culture through dialog and exchange. They intentionally backed down from the combative militancy that marked Fundamentalists. Instead of retreating to a theological ghetto where the only people they talked to were like them, they re-applied themselves to an intellectually-astute and Biblically-sound response to the issue facing society. They reasoned that the Gospel was a message of hope for All People, and needed to be shared in as many ways as possible; by deed, as well as in word.This led to a split between Fundamentalists & Evangelicals. Evangelicals came to regard Fundamentalists as something of an ugly cousin they wanted to avoid & disavow. Fundamentalists regarded Evangelicals as sell-outs, wishy-washy compromisers more concerned with the world's approval than God's.Over time, the ranks of Fundamentalists dwindled while those of Evangelicals swelled.The Charismatic renewal of the 1960's and early 70's saw a resurgent Pentecostalism cross denominational lines. It even swept a number of Catholic churches.Until the Charismatic Renewal, most Protestant churches were affiliated in some way with a denomination. The Renewal saw large numbers of Christians who'd previously identified with their denomination, now identifying as a Charismatic. When local pastors and denominational leaders resisted the Charismatic Renewal, those church members who were part of the renewal often left to start new churches. They established independent, non-aligned or un affiliated works. So the trend of non-denominational churches exploded. They didn't identify as Protestant so much as Evangelical because it best described their overall theological framework. As the number of non-denominational churches grew and aged, many saw a need for connection to a larger movement and began forming voluntary associations. They became a kind of non-denominational denomination.As the 20th C closed out and moved into the 21st, Evangelicalism faced a new challenge from it's old nemesis – Liberalism. Once again Liberalism morphed into a new form called Post-modernism. If classical Liberalism assailed the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy, Post-modernism went after Truth as a whole.[1]  Mark A. Noll, The Princeton Theology 1812–1921 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 13.