Worship in the Age of Pietism, Romanticism and the Evangelical Revival

PURPOSE OF THIS COURSE:

It has often been said that Herrnhut, the Christian utopian community of Count Zinzendorf, has had as much influence on Christian worship as either Wittenberg or Geneva. If we are to understand Protestant worship as we have inherited it, we must study the pietist approach to worship. Characteristic of the worship of pietism is its emphasis on evangelistic preaching, its intense, mystical approach to prayer, its lyrical hymnody, and its rigorous eucharistic discipline. This course should raise many questions about the direction the contemporary recasting of worship should take.

TEXTBOOK:

Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 5, Moderatism, Pietism, and Awakening (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004).

PREPARATION PAPERS: Four preparation papers are due, one at each session. These preparation papers are essentially book reports. The papers should be four to five pages long. Half the paper should be devoted to summarizing the message of the book, and the other half to an evaluation and criticism of the book.

Books appropriate for these preparation papers are as follows:

Milton Coalter, Jr., Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder: A Case Study of Continental Pietism’s

Influence on the First Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986) Leigh Schmidt, Holy Fairs (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1990)

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Erik Routley, I’ll Praise My Maker: A Study of the Hymns of Certain Authors Who Stand in or

near the Tradition of English Calvinism, 1700-1850) (London: Independent Press, 1951) Erik Routley, The Musical Wesleys (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968) John R. Weinlick, Count Zinzendorf: The Story of His Life and Leadership in the Renewed

Moravian Church (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: The Moravian Church in America, 1989, c. 1984) Arthur James Lewis, Zinzendorf, The Ecumenical Pioneer (Philadelphia: Westminster Press,

1962) George William Pilcher, Samuel Davies: Apostle of Dissent in Colonial Virginia (Knoxville:

University of Tennessee Press, 1971) James Tanis, Dutch Calvinistic Pietism in the Middle Colonies: A Study in the Life and

Theology of Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1967) F. Ernest Stoeffler, Continental Pietism and Early American Christianity (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976) F. Ernest Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965) David Brainerd, Journal. Contained in Jonathan Edwards, The Life of David Brainerd, The

Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 7 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985) Frank Whaling, editor, John and Charles Wesley, Selected Prayers Hymns, Journal Notes,

Sermons, Letters and Treatises, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1981). (Give special attention to reading the hymns.) George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, c. 2003) . John Wesley, The Standard Sermons in Modern English (Nashville: Abindon Press, c. 2002-).

(Read ten or a dozen of the first sermons in the collections) Jonathan Edwards, A Faithful Narrative, found in Jonathan Edwards, The Great Awakening, The

Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 4 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972) Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in

Seventeenth-century New England (Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, c. 1982).

TERM PAPER: A term paper will be required of not less than twenty pages and not more than twenty-five pages. This paper will be due one month from the meeting of the last class. These papers should treat one of the following subjects. Other appropriate subjects may be treated with the permission of the instructor. The recommended subjects are as follows:

1. The pietist critique of public prayer 2. Contrast the psalms of Watts and the hymns of the Wesleys 3. Contrast the sermons of John Wesley and the sermons of George Whitefield 4. The place of baptism in pietist worship 5. Eucharistic piety in eighteenth century Scotland 6. Eucharistic piety in colonial New England 7. Matthew Henry’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper 8. John Willison’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper 9. Company and contrast German pietism and the American Great Awakening

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10. Compare and contrast evangelical nonconformists such as Henry or Watts and evangelical Anglicans such as Newton and Simeon

DAILY SCHEDULE:

8:00-9:30 am–instruction 9:30-9:45 am–break 10:00-10:30 am–morning prayer (part of the course) 10:30 am-12:30 pm–instruction 12:30-4:00 pm–lunch and free time 4:00-5:30 pm–instruction 5:30-6:30 pm–evening meal time 7:00-8:30 pm–instruction 8:30-8:45 pm–evening prayer (part of the course)

In accordance with the usual practice of Erskine Seminary attendance will be taken at the beginning of both the morning and evening sessions. Absence from one session is allowed without explanation. More frequent absences may reflect in the grade.

SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS

TUESDAY, February 8, 2005: THE NATURE AND ORIGINS OF PIETISM

1. Catholic pietism in France under the reign of Louis XIV: –Jansenism–Blaise Pascal and an experiential approach to religion; –Madame Guyot; –The Sisters of Port Royal in Paris

2. German pietism: –Philipp Spener–Pia Desiderata, the worship of the ecclesiola in ecclesia; — A. H. Francke–Halle, the pietist university, diaconal work in Halle, Frelinghuysen’s Gesangbuch, Prussian Pan-Protestantism; –Count Zinzendorf–the Moravian community on the family estate, Herrnhut, Moravian missionary work and its prayer support

3. The piety of the English Nonconformists: –Matthew Henry–the quietism of his father Philip Henry, A Method of Prayer, essays on the sacraments, the liturgical heritage of the Westminster Directory, preaching as devotional meditation; –Isaac Watts–a new approach to psalmody, hymnody, and public prayer; –John and Charles Wesley–emphasis on evangelistic preaching, The Standard Sermons, the Methodist hymnal, the “new birth” experience, sanctification, baptism in the Wesleyan tradition, communion in the Wesleyan tradition, ecclesiola in ecclesia

–George Whitefield and English Evangelicalism

4. The piety of 18th century Scotland: –The Covenanter tradition; –The Erskines; –John Willison and the Scottish communion season; –The sanctification of the Lord’s Day

5. The Great Awakening: –Jonathan Edwards in the Connecticut Valley; –Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen and the Gilbert Tennent and the Raritan Valley; –Samuel Davies in Hanover County, Virginia

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TUESDAY, March 8, 2005: THE PIETIST APPROACH TO THE READING AND PREACHING

OF SCRIPTURE

1. The preaching of the Apostles in Acts as the model of pietist preaching: –Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost; –Stephen’s sermon; –Paul’s sermon in Pisidian-Antioch; –Paul’s sermon in Athens; –Paul before Agrippa

2. Preaching for conversions: –exemplified by Wesley’s standard sermons; –itinerant preaching and its effect on the form of the sermon, the “sermon barrel”, Bernardino da Siena; –the difference between expository preaching and evangelistic preaching

3. German pietism and preaching: –Relatively few great preachers, ie., neither Spener, Francke, nor Zinzendorf were great preachers; –Wesley and Bengel; –German pietism depended not on preachers but on small groups; –The reading of prepared manuscripts vs. extemporaneous preaching

TUESDAY, April 5, 2005: THE PIETIST APPROACH TO PSALMODY AND HYMNODY,

PRAYER AND PRAISE

1. The hymnody of Joachim Neander

2. Moravian hymnody

3. The Methodist hymnal

4. Isaac Watts: –Psalm versions; –Christian hymnody

5. Hughes Old: “The Liturgical Function of Pietist Hymnody”; –Christian Platonist approach; –Theological significance of the canticles; –Psalmody as the songs of the Holy Spirit; –Psalmody as the exercising of our faith (Calvin)

6. Pietist hymnody and experiential philosophy: –Hymnody and Nominalism; –Hymnody and pragmatist philosophy; –Kant and the pietist tradition; –An experiential approach to worship; –Worship as the human response to God’s self-revelation

7. The pietist prayer meeting

8. The prayer disciplines of Herrnhut: –continual prayer and prayer vigils; –prayer in support of the Moravian missionaries; –hymn feasts

9. David Brainerd’s Journal: The mystical prayer of a missionary to the Indians

TUESDAY, May 10, 2005: PIETIST APPROACH TO THE SACRAMENTS

1. Matthew Henry: –Westminster Directory; –A Communicant’s Companion; –Henry’s

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eucharistic theology

2. Jodocus van Lodenstein and the Dutch pietist approach to the Lord’s Supper: wedding feast typology

3. John Willison and Scottish communion seasons: –sermons for a series of preparatory services; –action sermon; –Sacramental Catechism; –Sacramental typology

4. Robert Walker: Cf. Reading and Preaching, vol. 5

5. Wesley’s New Year’s Eve covenant renewal service and the covenantal understanding of the

Lord’s Supper

6. The pietist concept of the eucharistic koinonia

SEMINARY POLICIES

–STYLE MANUALS FOR RESEARCH PAPERS: Erskine Seminary recommends the following style manuals for use with research papers: William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, Elements of Style, 3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1979); Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed., rev. by John Grossman and Alice Bennett (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996); or The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). For a Turabian software program, one may wish to consider StyleEase at http: // www.styleease.com/ChiMain.htm.

–POLICY ON INCOMPLETES: As in the case of all the grades, the grade of “I” or incomplete is given at the discretion of the professor. A grade of “I” is normally given when a student has substantially completed the requirement for a course but has been prevented by extraordinary circumstances from completing all the course requirements. An “I” in any course must be removed by April 1 for a January Term, August 1 for Spring Term, November 1 for Summer Term, and March 1 for Fall Term. Otherwise, these grades automatically become “F.” Special arrangements can be made with the professor in consultation with other seminary officials in extenuating circumstances.

–NOTE REGARDING REGISTRATION/DROP ADDS: I understand that once I have completed, signed, and submitted my registration to the Registrar for this class, it is a BINDING CONTRACT, and my billing will be based on this registration. I further understand if I decide not to take this class, a “drop-add” form must be completed, including securing the appropriate signatures. Failure to properly withdraw from the class will result in receiving a grade of “F” for the course and fill tuition charges will apply. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE TO THIS POLICY.