Wendy J. Deichmann and Scott T. Kisker, ed., Heirs of Pietism in World Christianity: The 19th to the 21stCenturies. Wilmore, KY: First Fruits Press, 2024. Pp. 180.
The book Heirs of Pietism is the result of two new and welcomed endeavors. The first of these is a new conference on Pietism sponsored by the Center for The Evangelical United Brethren Heritage at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. The conference took place in June 2022. This book includes what the editors deemed to be the nine best papers presented at the first Heirs of Pietism conference.1
The second new endeavor connected to this book is a new publishing effort called First Fruits Press, sponsored by Asbury Theological Seminary. I believe that Heirs of Pietism is the second book they have published. The purpose of First Fruits is to make current academic scholarship from a Wesleyan and Holiness perspective globally available at no cost to the reader. This is a laudable goal that I pray experiences wonderful success and significant support.
As one would expect, the Introduction to Heir of Pietism is provided by the editors and orients the reader for what follows. The editors also seek to provide a unifying tone to the volume. This is difficult in this kind of publication, because even though there is a general theme, a wide variety of topics are usually presented at conferences like this.
Another contributing factor to the diversity within this volume is the fact that Pietism has had an enormous influence on much of the landscape of modern Christianity. This book reflects this wide-ranging effect. While each of the authors is from a strand within the Pietistic tradition, they represent theological traditions ranging from the head-covering wearing wing of the Church of the Brethren to the charismatic side of Global Methodism. The papers are ordered chronologically to the extent that it is possible.
The first chapter is by J. Steven O’Malley. In it, he introduces the reader to Gerhard Tersteegen and explores his influence on German American Revivalism. O’Malley establishes Tersteegen’s impact as essentially undeniable by supplying a quotation of early German American preachers affectionately referencing Tersteegen’s work. The second chapter, authored by Karen Garrett, examines three hymn texts composed by Zinzendorf that have become a part of Brethren hymnody. She concludes that their ongoing inclusion in modern hymnals demonstrates the wide-spread influence of Pietism, even upon the descendants of the Schwarzenau Brethren. In addition, Garrett believes that issues within Christianity today could be aided by the Pietistic theology expressed in such hymns and the life to which they call us.
Chapters three and four go hand-in-hand and are somewhat unique in the book. While all of the papers acknowledge the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a disciple, these papers attend to the Holy Spirit more than the others. Peter Bellini’s paper explores whether or not John Wesley could rightly be considered a charismatic. He concludes that Wesley should be considered “half a charismatic” or to employ Wesley’s language, “an almost charismatic” (65). Candy Gunther Brown’s chapter follows with her own pneumatologically-focused study. Her paper is an investigation of possible foundations that Pietism laid for current global deliverance ministries. In particular, her focus is on the ministry of Johann Christoph Blumhardt.
Chapter five, by Alan M. Guenther, focusses on the interesting reality of German Pietism in India. Guenther introduced at least this reader to Ram Chandra Bose, a nineteenth-century Indian lay evangelist.
The remaining four papers address figures that are much more current; that is, they were alive in my lifetime. Chapter six, by Denise Kettering-Lane, is about Anna Mow, who died in 1985. Anna Mow is apparently to the Church of the Brethren what Mildred Bangs Wynkoop is to the Church of the Nazarene, even if to lesser acclaim. Bangs Wynkoop is the subject of the paper written by Steven Hoskins, who demonstrates the influence of Pietism on Bangs Wynkoop’s theology.
William Kostlevy’s paper is chapter eight. In it he offers an interesting study that is less about Pietism per se and more about recent scholars within the Pietistic tradition. Kostlevy shares the story of how two Church of the Brethren scholars have understood Pietism as being “anti-experiential” in the past and how that assessment has changed. The last paper is by Peter James Yoder. In it, he offers a critical assessment of the ways Harold O. J. Brown addressed Pietism in his book, Heresies.
The book was very readable, even though it leaned towards the academic end of publications. In spite of its academic nature, this volume is more accessible than other books on this subject.2 In my opinion, this book would not be tremendously helpful for anyone seeking an introduction to Pietism. Instead, it would be most appropriate for those studying in college or seminary or for those who want a deeper understanding of this important movement.
My one question was about the inclusion of Peter Bellini’s article. Let me be clear, the article itself was one of the ones that I appreciated the most. It was well written, enjoyable, and thought-provoking in the central question it explored. However, since the conference was about descendants of Pietism in the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, it was a little surprising to read an article written exclusively about John Wesley, who died at the end of the eighteenth century.
I was happy to become aware of the conference and to be invited to review the book for Brethren in Christ History and Life. While we as Brethren in Christ acknowledge that we have been influenced by Pietism, I am not sure that we have fully comprehended the numerous ways this movement has shaped us, nor have we understood the depth of that impact on us. Given the fact that there is no cost to read this book, it is well worth your while to look into it.