Pia Desideria (Paperback)

Spener was brutally honest - he found fault in no uncertain terms with the still dominant Roman Catholic church, but he also turned his critical eye to his own tradition and community. Within this group, he found faults at three primary levels - with the civil authorities, who tolerated the problems; with the clergy, who failed to model the proper way of life; and with the common people, who didn't seem that interested in following a Christian lifestyle.

Spener presented a six-point plan for bringing reforming the church, which would lead to continuing reformation in many ways. The first of these was a rededication and refocus upon scripture (which might seem a bit strange coming from a sola-scriptura early Lutheran, that this should be a need). The second was the idea of the priesthood of all believers, which did not in Spener's view supplant the ordained clerical roles, but would extend the obligations and graces of the priesthood upon the whole community. The third was an understanding that Christianity was not just a statement or system of beliefs, but a practice and way of life. The fourth was the avoidance of religious controversies (often the hope but rarely the realisation of those who are reformers). The fifth is a placing a value on education, particularly for the clergy. The sixth is the proper use and exercise of preaching, which involves pastoral, prophetic, and teaching aspects.

Spener was writing at a time not only in the aftermath of the first century of the Reformations across Europe, but also in a Germany fractured into small states and principalities by the Thirty Years War. The Lutheran church had grown comfortable in various of the Germanic locations, and was exhibiting similar institutional problems as the longer-established and still present Roman Catholic church. Pietism was a movement that would have long-term effects, in Lutheranism and beyond, as their influence extended into the present day with such major movements such as Methodism.

Spener was not a systematic theologian; he had a distrust for the purely academic forms of theology. He was in many ways a mystical spiritualist, seeking both understanding of God and connection with the community in this way.

This is a classic text, lesser known that it should be in the history of Christian thought. Theodore Tappert's introduction provides good background and interpretative framework.