Pietists and the Turn to Experience ..................................................

Lecture 26

Modernity is an interesting idea, after all; it is worth thinking about

what modernity means. Modernity is in part a product of the Protestant

Reformation, which broke up the unity of medieval Catholicism

and gave us these competing churches. That tended to foster a kind

of secularism, especially as national churches became less and

less acceptable.

M

odernity arises in part from the Protestant Reformation but also
shapes Protestant theology. The magisterial Reformers aimed to
establish state-supported churches, but the variety of churches
that arose due to the Reformation undermined the authority of state churches
with demands for religious liberty. As Western society and politics became
more secularized, modernity became an environment more suitable for low
churches than high churches, favoring theologies of the Spirit and experience
over theologies of word and sacrament. The turn toward experience and
certainty becomes a characteristic quest of modernity.

The Puritan quest for assurance of salvation assumed that faith and certainty
could be separate. For Luther and Calvin, faith is always a form of certainty,
because it is based on the certainty of God’s word being true. In agonies of
conscience, only the promise of God is suf¿ ciently certain to calm the soul’s
fears. Faith must be certain because it is sin and unbelief that doubts God
will keep his promise. This demand for certainty was meant to be a comfort.
You are not allowed to doubt that God loves you, that Christ is your savior,
that the Holy Spirit is given to you, etc.

For the Puritans, assurance of faith requires not only believing in God’s
word but also reÀ ective faith (that is, believing that you believe). Because
only those with true saving faith are saved, assurance of salvation requires
knowing that you have such faith in your heart. Hence assurance of salvation
is based not just on God’s word but on the inner evidence of grace in the heart
and the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit. Thus the requirement of reÀ ective
faith is the key assumption behind the Protestant turn to experience.