The power of popular piety

The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words the events seemed to hang, were as little voluntary as the actions of any soldier who was drawn into the campaign by lot or by conscription. This could not be otherwise, for in order that the will of Napoleon and Alexander (on whom the event seemed to depend) should be carried out, the concurrence of innumerable circumstances was needed without any one o which the event could not have taken place. It was necessary that millions of men in whose hands lay the real power -- the soldiers who fired, or transported provisions and guns --should consent to carry out the will of these weak individuals, and should have been induced to do so by an infinite number o diverse and complex causes (342).

Tolstoy penned these words when weighing the causes of the Napolianic wars. In War and Peace he asserts that there was an inevitability to the mechanism of war, it was in the breast of the masses and not concentrated in those deemed leaders.

The most important aspects Holt brings out in his treatment of modern Church history in his book Thirsty for God is the movement of the people in pietism. Between the days of reformation and enlightenment there was a resurgence of personal piety. This apparently resonated with Holt. Many of the spiritualities he explores are expressions of personal piety and devotion. This is evident in the modern resurgence of centering prayer and contemplation, a renewed interest in Spiritual Disciplines, even devotion to Mary.

...The Marian doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church is a prime example of spirituality leading theology, not vise-versa, for it has been popular devotion that has run ahead of official dogma and led the popes eventually to make pronouncements about the Blessed Mother, notably about her immaculate conception, in 1854, and her assumption to heaven, in 1950 (160).

It is the power of personal piety that led the way for doctrinal changes in the church. How much was Luther, Zwingli, Huss and other reformers indebted to their personal piety and the popular piety of the cultures that produced them?

To me this reinforces the idea that if we want to impact church history in the future, the place for us to turn is to the fire of our own personal devotion. If we want revival we must turn our own lives resolutely and fearlessly to God!

Balance of Time

Holt’s hourglass framework in his book Thirsty for God provides a good way to understand the divergences of the reformation and the ways we can learn from each other.

It is surprising how fast the narrowing started. I’ve read that in the first centuries the Christian Jewish churches were cut off from their Gentile counterparts, which quickly lead to attitudes toward Jews espoused by Chrysostom. Then as Holt showed in the previous chapters the hourglass narrowed further with the euro-centric church.

With the reformation we see the hourglass widen in terms of the diversity of the Church world wide, but each expression has its own narrowing of understanding and tradition. The great joy of our time, Holt alludes to in his introduction, is that those streams are once again flowing together and enjoying our common tradition.

Holt has suggested that the early Christian theologians have too dim a view of the natural world just as Webber suggested that the medieval Mystics had too strong an emphasis on Eros. I have liked the balance Chesterton has brought to the excrescences of the faith. In Saint Francis he suggests that the dark ages, with its otherworldliness and extreme asceticism was needed to cleanse the world of pagan naturalism, so that a true respect for creation and Creator could be attained. In Orthodoxy he asserts that the excrescences balance themselves across Christendom.

Missions Statement

My mission is to Glorify God and enjoy him forever, ministering to and making disciples of my family and the families of my church, community, and world.

I dream of my future. I imagine the steps I can take to Glorify God and to minister and wait on him for the cues.

I also recognize that his primary way to minister through me is by transforming me. I focus first and foremost on glorifying and enjoying him. He is my love and my life. May I ever draw closer to you my Dearest one!

He has placed in my heart a great desire to build relationships with people that will have the intimacy of family. He has called me to extend the intimacy of my dearest to them. This is a difficult call for me, though I want nothing more and with my whole being.

He has also graced me with a desire to lead children into the depths of his abundant life. My greatest privilege is to work with him to make disciples of my children Ella and Foster, along the dearest wife he could have given me.

He has made me a pastor, so I imagine myself bringing children and families in my church and community to be apprentices of the master of my heart.

He has also opened my eyes to the spiritual needs of children around the world. I relish my reverie when I imagine working on a PhD in cultural anthropology, transforming my mind to learn how to best bring about spiritual formation intergenerationally across culture. I imagine myself living on coffee plantations around the world as I learn how spiritual formation is done in those cultures. I imagine myself later teaching indigenous pastors how to best address the spiritual needs of children and their families.

I also secretly dream of one day doing nothing more than running a coffeehouse and acting as spiritual director. Perhaps one day...

My Spiritual History

Click here to enlarge

Category Labels

Prominant Disciplines	Moves
Education	Relationships
Turning Points

How to navigate this timeline