VS Pietists... or perhaps evangelical style Lutherans today?

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749), the most capable opponent to the Pietists, was moderate and patient during the bitter conflict that divided German Lutheran. The two parts of this book are his defense of Orthodoxy against the violent attacks of the Halle theologian. Part one -- systematic presentation of pietistic theology and Loescher's evaluation of it. Part two -- response to a Pietist refutation of Part one, and makes a plea for honesty in the judgments of embroiled theologians. - See more at: http://online.nph.net/p-1419-the-complete-timotheus-verinus.aspx#sthash.kjDHpFOt.dpuf

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749), the most capable opponent to the Pietists, was moderate and patient during the bitter conflict that divided German Lutheran. The two parts of this book are his defense of Orthodoxy against the violent attacks of the Halle theologian. Part one -- systematic presentation of pietistic theology and Loescher's evaluation of it. Part two -- response to a Pietist refutation of Part one, and makes a plea for honesty in the judgments of embroiled theologians. - See more at: http://online.nph.net/p-1419-the-complete-timotheus-verinus.aspx#sthash.kjDHpFOt.dpuf

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749) was perhaps the most capable opponent to the Pietists.  He was a patient and even tempered voice during the bitter and divisive conflict that polarized Lutheranism in Germany. His book are both a defense of Lutheran Orthodoxy against the Pietist attacks center in Halle and a plea for truth to be told in this debate.

Lest someone think that this is merely a curious view into the past, there are many within Lutheranism who would posit some of our current day struggles to the echoing past of Pietism.  No less than Dr. Matthew Harrison is of this view.

What V.E. Loescher once described as the malum pietisticum at the height of eighteenth-century Pietism is with us yet to day. Pietism is as old as man. It turns the heart away from the concrete and extra nos word and means God has established for our salvation, to inner lights, experiences, feelings, and convictions. More amenable to such things, prayer meetings and home Bible study displace the divine delivery of gifts on the Lord’s day with its ancient and gospel-oriented liturgical progression. Instead, they create their own solar
system, relegating the divine service to an orbital position, and with it also the means of grace and the office divinely mandated to deliver them. Loescher noted these marks of Pietism: “pious-appearing [doctrinal] indifference,” “devaluation of the means of grace,” and of necessity, “the debilitation of the office of the
ministry.” (Logia, Lutheran Missions, 1998 issue, Vol. VII, Number 3, p.3)

Nowhere is the lingering remnant of the war between Pietism and Orthodoxy more apparent than in the worship wars that have plagued modern day Lutheranism.  Within those who disdain the form is a seeming disdain for the means of grace.  Perhaps a quote from Loescher might remind us of the attack of those on the opposing side of worship wars, even the tensions between the confessional and missional.

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749), the most capable opponent to the Pietists, was moderate and patient during the bitter conflict that divided German Lutheran. The two parts of this book are his defense of Orthodoxy against the violent attacks of the Halle theologian. Part one -- systematic presentation of pietistic theology and Loescher's evaluation of it. Part two -- response to a Pietist refutation of Part one, and makes a plea for honesty in the judgments of embroiled theologians. - See more at: http://online.nph.net/p-1419-the-complete-timotheus-verinus.aspx#sthash.kjDHpFOt.dpuf

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749), the most capable opponent to the Pietists, was moderate and patient during the bitter conflict that divided German Lutheran. The two parts of this book are his defense of Orthodoxy against the violent attacks of the Halle theologian. Part one -- systematic presentation of pietistic theology and Loescher's evaluation of it. Part two -- response to a Pietist refutation of Part one, and makes a plea for honesty in the judgments of embroiled theologians. - See more at: http://online.nph.net/p-1419-the-complete-timotheus-verinus.aspx#sthash.kjDHpFOt.dpuf

“They scorned pure doctrine, orthodoxy, and the means used to preserve pure doctrine. They scoffed at church ordinances and usages, and slandered and nullified sermons, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching ministry. They dared abstain from the public worship, as well as from the use of the Lord’s Supper along with fellow Christians…They have the audacity to maintain that they alone, as true disciples and followers of Christ, are holy and pious, and hence they despise all others…They endeavored to include everything in their private assemblies.”  (Complete Timotheus Vernius… by V.E. Loescher translated by James Langebartels, pp 55-56.  Northwestern)

It just goes to show you that old battles continue on, that old heresies get repackaged and come back as new challenges to orthodox faith and worship, and that we do no good to the cause by failing to know our past.  Sometimes what someone said a long time ago is the best word to say today...

Valentin Ernst Loescher (1673-1749), the most capable opponent to the Pietists, was moderate and patient during the bitter conflict that divided German Lutheran. The two parts of this book are his defense of Orthodoxy against the violent attacks of the Halle theologian. Part one -- systematic presentation of pietistic theology and Loescher's evaluation of it. Part two -- response to a Pietist refutation of Part one, and makes a plea for honesty in the judgments of embroiled theologians. - See more at: http://online.nph.net/p-1419-the-complete-timotheus-verinus.aspx#sthash.kjDHpFOt.dpuf