Pietism In The 17th Century

After the Reformation, Protestantism was divided into several main varieties. The non-voluntary state assisted churches, which preserved the Catholic ideal of ecclesiastical domination of the whole society, and the voluntarist churches, which believed in the separation of politics and religion. Pietism and puritanism were some of the non-voluntary types of Christianity. Puritanism belonged to the Calvinist family and its goal was to always convert the whole of society to perfect godliness. By the 17th century, Lutheranism felt that a reform was needed as Christianity was not reflecting in people's lives. Pietism arose as a reforming movement within the Lutheran Churches. (Woodhead, 2004, p. 214- 215) In this paper, I will explain what pietism is and focus on the development of pietism as a ecclesiastical movement from the 17th century to the 19th century in Norway and how it changed the relationship between state and church.
Pietism developed in the late 17th century and its epicenter lied in the western provinces of
The fire created the basis for a religious renewal among the population. On 12 March 1735, the Sabbath Ordinance was established which meant the duty of all to attend church on Sundays and public holidays in Denmark and Norway. The law was marked by as a pietist movement. In 1730 it was Christian VI ruling Denmark and Norway who wanted the people to be raised in Pietist Christianity. The most important measures he introduced were confirmation and compulsory primary school.(Elstad and Halse, 2002, p. 122) In Denmark-Norway, confirmation was introduced as "a common rule and duty" for all in 1736, and confirmation was required until 1912. The purpose of the confirmation was to ensure public control of young people's knowledge and a public confirmation of the church agreement.This was marked as another period of pietism and state politics.(