Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PIETERSBURG

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 593 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PIETERSBURG , a See also:

town of the See also:Transvaal, See also:capital of the See also:Zoutpansberg See also:district, and 177 M. N.N.E. of See also:Pretoria by See also:rail. Pop. (1904), 3276, of whom 162o were whites. The town is pleasantly situated, at an See also:elevation of 4200 ft., on a small tributary of the Zand See also:river affluent of the See also:Limpopo, and is the See also:place of most importance in the See also:province See also:north of Pretoria. From it roads run to See also:Klein Lelaba and other See also:gold-See also:mining centres in the neighbourhood, and through it passes the old route to Mashonaland, which crosses the Limpopo at See also:Rhodes See also:Drift. The Zoutpansberg district contains a comparatively dense Kaffir popula. tion, and a native newspaper is published at Pietersburg. (2) the See also:Christian priesthood being universal, the laity should See also:share in the spiritual See also:government of the See also:Church; (3) a knowledge of See also:Christianity must be attended by the practice of it as its indispensable sign and supplement; (4) instead of merely didactic, and often See also:bitter, attacks on the heterodox and unbelievers, a sympathetic and kindly treatment of them; (5) a reorganization of the theological training of the See also:universities, giving more prominence to the devotional See also:life; and (6) a different See also:style of See also:preaching, namely, in the place of pleasing See also:rhetoric, the implanting of Christianity in the inner or new See also:man, the soul of which is faith, and its effects the fruits of life. This See also:work produced a See also:great impression throughout See also:Germany, and although large See also:numbers of the orthodox Lutheran theologians and pastors were deeply offended by Spener's See also:book, its complaints and its demands were both too well justified to admit of their being point-See also:blank denied. A large number of pastors at once practically adopted Spener's proposals. In See also:Paul See also:Gerhardt the See also:movement found a See also:singer whose See also:hymns are genuine folk See also:poetry. In 1686 Spener accepted an See also:appointment to the See also:court-chaplaincy at See also:Dresden, which opened to him a wider though more difficult See also:sphere of labour.

In See also:

Leipzig a society of See also:young theologians was formed under his See also:influence for the learned study and devout application of the See also:Bible. Three magistri belonging to that society, one of whom was See also:August See also:Hermann See also:Francke, subsequently the founder of the famous orphanage at See also:Halle (1695), commenced courses of expository lectures on the Scriptures of a See also:practical and devotional See also:character, and in the See also:German See also:language, which were zealously frequented by both students and townsmen. The lectures aroused, however, the See also:ill-will of the other theologians and pastors of Leipzig, and Francke and his See also:friends See also:left the See also:city, and with the aid of Christian See also:Thomasius and Spener founded the new university of Halle. The theological chairs in the new university were filled in See also:complete conformity with Spener's proposals. The See also:main difference between the new Pietistic school and the orthodox See also:Lutherans arose from the conception of Christianity as chiefly consisting in a See also:change of See also:heart and consequent holiness of life, while the orthodox Lutherans of the See also:time made it to consist mainly in correctness of See also:doctrine. Spener died in 1705; but_the movement, guided by Francke, fertilized from Halle the whole of See also:Middle and North Germany. Among its greatest achievements, apart from the philanthropic institutions founded at Halle, were the organization of the Moravian Church in 1727 by See also:Count von See also:Zinzendorf, Spener's godson and a See also:pupil in the Halle Orphanage, and the See also:establishment of the great See also:Protestant See also:missions, Ziegenbalg and others being the pioneers of an enterprise which until this time Protestantism had strangely neglected. See also:Pietism, of course, had its weaknesses. The very earnestness with which Spener had insisted on the See also:necessity of a new See also:birth, and on a separation of Christians from the See also:world, led to exaggeration and fanaticism among followers less distinguished than himself for See also:wisdom and moderation. Many Pietists soon maintained that the new birth must always be preceded by agonies of repentance, and that only a regenerated theologian could See also:teach See also:theology, while the whole school shunned all See also:common worldly amusements, such as dancing, the See also:theatre, and public See also:games. There thus arose a new See also:form of See also:justification by See also:works. Its ecclesiolae in See also:ecclesia also weakened the See also:power and meaning of church organization.

Through these extravagances a reactionary movement arose at the beginning of the 18th See also:

century, one of the most distinguished leaders of which was Loescher, See also:superintendent at Dresden. As a distinct movement Pietism had run its course before the middle of the 18th century; by its very See also:individualism it had helped to prepare the way for another great movement, the See also:Illumination (Aufklarung), which was now to See also:lead the world into new paths. Yet Pietism could claim to have contributed largely to the revival of Biblical studies in Germany, and to have made See also:religion once more an affair of the heart and the life, and not merely of the See also:intellect.

End of Article: PIETERSBURG

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PIETERMARITZBURG 		[next]
PIETISM

Site © 2006 - Net Industries