Pietism, Halle University, Karl Barth and His Mistress Charlotte Kirschbaum
The Enthusiastic, rationalistic
dogma of Zwingli and Calvin mixed with the Lutheran Church through Pietism.
Ironically, Calvinist scholastics drove the Lutherans into countering those
Latin, philosophical arguments with their own, much in the same vein. So distant
were these arguments from teaching the Scriptures that a return to the Bible
was the only answer to the vacuum. Sadly, Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) - the
founder and early leader of Pietism – learned piety from the Calvinists and Calvinists.
The Catholic Rosary societies and the Calvinist prayer groups influenced him to
make the cell group the “real” congregation. His ecumenical traits, in the wake
of dogmatic warfare, meant that confessional agreement was no longer necessary.
Actually studying the Bible
became a new trend, one encouraged by Spener’s vast letter-writing campaign among
leading people of Europe. The sterile style of argumentation during the late
period of Calvinist and Lutheran orthodoxy created far more interest in the
Word of God.
Halle University
Frederick III founded Halle
University in 1694, specifically to train men in the Bible. Spener encouraged August
Hermann Francke to accept a position at the new school, which combined Biblical
studies and good works among the poor and uneducated of that town. Halle
quickly became the center of the Pietism movement, one which Spener established
by attaching his program to a book by a very popular orthodox writer, Arndt.
Some hallmarks of Pietism are:
1.
A heart religion instead of a head religion.
Pietists often promote that false distinction. They think controversy about
doctrine should be avoided.
2.
Lay-led conventicles or cell groups, to develop
piety through prayer and Bible study.
3.
Unionism - cooperation between Lutherans and
the Reformed. Spener was the first union theologian (Heick, II, p. 23).
4.
An emphasis on good works and foreign missions.
"Deeds, not creeds" is a popular motto.
5.
Denial of the Real Presence and baptismal
regeneration, consequences of working with the Reformed. (Heick, II, p. 24)
6.
A better, higher, or deeper form of
Christianity rather than the Sunday worshiping church. This often made the cell
group the real church, the gathered church.
This generic approach to the
Christian Faith changed the school from Biblical piety to anti-Biblical
rationalism, in only one generation. Nevertheless, leaders of American
Lutheranism came from Halle:
·
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg founded the General
Synod, which ultimately became the Eastern branch of the Lutheran Church in
America. He taught at the Franckean Foundation in Halle under the supervision
of August Francke’s son.
·
Pastor Martin Stephan studied at Halle but did
not graduate from any university. He became the leader of the migration that became
the base of the Missouri Synod, after being invited by the Johann K. W. Loehe
missionaries.
·
Adolph Hoenecke graduated from Halle University
and was mentored by Tholuck, who was a mixture of Pietism and rationalism.
Hoenecke became the leading Biblical theologian of the Wisconsin Synod, which established
fellowship with the Missouri Synod.
The Norwegians and Swedes who
came to America were Pietists, influenced by William Passavant, who left revivalism
behind for the Lutheran Confessions.
The Walther circle of pastors consisted
of Pietists led by Stephan, the Pietist pastor of a Pietist cell group church.
They participated in Pietistic cell groups and brought that church-within-the-Church
method to America, as the Swedes and Norwegians did. The groups today have many
names – koinonia, small groups, cell groups, Bible study groups, lay-led
groups, prayer groups, share groups, care groups – but the same ecumenical
method, often anti-Sacrament and against infant baptism.[1]
Heick concluded that Spener was
the first ecumenical theologian. No matter how groups were configured in the 19th
century, the name of Spener was sacred. No one ever wrote against him.
Schleiermacher – the Perfect Transition to Karth and Kirschbaum
Friedrich Schleiermacher studied
under Moravian Pietists at first, but asked to study at the Halle University,
where rationalism dominated Biblical studies. Instead of education conquering
his doubts, Halle solidified them. He rejected the faith of his father but
became a professor at Halle and a pastor. He was a prolific scholar known for his
work in classical philosophy and in theology, writing a dogmatics and life of
Jesus.. He promoted the Prussian Union of Lutheran and Calvinist churches.
My fellow student at Notre Dame,
Episcopalian Priest Charles Caldwell, described Schleiermacher’s system as “faith
without belief.” As a transitional figure for modernism, Schleiermacher crafted
the perfect system for unbelievers with a sentimental attachment to the Bible.
Karl Barth and His Lovely Marxist Mistress Charlotte Kirschbaum
Karl Barth was very much like
Martin Stephan, not very education but very insecure. His initial doctrinal
book was a flop. Just in time, a young assistant named Charlotte Kirschbaum came
to help his scholarly work, live with him all summer in a distant cottage, move
into his home with his wife and children, and travel with him, sharing the same
room and bed. They shared the same Marxist ideals, to stretch the term, and
fashioned the enormous Church Dogmatics
to destroy the Christian Faith while creating a philosophy for their Communist
handlers.
The disguise was elegant and
only began unraveling in recent years. If Barth had been one more Leftist
philosopher, it would matter little. But liberals and conservatives,
Protestants and Catholics look to Barth as the leading theologian of the 20th
century. My Reformed, Mennonite, Methodist, and Roman Catholic professors at
Notre Dame had the greatest respect for Barth.[2]
Fuller Seminary’s rationalism
phase began when two of the leading figures, including the founder’s son,
studied under Barth in Switzerland. The school repudiated its rather weak
inerrancy stance and inaugurated its Stygian era of Church Growth under McGavran,
C. Peter Wagner, and other lupine leaders.
Barth and Kirschbaum took
advantage of the foundation laid by Schleiermacher in re-imagining all the
Bible terms. All of them harken back to Calvin who did the same in his own
rationalistic, philosophical way.
Notice that Calvinists love to
produce vast dogmatics sets that can be used to justify anything, from traditional
Evangelical thought to radical Marxist liberation theology. Liberating theology
from the Bible was the first thrust of Zwingli, polished to brilliance by
Calvin, and improved for the moderns by Schleiermacher and Barth-Kirschbaum.
Next – examining the damage
done by Calvin in the Lutheran Church today.
[1] I
angered one woman about Lutheran cell groups being anti-Lutheran and against
infant faith. She went to her cell group and found out the Lutheran leader would
not even discuss infant faith or infant baptism. Cell group leaders are often
women. Many groups are known for being Pentecostal recruiting grounds.
[2] Tjaard
Hommes liberal Dutch Reformed, RIP; John Howard Yoder, Mennonite and student
under Barth, RIP; Stanley Hauerwas, Methodist, now at Duke; and Frank Fiorenza,
Roman Catholic and president of the Barth Society, now at Harvard.
