Pietism And Evangelism: Out Of The Age Of Reason

The Age of Reason followed a time of intense civil conflict in Europe. An emerging interest in human reason posed a threat to the church, which by now favored order, conservatism, and stability. As one author puts it, "Movements suspected of enthusiasm, such as Puritanism, Quietism, and Janesism, fell into disrepute, and the authority exercised by the state in religious affairs became more pronounced. It was an age dominated by Reason, which, until it provoked a reaction in such movements as Pietism and Evangelism, posed a formidable challenge to Christianity. Out of the Age of Reason came renewed interests in art, architecture, and music. The church used these as tools for enhancing worship, affirming faith, teaching, and advancing aesthetics.

Reason, rationality and enlightenment became the new gods. For the previous seventeen hundred years, the perfection of man was only to be obtained through grace after death. The Protestant revolt to the Catholic Church and subsequent holy wars had done nothing to change the accepted underlying beliefs of society: revelation was the source of ultimate truth and could only be received as a communication from God. This was the basis of Christianity. Now, in this new age, man felt obligated to follow his own intellect, not ‘revealed’ truth. Earth and emphasis on nature became the new principle; miracles, prophecy, and religious rites were mere superstitions. Reason, philosophically, is defined as the ability to form and operate upon concepts in narrowing information to its bare content, without emotion. Rationality carries the dual implication of ordering inference and comprehension along with understanding and explanation. Enlightenment is more or less the application of reason and rationality to previously held beliefs resulting in broader, clearer

Dualism advocated by Descartes taught that God and man were distinct. Dualism is the concept that our mind is more than just our brain. This concept entails that our mind has a non-material, spiritual dimension that includes consciousness and possibly an eternal attribute. One way to understand this concept is to consider our self as a container including our physical body and physical brain along with a separate non-physical mind, spirit, or soul. The mind, spirit, or soul has considered, the conscious part that manifests itself through the brain in a similar way that picture waves and sound waves manifest themselves through a television set. The picture and sound waves are also non-material just like the mind, spirit, or soul. The alternative concept is materialism. Materialism holds that everything in our universe is made from physical materials, including the human mind or brain and that spiritual attribute does not exist in the universe. This concept holds that our mind and brain are one and the same. Believers in Deism, described as the religion of reason rejected Christianity as a body of revelation, mysterious and incomprehensible. God’s revelation, believed Deists, was simple, logical and clear cut, a natural religion which always existed. Deism is the belief in a supreme being, who remains unknowable and untouchable. God is viewed as merely the