German Neo-Pietism and the Formation of National Identity

In the early nineteenth century, a neo-Pietist circle of awakened Protestants emerged in Prussia and other German lands. Disturbed by the consequences of the French Revolution, the ensuing reforms and the rising national movement, these neo-Pietists-among them noble estate owners, theologians, and o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Avraham, Doron 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2019]
In: Church history
Year: 2019, Volume: 88, Issue: 1, Pages: 87-119
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Germany / Protestantism / Pietism / Patriotism / Nationalism / History 1623-1848
IxTheo Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KBB German language area
KDD Protestant Church
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Summary:In the early nineteenth century, a neo-Pietist circle of awakened Protestants emerged in Prussia and other German lands. Disturbed by the consequences of the French Revolution, the ensuing reforms and the rising national movement, these neo-Pietists-among them noble estate owners, theologians, and other scholars-tried to introduce an alternative meaning for the alliance between state and religion. Drawing on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pietist traditions, neo-Pietists fused their keen religious devotion with newly constructed conservative ideals, thus rehabilitating the legitimacy of political authority while investing the people's confession with additional meaning. At the same time, and through the same pietistic source of inspiration, conservative neo-Pietists forged their own understanding of national identity: its origins, values, and implications. In this regard, and against the prevailing view of the antagonist stance taken by Christian conservatives toward nationalism in the first half on the nineteenth century, this article argues for the consolidation of certain concepts of German national identity within Christian conservatism.
ISSN:1755-2613
Contains:Enthalten in: Church history
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0009640719000544