Like earlier Pietists, Mark and I tend to feel like what we have to suggest isn’t all that new. This episode — like the one before it — we revisited an idea from the Protestant Reformation. Last time, it was sola Scriptura; this week, the common priesthood. (And yes, we talked about why we’re using that version of the ideal, instead of “priesthood of all believers” or other formulations.)
Every Christian is bound not only to offer himself and what he has, his prayer, thanksgiving, good works, alms, etc., but also industriously to study in the Word of the Lord, with the grace that is given him to teach others… to chastise, exhort, convert, and edify them, to observe their life, pray for all, and insofar as possible be concerned about their salvation. (Philipp Spener)
But while I couldn’t hide my delight at talking history for a while, this was mostly a contemporary conversation, as we considered what hinders the expression of anything like a common priesthood in many churches today. (One culprit: Americans acting in church, as so many other places, as consumers.) Most importantly, we suggested that “priesthood” has to do both with one’s experience of God and one’s service to others, and linked the common priesthood to the notion of the common good.
In this vein, I again floated Dale Brown’s idea that Pietist cultural engagement is best understood in terms of Christ the servant of culture, rather than the other five types proposed by Richard Niebuhr. Still not sure this works…
Please feel free to share a comment on that idea, or anything else from the episode, below. As always, you can find The Pietist Schoolman Podcast on iTunes. (Another place you can share your opinion — we could use a few more reviews there…)
Further reading:
- Martin Luther, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation and The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520)
- Jonathan Strom, “The Common Priesthood and the Pietist Challenge for Clergy and Laity,” in The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, eds. Christian T. Collins Winn et al. (Pickwick, 2011)
- Evangelical Covenant Church, “The Church as a fellowship of believers,” Covenant Affirmations
- Dale G. Durie, “The Common Priesthood Seeking the Common Good,” in The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons, ed. Christopher Gehrz (IVP Academic, 2015)
- Andy Crouch, “What’s So Great About ‘The Common Good'”?, Christianity Today, November 2012
Image credit: Moravian Archives