Pietists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sect of Christians emphasizing personal faith and piety
2. Practitioners who stress the importance of spiritual experience and ethical living
3. A group focused on devotion and an intense personal connection to the divine

Etymology: Pietists were named by their opponents. Lutheran church authorities in Germany used "Pietisten" as a jeer at Philipp Jakob Spener and his followers, who wanted lay Bible study, small devotional groups, and a faith felt in the heart rather than only in doctrine and church ritual. The label stuck, and the group took it up as their own. The root is Latin "pietas," which originally meant dutiful loyalty to gods, family, and country rather than inward feeling. The "-ist" ending marks a follower or practitioner, so a pietist is someone devoted to the pietas. Through the German movement, the Latin sense of dutiful devotion narrowed into the personal, heartfelt faith the word describes now.