Pietism According to Bo Giertz

The Rt. Rev. Bo H. Giertz (1905-1998) was the youngest man elected and consecrated to serve the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden as a diocesan bishop. He was a staunch defender of Christian orthodoxy, the Lutheran tradition, confessional doctrine, and the centrality of the Bible in a derelict Swedish Church eager to push the envelope away from the traditional faith into a brave new world of radical social experimentation and gender-bending.

Giertz was a hard churchman to box-in with a label.

He was a "high-church" smells-and-bells miter-and-crosier catholic bishop who refused to relinquish episcopal polity and apostolic succession; was unflinchingly devoted to the Lutheran confessions and evangelical doctrine that placed the focus of the faith on the cross and justification through Word and Sacrament and expressed in the Lutheran liturgy; and yet retained a soft spot in his heart for "low-church" evangelicalism and rustic Swedish Pietism that emphasized conversion, sanctification, and holy living.

In his preaching, teaching, popular writing, and scholarly work, Giertz synthesized these popular expressions of Swedish Lutheranism and drew from the best each had to offer, proclaiming a holistic Christian faith that denied neither doctrine nor Christian living, demonstrating a vibrant faith that did not sacrifice the new life for the sake of pure dogma - but kept all of these in balance with one another.

All this from a man who was not merely a great churchman, but who was a bona fide genius (also a grandson of the founder of the Ericsson telecommunications company) who was actually raised in an atheist home! After his "retirement" as bishop of Gothenburg, he continued to speak, write, and lead the cause of orthodoxy in Sweden. He gave Swedish speakers a new Bible translation and wrote commentaries for all of the books of the New Testament. In spite of his rigorous academic life, Bishop Giertz was always a "man of the people" who had great affection for those under his pastoral care. First and last, Bishop Giertz was always a kyrkoherde, a pastor.

I think his motto as a pastor in Christ's Church might be summed up in the words Bishop Giertz placed into the mouth of one of his characters in his book Stengrunden (page 188), Pastor Fridfeldt, who said:

"Finns det något större än att få vara präst? (Is there anything greater than to be a priest?)."

English speakers (especially Lutherans) will want to read (and re-read) the English translation of this novel (comprised of three novellas), known in English as The Hammer of God. The first novella was made into a feature film that includes a cameo of the nonagenarian bishop shortly before his death.

CPH has released an English translation of Bishop Giertz's daily devotional To Live With Christ, co-translated by my classmate, colleague, and one of my own Swedish teachers, the Rev. Bror Erickson, pastor of First Lutheran Church, Tooele, UT.

But here is what I actually want to share with you: an outstanding article about how Bishop Giertz understood the role of Pietism in the life of Lutheran Christianity, written by my friend and colleague, the Swedish born LCMS pastor who serves First Trinity Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, the Rev. Eric Andrae.

It seems appropriate to offer a shout-out to my dear friend the Rev. Hans Andrae (Eric's father, known affectionately in the parish by the double entendre "Father Andrae"), Swedish-born LCMS pastor (formerly of the ELCA) who was ordained in the Church of Sweden, and who knew Bishop Giertz. Hans is the translator of the last chapter of The Hammer of God, and is the epitome of the churchman and pastor.

Bishop Giertz still has much to offer us in our own context as American Christians and Lutherans.