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Etymology 1. ‘Millenarianism’ is derived from the Latin mille (‘thousand’) and annus (‘year’), and denotes the expectation of a ‘thousand-year reign.’ ‘Chiliasm,’ with the same meaning, is derived from the Greek chílioi (‘thousand’). The original theological concept was taken over from other disciplines, and bound up with various kinds of expectations of ‘end and revolution’ in religious and social movements. Millenarianism as a Christian Expectation of the End 2. In the history of Chris…

Determination of the Concept 1. ‘Pietism’ (from Lat. pietas, ‘devotion’) is an umbrella concept for intra-church devotional and renewal movements in → Protestantism. It especially denotes a movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Germany and certain neighboring countries. Its aim was a religious interiorization of the → Reformation achievements, and their translation into practical living (‘tätiges Christsein’ [Ger., ‘active being-a-Christian’], praxis pietatis [Lat., ‘practice of piety’). Connected to this was a criticism of prevailing ecclesial relationships, and a ‘hope of better times.’ Social concentrations were at Halle and Würtemberg, in West Germany, Netherlands Reformed pietism, and—to the extent that it was ascribed to Pietism, the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde…

‘Spirituality’ is a fashionable word, used in contemporary religious discourse for a spiritual attitude toward life, a style of piety. It occurs in the Christian and the non-Christian areas alike. This diffuse application is connected with a twin history. From the French ( spiritualité), the word has been taken over into other languages, especially so since the 1960s, by Catholic theologians, who wished to describe certain forms of piety actively lived: from a contemplative monastic life (for laity, as well, who occasionally share this life, and integrate it into their daily lives), to a political and social engagement from Christian motives, for example in the ‘spirituality of liberation’ (G. Gutiérrez; → Liberation Theology). Behind all of this stands the Latin adjective spiritualis…