The influence of Bo Giertz (1905-1998) on the American scene has been such that some have even taken to calling themselves “Giertzians.” What are the marks of a “Giertzian” confession of the faith? American Lutheran scholar Clifford Ansgar Nelson noted already in 1950 that Giertz “has a profound appreciation of the high-church liturgical movement as well as of low-church evangelicalism. If one should characterize the type of piety which is most congenial to his spirit, it would be as a broad evangelical orthodoxy” (Giertz, Liturgy and Spiritual Awakening). Giertz was able uniquely to synthesize the best of pietism with the gospel-centric nature of sacramental and liturgical Lutheran orthodoxy, avoiding the pitfalls of the Reformed and of synergism. As the American audience encounters more of Giertz’s theology, however, it may indeed be struck by the pietistic elements and by the perhaps disquieting use of Lutheran language regarding conversion and faith, discipleship and worship, the place of the sacraments and the role of sanctification.

But, as Ray F. Kibler III has pointed out (“Pietism Reconsidered,” LF Winter 2009), pietism within the Swedish historical context does not always mean the same as within the American Lutheran tradition, in which it is often considered anathema. Upon closer and more objective inspection of the whole of his work and theology, one finds that Giertz indeed accomplished what he always intended and lived to do, namely follow the lead of Henric Schartau (1757-1825, chaplain at the cathedral in Lund), who apparently borrowed from the German pietists and kept what was of value but discarded anything antithetical to pure Lutheranism. Another important influence was C. O. Rosenius (1816-1868, Swedish Lutheran lay preacher; Rosenian pietism is synonymous with New Evangelicalism and contra Moravian-influenced pietism), one of the organizers of the Evangeliska Fosterland Stiftelsen as well as a founder and later editor of Pietisten, who so emphasized the atonement. Giertz took the best of the various traditions within Lutheranism and united the parts into an orthodox whole. This is why he attracted such a broad and devoted following within the church of Sweden and, through his writings, still does so today.

Giertz managed to do this in a way that was systematic, practical, accessible, pastoral, and invigorating. He ably discarded whatever of pietism or its tendencies was foreign to sound Lutheran doctrine and practice, such as diminishing the office of the ministry, emphasizing emotionalism, demoting the traditional liturgy of the church, or promoting conventicles, lay preaching, and schismatic movements. At the same time, like any good reformer, he kept that which is of value in pietism: the personal aspect of the faith, the seriousness of conversion, genuine soul care by a directly involved Seelsorger/själasörjare, the emphasis on the proper distinction and application of law and gospel, the central place of the Word, the need for pure doctrine and true teaching, the proper role of prayer, the Christian life lived in the church and in society, the sanctified fruits of an awakened and active faith, the confession of Jesus alone as the atoner, and the declaration of Christ crucified as the true and sole source and object of saving faith. Giertz even restored baptism to its proper foundational place in relation to the ordo salutis, something which had been to a great extent lost by Schartau. “His preaching, teaching, and writing demonstrated his utmost concern for God’s Word and the people to whom it was addressed. He held firmly to the threefold heritage of the apostolic and patristic witness to the faith, the reformation confession of the faith, and the spiritual renewal in the faith. Until the end of his [ninety-three] years, he remained a vigorous leader of orthodox Lutherans in Sweden” (Ronald B. Bagnall and Glenn C. Stone, “In Memoriam: Bo Giertz, Bishop and Confessor,” LF Winter 1998). It is this, Giertz’s faithful synthesis of apparently disparate elements that, paradoxically, sounds the clarity of his confession.

According to Giertz, one is to honor and love the sacramental life and the divine proclamation, which stand fast regardless of any human thought or work. At the same time, one loves and values the personal Christian life; one partakes of the richness of this life and appropriates it. These and the above-mentioned themes are especially and specifically developed in Giertz’s Kristi Kyrka (Christ’s Church, 1939) and Kyrkofromhet (Churchly Piety, 1939). The first work depicts the objective action of God in Christ through his church; the second, the personal reception of the faith through the ordo salutis (the order of grace). Folke T. Olofsson (Rasbo, Uppsala), a noted Giertz researcher, pointed out in conversation with me that the order of grace is the subjective part of Giertz’s theology, developed to fight the charge of (objective) hyper-sacramentalism.

The concepts in Kristi Kyrka and Kyrkofromhet took literary or “enfleshed” form in the well-known The Hammer of God (appearing first in Swedish in 1941). Giertz himself in an interview said that the book was written “to describe how God works when he leads a person to the true faith in Christ… I am convinced that it was right to depict the order of grace in this way. For modern man to understand this, it is necessary to illustrate it among people of flesh and blood” (Christian Braw, I Tiden: Essayer och samtal, my translation).

As such, only by this objective delivery and resulting personal response does one then truly understand the life of the church, the life of faith, life in communion with the indestructible and imperishable body of Christ. Giertz’s confession and program is one of renewal and rebirth for the Christian and for the church, while continually proclaiming the timeless, eternal, and age-old message of salvation in the cross of Christ. For Giertz, any demand for ecclesial activity, for a new paradigm, or for reforms or renewal, must always be a demand for greater faithfulness to that Lord who has died, risen, and will return in judgment and victory. It is this future that the church awaits in hope and looks to in faith. Therefore she has no anxiety, no wish to compromise with the spirit of the current age or to test the fads at the marketplace of ideas. Giertz maintains that only as the biblical and apostolic faith enlivens today’s church and her members, as holy zeal and overwhelming joy once again inspire God’s people, will they go out, not to recruit more members or organize movements but, with prophetic truth and the Spirit’s power, to invite all to the wedding feast of the Lamb. This is what it would mean to be a “Giertzian.”

Giertz, to be sure, would eschew such a moniker for Lutheran Christians. Rather, he would point us to Jesus.

Eric R. Andræ is Campus Pastor at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the President of the International Giertz Society, English Language Section, and currently translating Kyrkofromhet. This essay is a revised excerpt from Eric R. Andræ, ”Bo Giertz ur ett amerikanskt perspektiv,” in Talet om korset–Guds kraft: Till hundraårsminnet av biskop Bo Giertz’ födelse, ed. Rune Imberg (Gothenburg: Församlingsförlaget, 2005), 341-343. Kristi Kyrka has been translated by Hans O. Andræ and is to be published later in 2010.