Pietism is a large part of our country’s religious culture and not many people know the roots behind it. Jane Donovan, a religious studies professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va., explained the Evangelical Association’s Pietist roots on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in the Young Center at Elizabethtown College.
Donovan’s focus was on Jacob Albright and the Albright Brethren, later referred to as the Evangelical Association in 1816. The Evangelical United Brethren Church is a section with influences from both the Evangelical Association and the United Brethren in Christ. The Evangelical United Brethren later came together with the Methodists to form the United Methodist Church.
The Albright’s Brethren’s form of church government is Methodist Episcopal; many of its original members were of German descent. Albright, whose original German name was Jakob Albrecht, was a native of Pennsylvania and founded the Albright Brethren in 1800.
Albright was born and raised in what is now just northwest of Pottsville, Pa. After he was born, he was baptized Lutheran. He served in the American Revolution as a drummer boy and later tiled roofs in order to provide for his wife and children. In Donovan’s words, “the neighbors knew him as ‘The Honest Tiler.’” When tragedy struck his family and several of his children died of unknown causes, Albright found himself in a dark place and in need of spiritual guidance.
Donovan explained the loss of Albright’s children as the reason for his discovery of the Methodist religion. The religious beliefs of Methodism sparked the solution to his sorrow and brought an end to his spiritual search. He started by taking Methodist classes, which Donovan joked were “nothing like the Sunday School image we get in our heads.” After attending the religious class, he felt compelled to take the Methodist beliefs to Germany. Eventually, Albright decided to return to his home country to begin preaching here.
After being denied the right to preach in the German language when he returned to the United States, Albright set out on his own and converted many people in Pennsylvania to the Methodist tradition throughout his journey. Donovan provided a variety of maps to indicate which areas were the German settlements to which Albright traveled and influenced.
A life of preaching and converting exhausted Albright, and he fell to tuberculosis when traveling to Linglestown, Pa. His power and impact within the Evangelical community is still apparent today in the strong affiliation Albright College has with the religion.
Donovan’s main focus was Albright because of his important role in the Evangelical Association, but during her lecture, she also mentioned the essentials of Pietism to the Evangelical Association. Pietism developed in Germany and emphasized classes, ethical behavior, theology of experience and emotionalism. The movement of Pietism has influenced many religious groups, such as Protestants and Anabaptists.
Donovan specializes in the history of Christianity and has written seven books and numerous articles portraying her interest in America’s religious history with an emphasis on Christianity. Her writing projects continue today, as she is currently working on a biography of Henry Foxall, an iron supplier for Thomas Jefferson.