Pietism. Pietism is gradually coming to be seen as a clearly discernible religious movement which has left few aspects of world Protestantism untouched. The term itself seems to have been used first in reference to the followers of the Lutheran pastor Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705) at Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1674. Gradually, however, historians with a primary interest in religion as it is lived, felt the need to expand the concept to include developments in other Protestant circles which