The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1826 page)

Pi-ch’iu
.

Chin. for
bhik
u
.

 
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(1463–94).
Christian mystical and humanistic writer. A considerable linguist, he regarded
kabbalah
as illuminating Christianity. The created order emerges in hierarchies of emanation, with humans mediating between the spiritual and the material, able to know God as a friend rather than a fact (cf.
I–Thou
). This amounts to an assertion of Christian humanism which he argued in
De Hominis Dignitate
… (1492).

 
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(Ital., ‘pity’). Representation (often in sculpture) of the Blessed Virgin
Mary
lamenting over the dead and recently deposed body of
Christ
, after the
crucifixion
.

 
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Pietism
.

A movement in Protestant Christianity which reacted against too rigid a confessional orthodoxy, and emphasized good works and a holy life. It began soon after the Thirty Years War (1618–48), led by Jakob Spener (1635–1705). Invited to write a preface to a book of sermons, he wrote a short tract,
Pia Desideria
(1675; tr. T. G. Tappert, 1964), which became a kind of ‘manifesto’, laying down six ‘simple proposals’ (
einfältige Vorschläge
) for a more godly life: individual study of the Bible; the exercise of the priesthood of all believers (i.e. including the laity); the importance of good works; the control of charity in controversy; the better training of ministers, with training conforming to life; and the reformation of preaching to serve all these purposes. Spener was widely influential (though also opposed, as all reformers are), affecting especially A. H. Francke (1663–1727), who committed himself to the poor of Halle. Among many influenced by Pietism were Count Zinzendorf (who brought together the
Moravian
Church) and John
Wesley
.

 
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Pigu
(Buddhist monk)
.

Korean for
bhik
u
.

 
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