Scott founded the journal with the goal of "practical edification without polemics" and was its editor for several months until he was forced to leave the country. During that time, he focused primarily on topics such as
conversion stories and Christian living. After Scott's departure in April 1842,
Pietisten was edited by preacher
Carl Olof Rosenius, who was left to continue Scott's work; its tone changed somewhat as Rosenius took it in a
Moravian Brethren-influenced direction, Rosenius continued until his death in 1868, after which the editorship was taken over by
Paul Peter Waldenström. In contrast to Scott and his emphasis on more neutral subjects, Waldenström would publish his new view on the doctrine of the
atonement, in conflict with the traditional Lutheran doctrine, in
Pietisten in 1872. His view would find ground among Pietists and the
Mission Friends in particular. In the last years,
Pietisten's editorial staff included Janne Nyrén (1914–1915), Johan Peter Norberg (from 1916), Theodor Andersson (from 1917) and Jakob Emanuel Lundahl (1918). 600 copies were published in
Pietisten's first year and around 10,000 copies were published between 1853 and 1865. The journal was for the Mission Friends but was widely popular among revivalists as a whole: selections were copied, translated, and published freely at the time. A
Finland-Swedish version entitled ('The Evangelical Messenger') was also published. Rosenius and Waldenström contributed to the founding of
Evangeliska Fosterlandsstiftelsen (EFS, the Swedish Evangelical Mission, 1856) and the
Svenska Missionsförbundet (SMF, Swedish Mission Covenant, 1878) respectively, the former a revivalist movement within the
Church of Sweden, the latter a
free church which split from EFS in part due to differing views on the atonement held by Waldenström and his followers. This contradiction led the EFS, in reaction to the founding of the SMF, to reissue the first fifteen volumes under the title
Pietisten. , which Rosenius had edited, while
Pietisten under Waldenström became the official voice of the SMF in 1909 and was merged with the magazine
Missionsförbundet in 1919. ==
Pietisten (1986–present)==