Philipp Jakob Spener

Life

Spener was born in 1635 in Rappoltsweiler, Alsace (present-day Ribeauvillé, France). Many sources give his birth date as January 13, though some give January 23. His family was Lutheran, and he grew up in a setting deeply shaped by Johann Arndt's devotional work True Christianity. He studied at Strasbourg from 1651 to 1659 and later at Basel, Tübingen, and Geneva. In 1663 he became a preacher in Strasbourg.

In 1666 he became senior pastor (Senior) of the Lutheran ministerium in Frankfurt am Main, where he ministered for about twenty years. In 1686 he went to Dresden as chief court preacher to the Elector of Saxony. His rebukes of moral laxity at court, however, brought him into conflict with Elector John George III. In 1691 he moved to Berlin, where he served as provost (Propst) of St. Nicholas Church and as a member of the consistory. He died in Berlin on February 5, 1705.

Ministry and Achievements

• Devotional gatherings: In 1670 in Frankfurt, he began a gathering in which members of his congregation met in his study to read Scripture, pray, and share their faith. These meetings were known by the Latin name collegia pietatis. As attendance grew, the meetings moved to the church in 1682, and similar gatherings sprang up throughout Germany.
• Pia Desideria: The work first appeared in 1675 as a preface to a collection of Arndt's sermons and was later published separately. Its Latin title, Pia Desideria, means "Pious Desires." The book criticized the church's drift into formalism and the corruption of clergy and civil authorities, and it proposed six reforms: more extensive reading and study of Scripture beyond the preaching service; an expanded role for the laity in keeping with the principle of the priesthood of all believers; an emphasis on faith as a matter of practice more than of knowledge; the maintenance of love and humility in doctrinal controversy; reform of the training of ministers; and preaching that builds up the faith of the congregation. With the publication of a Latin edition in 1678, the work became known throughout Europe. The year of its publication, 1675, is commonly regarded as the beginning of Pietism.
• Legacy: He influenced the founding of the University of Halle, established in 1694, and helped August Hermann Francke obtain a position there. He was also the godfather (the sponsor in the faith at baptism) of Nicolaus von Zinzendorf. In Frankfurt he established institutions to care for the poor and for orphans.

Assessment

Spener is called the "Father of Pietism." Some Korean Protestant writers go so far as to call Pietism a "second Reformation." He is regarded as having sought to renew the church from within without leaving the Lutheran tradition.

Theologians of Lutheran Orthodoxy, by contrast, criticized him throughout his lifetime. In 1695 the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg reportedly identified 264 errors in his teaching. He was also criticized for neglecting doctrine by placing excessive emphasis on practice. In addition, because some early members of the Frankfurt devotional gatherings left the Lutheran Church, concerns arose that such gatherings could lead to separatism.