August Hermann Francke

Life

Francke was born in Lübeck in 1663, the son of the jurist Johannes Francke, and spent his childhood in Gotha. In 1687, while preparing a sermon in Lüneburg, he experienced a conversion. This experience later became an important feature of Halle Pietism. He then led a Bible study circle of "awakened" students in Leipzig. However, opposition from Lutheran Orthodoxy—the mainstream theology of the day, which prized doctrinal precision above all else—cost him his positions first in Leipzig and then in Erfurt. Around 1691–1692 he became pastor of St. George's Church in Glaucha, near Halle, and at about the same time was appointed a professor at the University of Halle. The appointment is reported to have come on the recommendation of Philipp Jakob Spener. He died in Halle in 1727.

Ministry and Achievements

• Schools and orphanage: In 1695, using 4 thalers and 16 groschen found in the parish alms box as seed money, he opened a school for poor children and began taking in orphans. In 1698 he laid the cornerstone of the orphanage building, and that same year he received a privilege from the Elector granting legal protection and tax exemptions. A boarding school for children of the nobility, a Latin school, and a school for girls were established in turn.
• The school city: Enterprises such as a printing house, a bookshop, and a pharmacy supported the institutions financially. Within about thirty years, a "city within a city" housing some 2,500 people had arisen outside the gates of Halle. These institutions continue today as the Francke Foundations.
• Bible distribution and missions: The foundations included the Canstein Bible Institute, regarded as the world's first Bible publishing and distribution society, as well as the East India Mission. For this reason Francke is regarded as a pioneer of modern Protestant missions.
• Influence: In 1713 King Frederick William I of Prussia visited the orphanage. Francke's educational methods are considered to have influenced Prussian educational policy as well. Nicolaus von Zinzendorf also studied at a school Francke founded.

Influence on the Korean Church

No clear direct link exists between the Korean church and Francke; his influence has been mainly indirect. Pietism is described as having passed through Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren to John Wesley, and this stream also connects to the theological background of Korean Methodist and Holiness churches. In addition, George Müller, who ran orphanages in reliance on prayer, is known to have drawn inspiration from the Halle orphanage. In church history and missiology courses at Korean seminaries, Francke is presented as a figure who combined piety, social service, and education. The Korean Christian press has likewise treated him as a model of "practical Pietism."

Assessment

Francke is highly regarded as a figure who extended personal piety into education and relief work and thereby pursued social reform. His contributions to the history of education, such as teacher training and school organization, are also recognized. He has, however, faced criticism. The Orthodox party of his day charged that Pietism placed excessive emphasis on individual experience, and some have argued that he required conversion experiences to conform to a fixed pattern. Regarding Pietism more broadly, Francis Schaeffer criticized it as being at risk of falling into a dualism that divides faith into spiritual and material spheres.