# Philipp Spener

Part of a series on :
Lutheranism :
Background
Christianity
Start of the Reformation
Reformation
Protestantism :
Doctrine and theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Creeds
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Book of Concord
Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
Luther's Small / Large Catechism
Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Formula of Concord
Distinctive theological concepts
Theology of Martin Luther
Justification
Law and Gospel
Sola gratia
Sola scriptura
Christology
Sanctification
Two kingdoms
catholicity
Two states of the Church
Priesthood of all believers
Divine Providence
Marian theology
Theology of the Cross
Sacramental Union
Other relevant topics
Homosexuality :
Sacraments and worship
Baptism
Eucharist
Confession
Confirmation
Matrimony
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Divine Service
Matins
Vespers
Liturgical calendar
Calendar of saints
Lutheran hymn
Lutheran hymnwriters
Normative principle
Lutheran art :
Organization
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum
International Lutheran Council
Lutheran World Federation
Denominations
Lutheranism by region :
Movements
History of Lutheranism
Crypto-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
Lutheran orthodoxy
Pietists
Radical Pietism
Haugeans
Laestadians
Finnish Awakening
Old Lutherans
Neo-Lutherans
High church Lutherans
Confessional Lutheranism :
Key figuresMissionaries
John Campanius
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Hans Egede
Johann Heinrich Callenberg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
Paul Henkel
John Christian Frederick Heyer
Karl Graul
Martti Rautanen
Wilhelm Sihler
F. C. D. Wyneken
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Onesimos Nesib
Paul Olaf Bodding
Johann Flierl
Christian Keyser
Jens Christensen
Bible Translators
Martin Luther
Casiodoro de Reina
Kjell Magne Yri
Onesimos Nesib
Aster Ganno
Kristian Osvald Viderø
Jákup Dahl
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
William Tyndale
John Rogers
George Constantine
Jozef Roháček
Johannes Avetaranian
Guðbrandur Þorláksson
Ludvig Olsen Fossum
Hans Egede / Paul Egede
Otto Fabricius
Nils Vibe Stockfleth
Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri
Martti Rautanen
Primož Trubar
Jurij Dalmatin
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Sebastian Krelj
Mikael Agricola
Norwegian Bible Society
Swedish Bible Society
Samuel Ludwik Zasadius
Stanislovas Rapolionis
Laurentius Andreae
Hans Tausen
Olaf M. Norlie
Jonas Bretkūnas
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Antonio Brucioli
Mikołaj Jakubica
Matthias Bel
Johann Ernst Glück
William F. Beck
Theologians
Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora
Philip Melanchthon
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Brenz
Justus Jonas
Hans Tausen
Laurentius Petri
Olaus Petri
Mikael Agricola
Matthias Flacius
Martin Chemnitz
Johann Gerhard
Abraham Calovius
Johannes Andreas Quenstedt
Johann Wilhelm Baier
Philipp Spener
David Hollaz
August Hermann Francke
Henry Muhlenberg
Lars Levi Laestadius
Charles Porterfield Krauth
C. F. W. Walther
Søren Kierkegaard
Albrecht Ritschl
Wilhelm Herrmann
F. W. Stellhorn
Rudolf Otto
Ernst Troeltsch
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Hermann Sasse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Robert Jenson :
vte :
Philipp Jakob Spener (23 January 1635 – 5 February 1705) was a German Lutheran theologian who essentially founded what became known as Pietism. He was later dubbed the "Father of Pietism". A prolific writer, his two main works, Pia desideria (1675) and Allgemeine Gottesgelehrtheit (1680), were published while he was the chief pastor in the Lutheran Church at Frankfurt.
In 1691, he was invited to Berlin by the court of Brandenburg. In Berlin, Spener was at odds with the predominant Lutheran orthodoxy, as he had been all his life. Spener influenced the foundation of the University of Halle. Disputing his positions, the theological faculty of Wittenberg, formally accused him of 264 errors.

## Life

Spener was born in Rappoltsweiler, Upper Alsace, now part of France, in Spener's time as part of the Holy Roman Empire. After a brief time at the grammar school of Colmar, he went to Strasbourg in 1651. There he devoted himself to the study of philology, history and philosophy, and won his degree of master in 1653, with a disputation against the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. He then became private tutor to the princes Christian and Charles of the Electorate of the Palatinate, and lectured in the university on philology and history. From 1659 to 1662 he visited the universities of Basel, Tübingen and Geneva, and commenced the study of heraldry, which he pursued throughout his life. In Geneva especially, his religious views and tendencies turned in the direction of mysticism.
Spener returned to Strasbourg in 1663, where he was appointed preacher without pastoral duties, with the right of holding lectures. Three years afterwards, he was invited to become the chief pastor in the Lutheran Church at Frankfurt. Here he published his two chief works, Pia desideria (1675) and Allgemeine Gottesgelehrtheit (1680), and began that form of pastoral work which resulted in the movement called Pietism.
In 1686 he accepted the invitation to the first court chaplaincy at Dresden. The Elector John George III, at whose personal desire the post had been offered to him, was soon offended when Spener condemned the morals of John George's court. Spener refused to resign his post, and the Saxon government hesitated to dismiss him. In 1691 the Saxon representative at Berlin induced the court of Brandenburg to offer him the rectorship of St Nicholas in Berlin, with the title of counsellor of the Marcher Consistory (Konsistorialrat).
In Berlin, Spener was held in high honour, though the tendencies of the court and the government officials were rather rationalistic than pietistic. The University of Halle was founded under his influence in 1694. All his life, Spener had been exposed to the attacks and abuse of the orthodox Lutheran theologians. Over time, his opponents multiplied, and the movement which he started accumulated hostile criticism. In 1695 the theological faculty of Wittenberg formally accused him of 264 errors. Only his death released him from these fierce conflicts. His last important work was Theologische Bedenken (1700–1702), to which was added after his death Letzte theologische Bedenken, with a biography of Spener by CH von Canstein (1711). Spener died in Berlin.

## Theology

Highly influenced by Johann Arndt, Lewis Bayly, Jean de Labadie, and Theophil Großgebauer, Spener's own writings display an emphasis on personal transformation through spiritual rebirth and renewal. It is this focus on individual devotion and piety that places him within the realm of Pietism. Spener wanted to strengthen and renew the church through the development of more knowledgeable and devoted members.
In his Pia Desideria, he gave six proposals of how to enact this reform: (1) to more thoroughly acquaint believers with Scripture by means of private readings and study groups, in addition to preaching; (2) to increase the involvement of laity in all functions of the church; (3) to emphasize that believers put into practice their faith and knowledge of God; (4) to approach religious discussions with humility and love, avoiding controversy whenever possible; (5) to ensure that pastors are both well-educated and pious; and (6) to focus preaching on developing faith in ordinary believers. As these proposals indicate, Spener saw positive change for the church as being primarily dependent upon the pious involvement of individual believers.
Though Spener has been called the "father of Pietism," Albrecht Ritschl (Geschichte des Pietismus, ii. 163) maintains that "he was himself not a Pietist," as he did not advocate the quietistic, legalistic and semi-separatist practices of Pietism, though they were more or less involved in the positions he assumed or the practices which he encouraged or connived at. The only two points on which he departed from the orthodox Lutheran faith of his day were the requirement of regeneration as the sine qua non of the true theologian, and the expectation of the conversion of the Jews and the fall of the Papacy as the prelude of the triumph of the Church.
He did not, like the later Pietists, insist upon the necessity of a conscious crisis of conversion, nor did he encourage a complete breach between the Christian and the secular life. Spener was sometimes believed to be one of the godfathers of Count von Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian Brethren's Community at Herrnhut in Saxony. Although Zinzendorf met Spener as a child at his grandmother's home in Hennersdorf, Spener was not his godfather.
Spener was a prolific writer. The list of his published works comprises 7 vols. folio, 63 quarto, 7 octavo, 46 duodecimo. An edition of his chief writings was published by P. Grunberg in 1889. TVG Brunnen Verlag in Gießen, Germany began a new edition of Spener's works in 1996.