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Philipp Spener

Philipp Jakob Spener (23 January 1635 – 5 February 1705)[1] 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.

Philipp Spener

Philipp Jakob Spener

(1635-01-30)30 January 1635
Rappoltsweiler, Upper Alsace, Holy Roman Empire

5 February 1705(1705-02-05) (aged 70)

Berlin, Margraviate of Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire

University of Strasbourg

Pietism

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.

(de) Johannes Wallmann: Philipp Jakob Spener und die Anfänge des Pietismus, Tübingen 1970 (2. Aufl. 1986).

(de) Reinhard Breymayer, « Der Vater des deutschen Pietismus und seine Bücher. Zur Privatbibliothek Philipp Jakob Speners », in: Bibliothecae selectae da Cusano a Leopardi, a cura di Eugenio Canone, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1993, p. 299–331 (Lessico Intellettuale Europeo, 58).

(en) Werner Raupp: Art. Spener, Philipp Jacob (1635–1705), in: Heiner F. Klemme / Manfred Kuehn (General Editors), The Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers, Vol. 3, London/New York 2010, p. 1106–1110.

(Latin)

Online edition of Spener's heraldic works

by Philipp Jakob Spener (English translation)

Pia Desideria