11 Facts About Philipp Spener

Philipp Jakob Spener was a German Lutheran theologian who essentially founded what became known as Pietism.

In Berlin, Spener was at odds with the predominant Lutheran orthodoxy, as he had been all his life.

Philipp Spener 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.

Philipp Spener returned to Strasbourg in 1663, where he was appointed preacher without pastoral duties, with the right of holding lectures.

The Elector John George III, at whose personal desire the post had been offered to him, was offended when Philipp Spener condemned the morals of John George's court.

Philipp Spener refused to resign his post, and the Saxon government hesitated to dismiss him.

In Berlin, Philipp Spener was held in high honour, though the tendencies of the court and the government officials were rather rationalistic than pietistic.

All his life, Philipp Spener had been exposed to the attacks and abuse of the orthodox Lutheran theologians.

Philipp Spener wanted to strengthen and renew the church through the development of more knowledgeable and devoted members.

Philipp Spener 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.

Philipp 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.