Philipp Jakob Spener

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705), German theologian, who founded Pietism, a 17th-century Lutheran movement that emphasized right conduct and inner growth. Spener was born in what is now Ribeauvillé, France, on January 23, 1635. He studied at the University of Strasbourg and gradually acquired a passion for the reform of Lutheran orthodoxy, particularly in its ecclesiastical structures and the apparent moral laxity of its clergy.

While head of the Lutheran church in Frankfurt, Spener established “schools of piety”—meetings designed to foster individual spiritual growth through Bible study, prayer, and meditation. His influential work, Pious Desires (1675; trans. 1964), contains the essential program of Pietism and established Spener as the movement's chief spokesman. Spener rejected the common pietistic view advocating complete separation of the secular from the spiritual. He also encouraged lay participation in the church. Pietism became a major force in Germany and eventually spread to England, through which it influenced the Great Awakening in the American colonies.