Halle Pietism

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Francke Monument in the Francke Foundations ( Christian Daniel Rauch , 1829)

The Hallische pietism (also Hallescher pietism ) is a form of Lutheran pietism that the theologians and educators August Hermann Francke is due. Francke cooperated closely with the Prussian state in the development of his school town ( Francke Foundations ) and in the study reform in Halle .

"Prussian State Religion" with international appeal

According to Johannes Wallmann , Halle Pietism is a direction of Pietism that was shaped in Halle by Francke and his colleagues, but already existed in Leipzig and Erfurt, ultimately inspired by Philipp Jacob Spener in Berlin. That is why there is also the name “Spener-Francke Pietism”.

The University of Halle was re-established in 1694, and several chairs were given to pietistic lecturers. In addition to Francke, Paul Anton , Joachim Justus Breithaupt , Anastasius Freylinghausen and Joachim Lange worked here . They all took the same line.

In Prussia, in addition to Halle as a radiation center, East Prussia was also an independent, pietistic region. This pietism, with which z. B. Kant , Herder and Hamann dealt with, can be described in a broader sense as Halle Pietism. First, Georg Friedrich Rogall had introduced the "Hallesche Lehrart" at the University of Königsberg ; from 1728 the East Prussian consistory was pietistic. According to Martin Brecht , the East Prussian variant of Halle Pietism "seems more narrow in some ways ." With a view to Halle and East Prussia, the historian Carl Hinrichs described Pietism as the "Prussian state religion."

On the other hand, the Halle Pietism was not a phenomenon restricted to Prussia. The theological faculty in Halle attracted numerous foreign students who then acted as multipliers at home. In various Protestant regions of Germany there was therefore a phase in which they were shaped by Halle Pietism. Francke was honored everywhere on his “Journey into the Reich” in 1717/1718. When a preacher of Old Lutheran Orthodoxy publicly criticized him in Ulm, the city council allowed him to preach himself in the Ulm Minster , which Francke did in front of a large audience and was able to record as a “complete victory of faith”. Overall, the trip was a propaganda success.

Francke maintained an extensive correspondence with friends in other countries (especially with the German population in North America, Russia, the Baltic States and Southeastern Europe), which in many places led to the establishment of schools and orphanages based on the Halle model. In 1706 Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau were sent to India by the Danish-Halle Mission , in 1742 Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg was sent to North America and became the organizer of the Lutheran Church there.

"Repentance fight" and conversion experience

Eagles looking into the sun on the gable of the historic orphanage. They symbolize the serene attitude to life of the Christian after the conversion experience.

Characteristic of Francke's type of piety is the sudden, datable and one-time conversion .

Francke had a religious experience in Lüneburg in 1687 , which ended his previous inner crisis: "Because as you turn a hand, all my doubts were gone." By reading Johann Arndt and Miguel de Molinos , Francke was already familiar with the idea, that there could be a sudden change in life, a breakthrough towards God. Wallmann believes that the motif of the unique, datable conversion comes from Calvinism and was conveyed to German-speaking Lutheranism by Theophil Großgebauer . Francke got to know this concept during a conversation with the superintendent Heinrich Wilhelm Scharff in the Lüne monastery - a fan of large builders. Francke's conversion experience came one day after the conversation with Scharff.

Later, Francke systematically presented the path of conversion. It is true that as a baby one is accepted into sonship with God through the baptismal covenant , but man breaks this covenant so that it has to be renewed in repentance . According to Francke, this happens in several stages according to the "order of God":

  1. "Divine emotion" of the sinner z. B. through suffering or through a fitting word. If the person can be addressed, the next stage follows.
  2. "Penitential battle" through dealing with the devil and the world. People experience failure, repent and long for God's forgiveness. These "birth pains" (prolonged life crisis, deep depression) are inevitable.
  3. "Breakthrough", the sinner seizes the justification and enters the state of faith. This is accompanied by positive feelings (comfort, joy).

Francke saw himself as a Lutheran and believed that he was in harmony with Martin Luther ; in fact, he set some accents differently. For him, the “breakthrough” means a change in the status of the person, although the person is exposed to temptations for life , but these are no longer as important after conversion. Unlike Luther, Francke emphasized human free will ; piety must be recognizable from the works. The church is constituted by the pious members, not, as with Luther, by word and sacrament.

Bible study

At the theological faculty of the University of Halle, Francke carried out the reform of theology studies suggested by Spener. The focus was on learning the biblical languages Hebrew and Greek as well as thorough work with the biblical original text . In contrast, what had previously dominated the curriculum of Lutheran orthodoxy was devalued: Aristotelian philosophy and denominational polemics .

In the summer of 1696 Francke designed a biblical hermeneutic ( Manductio ad lectionem Sacrae Scripturae ). Basically, he made a distinction between the shell and the core of the Bible. The shell - the text - is to be examined philologically, historically and logically. But only the born again can grasp the core spiritually. Those who have this living knowledge recognize the “symphonic harmony” of the whole Bible and come to a practical, everyday relevant appropriation. "One moved away from the orthodox conception of a single, literal sense and assumed a double or even threefold sense of Scripture: the literal, the spiritual and the mystical."

Since Francke considered the study of the Bible to be an important part of Christian life, he gave advice on how every Christian, even without much prior knowledge, should “read the holy scriptures for his true edification”. It is important that the reading of the Bible is accompanied by prayer and that it transitions into meditation. One should know the purpose (“Scopus”) of the respective biblical book, which is encompassed by the main purpose of the entire Bible (“our bliss”).

Through the philological preoccupation with the original text, Francke became aware of errors in the Luther Bible . From January 1695 he published a monthly with the title Observationes biblicae , in which “the German translation of the Blessed. Lutheri held against the original text and modestly viewed Where one can get closer to the actual word understanding. "Goods in the Old Lutheran orthodoxy has serious reservations Francke's" penitential struggle "and his doctrine of the Church ( ecclesiology present), so with the criticism of the Luther Bible he had provided his opponents with further ammunition. Francke did not contest that. He considered the Luther translation to be unsurpassed; But Luther was a fallible person, his Bible could and should be revised.

pedagogy

From humble beginnings and with the support of his staff, Francke had built a school town in which a large number of future Prussian officers and civil servants were educated. In 1702 he expressed himself about the concept of teaching in a program (“Short and simple lessons, how to lead children to true godliness and Christian wisdom”).

The goal is the godliness and Christian wisdom of the child, the way to get there is through practicing loving Christian behavior in early childhood (not through training), whereby the role model of the educator is of particular importance. Biblical stories should be told instead of memorized catechism formulas . The children should be able to read the Bible for themselves as soon as possible.

The child's “natural self-will” must be “broken”; its opposite, obedience , should be demonstrated by Christians to one another at any time (i.e. even across class boundaries) as long as God's honor is not affected. Constant supervision and employment of the children should make their chastisement superfluous as possible; Variety, playful learning and sporting activity were allowed, while idleness and distraction were frowned upon.

"Plant Garden" of the Francke Foundations

Francke introduced the real subjects of biology, astronomy, physics, geography and history in the classroom and enabled the students to set their own priorities depending on their talents. A natural material chamber , an astronomical observatory, a mechanical workshop and a botanical garden should make the lessons clear and practical. On the other hand, drama, reading novels or “political mouth monkeys” were not included in this curriculum; they were considered “alfanzerei” and “devil's fax”.

Court of the Francke Foundations (copper engraving, around 1750)

The recovery times also monotonously followed a given scheme: "The 'delight' on Saturday afternoon (distribution of rolls or fruit ...), the educational walks in good weather, the measured going back and forth in the school yard and the participation in the manual work" everything under constant supervision.

The students were raised in self-control. Francke recommended a daily evening examination of conscience and suggested that the older students keep a diary. The penitential struggle that Francke himself had gone through should also be understood by the pupils and, through the experience of conversion, they should progress to a relaxed, tireless commitment to God. The symbol for this was the eagle, which has detached itself from the earth and looks unblinded at the light of the sun. This representation crowns the gable field above the main portal of the Halle orphanage.

Theologians of Halle Pietism

EG 1 “ Open the door ” in Freylinghausen's witty hymn book, with figured bass
  • Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt had been chosen by Francke as his successor. He was a theology professor and sub-director of the orphanage, but died early. He is also known as a song writer (EG 303: " Praise the Lord, oh my soul! ")
  • Johann Jakob Rambach received his chair in Halle after Francke's death in 1727. The most important Pietistic hermeneutics ( Institutiones hermeneuticae sacrae , 1723) came from him.
  • Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen wrote the classic dogmatics of Halle Pietism ("Foundation of Theology", 1703). He was also the editor of the most important Pietistic hymnbook, " Geistreiches Gesangbuch " (Hall 1704) and "New Geistreiches Gesangbuch" (Hall 1714), later combined into one volume.

Limits of Halle Pietism

Johannes Wallmann judges: "It was the fate of Halle Pietism and finally cut the strings of life that it had to be completely drawn into the organization of the up-and-coming Prussian state." Martin Brecht points out, however, that Halle Pietism is divorced from the Union plans Lutherans and Reformed, whom the Berlin court persecuted, resisted tenaciously and ultimately successfully. (The Union would have lost the Lutheran students from other countries, who enrolled in large numbers in Halle.)

It was more problematic that the university reform in Halle relied solely on the practical value of studying theology and neglected theory. The deficits became apparent when dealing with the investigation. Symptomatic here was the expulsion of the Enlightenment philosopher Christian Wolff from the University of Halle. Upon Francke's intervention, Friedrich Wilhelm I ordered his deposition and expulsion from the country in 1723. Brecht sums up: “In its struggle against the Enlightenment, Halle Pietism also made use of… denunciating argumentation and the use of state power… In this way it tried to cover up its weakness in thinking, which resulted from its disdain for philosophy. However, he was unable to offer a convincing and consistent alternative system. "

literature

  • Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism. In: History of Pietism: Pietism from the seventeenth to the early eighteenth centuries. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, pp. 440-540. ISBN 3-525-55343-9 .
  • Klaus Deppermann: The pedagogy of August Hermann Francke and its significance for the present . In: Protestant profiles from Luther to Francke: socio-historical aspects. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, pp. 91-107. ( Digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bengt Hägglund : History of theology. A demolition. Chr. Kaiser, Munich 2nd ed. 1990, p. 256. Douglas H. Shantz: An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2013, p. 137.
  2. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 502.
  3. ^ Johannes Wallmann: An alternative history of Pietism. On the current discussion about the concept of pietism. In: Pietism and Modern Times. Volume 28, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, pp. 30–71, here p. 38.
  4. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 511.
  5. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 514.
  6. ^ A b Johannes Wallmann: Church history in Germany since the Reformation . 4th, revised edition Mohr, Tübingen 1993. p. 147.
  7. ↑ a b c Klaus Deppermann: The pedagogy of August Hermann Francke and its significance for the present , Göttingen 1992, p. 100.
  8. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 445.
  9. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 443.
  10. ^ Johannes Wallmann: The Pietism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, p. 110.
  11. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 463.
  12. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 466.
  13. ^ Johannes Wallmann: Church history in Germany since the Reformation . 4th, revised edition Mohr, Tübingen 1993. p. 145.
  14. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 467.
  15. ↑ Bengt Hägglund : History of theology. A demolition. Chr. Kaiser, Munich 2nd edition 1990, p. 256 f.
  16. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 467 f.
  17. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 469 f.
  18. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 490 ff.
  19. ↑ Klaus Deppermann: The pedagogy of August Hermann Francke and its significance for the present , Göttingen 1992, p. 98.
  20. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 490.
  21. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 491.
  22. ^ Werner Loch: Pedagogy using the example of August Hermann Francke. In: Martin Brecht et al. (Ed.): Beliefs and lifeworlds (= History of Pietism . Volume 4). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 264–308, here p. 288.
  23. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 500.
  24. ^ Johannes Wallmann: The Pietism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, p. 127 f.
  25. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 499.
  26. ↑ Martin Brecht: August Hermann Francke and the Halle Pietism . Göttingen 1993, p. 506 ff.