Spener, Philipp Jakob (1635-1705)

Founding father of German pietism

Spener was never involved in operational missions. The year of his death was also the year in which the Danish-Halle Mission in South India was initiated, and there is no indication that Spener had an active part in the project. However, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, the pioneer missionary, was familiar with some of Spener’s writings, had heard him preach in Berlin, and had met him there. At Tranquebar, Spener’s catechism was translated into Portuguese and Tamil and occasionally used as a textbook for students. Spener’s main concern had been the reform of the church in Germany. But elements of a theology of mission were scattered over the whole vast collection of sermons, letters, reports, and other texts, most of them published, which Spener left behind. To him mission was, in the first place, a matter of obedience to the call of God, who wants all to be saved. It is not to be left to professional messengers, although they are indispensable, but rather to all believers, as implied in what Luther called the universal priesthood of believers. Thus it is Christ himself who works through the people.

While Spener never had an opportunity to participate in mission to non-Christians outside Europe, he did test his convictions in the practice of evangelism among Jews whom he met both in Frankfurt (1666-1686) and in Berlin (1691-1705). The later editions of his outline of church reform, entitled Pia Desideria, contained an appendix of forty pages on the “forthcoming glorious conversion of the Jewish people” (1680).

Hans Werner-Gensichen, “Spener, Philipp Jakob,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 633-634.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.