I

71-10,587
SPINK, George Samuel, 1928JOHN ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT: A STUDY IN
GERMAN PROTO-PIETISM.
Temple University, Ph.D., 1970
Religion

University Microfilms, A XEROX Com pany, Ann Arbor, Michigan

GEORGE

1971

SAMUEL

SPINK

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

JOHN ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT:

A STUDY IN GERMAN PROTO-PIETISM

by
->sv '
GEORGE S? SPINK

SUBMITTED TO THE TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE BOARD IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY.

March, 1970

F O A M |V

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE BOARD

Title of Dissertation:

JOHN ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT:

A STUDY IN GERMAN PROTO-PIETISM

Author:

GEORGE S. SPINK

Date submitted to the Graduate Board.

157Q--

Accepted by the Graduate Board o f Tem ple U niversity in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the
degree o f Doctor o f Philosophy.

PREFACE

The proto-Pietistic religion of John Arndt"*- was the

major force that introduced a new spirit into the Lutheran
Church, which was to reach its culmination in the Pietism
of Philip Spener.

One could compare the dynamic influence

of his ideas to those of Luther's Ninety-five Theses in that

they both harmonized with the feelings of many at the time
of their respective periods, setting the stage for a reform
movement.

While Arndt never suggested that he was completing

the Reformation, something which was to be later asserted

by those who followed in his stream of thought, he did seek
to reform the life of the Lutheran Church by calling its
members to a deeper practice of true Christian piety.

It is

in this sense that he can be referred to as the father of

German Lutheran Pietism.

^The last name of Arndt is not always spelled consis

tently in his works. Variations in spelling are Arndt, Arnd,
Arnt, and the Latin form Arndius. In this dissertation the
spelling Arndt will be used since it occurs most frequently
on the title pages of his w o r k s .
-i-

-ii-

A_ Brief Summary of Arndt's Life and Works

On December 27, 1555# the year of the Peace of
Augsburg, John Arndt was born in the village of Edderitz
in the duchy of Anhalt.
pastor there since 1553.

His father Jacob Arndt had been

In 1558 Jacob Arndt moved to

Ballenstadt, where he labored until his death in 1565.

Arndt,

John

the oldest of three children, had received, from the

days of his early childhood, a careful spiritual upbringing

by both his father and mother.
his father died.

He was ten years old when

Through the charity of Prince Joachim

Ernst, the family was given financial aid.

With additional

aid from close friends of the family, the young Arndt was
able to attend schools at Achersleben, Halberstadt, and
Magdeburg.

Along with this formal education in his youth,

Arndt practiced daily devotional reading of the Bible, a

habit in which he had been trained by his father.

He also

diligently read large portions of the writings of Luther,

Bernard, Tauler, and Thomas a Kempis."*"
Arndt had originally decided to devote himself to the
study of the science of medicine against the wishes of his
mother, who had hoped he would enter the calling of his

*"John G. Morris, The Life of John Arndt (Baltimore:

Newton Kurtz, 1853)} p. 20.

-liifather.

Attacked by a very painful disease, from which it

was believed he could never recover, he vowed to God that if

spared his life he would enter the Christian ministry.
Having recovered, he entered the University of Helmstadt in
order to study for the Lutheran ministry in 1576.

Two years

later he transferred to the University of Wittenberg.

Here

he became a close friend of Polycarp Lyser, a well-known

theologian of the day, who had the reputation of being the
chief defender of the doctrine of justification by faith.
Arndt later carried on a periodic correspondence with him
discussing the validity of his True Christianity as Lutheran
teaching.1

Prom Wittenberg, Arndt went to Basel in 1579*

where he remained until 1580.

At Basel he refreshed his

former studies in medicine under the celebrated professor

Theodore Zwinger, a pious and scholarly man.

Zwlnger had

gained fame through his published work in several folios,

Theatrum Naturae et Artis.2

Continuing his theological

studies while at Basel, Arndt came under the influence of

Simon Sulzer, who was noted for his dislike of theological

1Friedrich Julius Winter, Johann Arndt, der Verfasser

des "Wahren Chris tenthums11 (Leipzig: Verein fur Reformationsgeschichte, 191l), p. 3.
2Morris, ojd. c i t ., p. 30 .

-ivcontroversy.

The influence of this man is evident in the

spirit of Arndt's religious thought.

While at Basel Arndt,

in addition to his major studies, read gratuitously to a

private class of friends some lectures on natural philosophy,
ethics, and rhetoric.

He also lectured with great enthu

siasm on the Epistle of Paul to the R o m a n s .1

After spending two years at Basel, Arndt continued
his studies in the University of Strassburg.

Strassburg

during the Reformation had been the center of Reformed

theology under the influence of John Calvin, Martin Bucer,
and Wolfgang Capito.

However a change toward Lutheranism

had been accomplished under the influence of Johann Sturm,

Johann Marbach, and Johann Pappus.

It was while Arndt was

at Strassburg that he decided not to pursue his calling

as a professor of theology but rather to devote himself
to the work of the pastoral ministry.
At the age of twenty-eight he accepted a call issued
by Prince Joachim Ernst, as assistant preacher to a congre
gation at Ballenstadt in Anhalt.

Unfortunately for Arndt,

Prince John George, successor of Prince Joachim Ernst, fell

under Calvinistic influences and sought to introduce the

1Ibid.

-V-

teachings of Calvin in the geographic area where Arndt

labored.

Arndt's strong objection to this move, stated in

a letter to tho Prince, caused him to be banned from his

pulpit, deposed from his office, and exiled from his home
province.*
Following this, he accepted a call to the pulpit at
Quedlinburg (1590-1599)-

After a difficult ministry in this

parish in which he attacked fearlessly the "excessive drink

ing, gluttony, and blasphemy" of many influential church
members, who retaliated by attacking his name and ministry,
he felt that the period of his effective work at Quedlinburg
was ended.

One positive achievement in Arndt's ministry

at Quedlinburg,

from the standpoint of Lutheran history,

was accomplished through pastoral counsel rendered to John

Gerhard.^

Gerhard had sought Arndt's pastoral comfort and

^Otto Wehrhan, Lebensgeschichte Johann Arndt1s des

Verfassers vom "Wahren Chris tent hum "THamburg Agentur des
Rauhen Hauses, 1848), pp. 7-10.
^Friedrich Arndt, Johann Arn d t : Eln biographischer
Versuch (Berlin:
In Commission bei L. Oehmigke, 1838),
p. 40.
3 John Gerhard (1582-1637) became a German Lutheran
dogmatician and the foremost exponent of Lutheran orthodoxy.
As professor at Jena for two decades, Gerhard was a highly
respected teacher, an ecclesiastical leader, and a counselor
of princes.
His noted works include Loci Theologici (l6l01622), in nine huge volumes, the four volume Confessio
Catholica (163^-1637), and a popular devotional book,
Medltationes Sacrae (1606). An irenic and constructive
theologian, Gerhard interpreted Lutheranism in terms of
evangelical catholicity.
He was looked upon by his contem
poraries as the Lutheran counterpart of Aquinas.

-viencouragement during a long and severe illness.

It was at

this time that Arndt had persuaded Gerhard to devote himself

to the study of theology.^
After leaving Quedlinburg, Arndt took up his pa s
toral labors at Braunschweig,
means an easy call.

(1599-1608).

This was by no

The city had been involved in war for

some time, and was at the point of almost complete ruin

from the constant attacks of the warring Duke of BraunschweigWolfenbuttel, Henry Julius.

The siege was halted when the

Emperor, moved by its tragic results, persuaded the Duke to

be more merciful to the inhabitants of the distressed
city.^

As a result of the social upheaval caused by the

conditions of continual warfare,

license broke out.

looting and unbridled moral

In response to this situation, Arndt

wrote in a letter to Piscator:

"True repentance is d is

guised in an empty outward appearance and hypocrisy; hatred,

envy, murder, has the upper hand, so that I begin to weary
of life."

It was in the year 1605 during these calamities

Morris, ojd. c i t ., p. 87 .
% ehrhan,

o. c i t ., p. 21.

3Johann Arndt, Sechs Bucher vom Wahren Christenthum

(Philadelphia: Herausgegeben von Georg W. Mentz und Sohn,
Buchhandler, 1832), p. 8l4.
For this work the abbreviation,
Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz) will be used.

-viiand hardships that Arndt, at the age of fifty years, p u b

lished the first book of True Christianity .1
Arndt moved to Eisleben in the last few weeks of
1608 and remained there until l6 ll.

Johann Wagner, the

superintendent of the Braunschweig ministerium, stated in

the records that the reason for his move was,

"the slanders

cast upon him by his colleagues."

In the year 1610 a severe pestilence broke out in
Eisleben.

During this iccal crisis Arndt ministered faith

fully without concern for his own health, to the sick and
dying of his parish.

Contemplating the possibility of his

a

own death, Arndt wrote his Testament on April 22, 1610.

Arndt's last place of labor was at Celle from the
years 1611 to 1621.

He believed that his invitation to con

tinue his labors as general superintendent in Celle was a

providential act of God.

He set forth this reason for

accepting the position after he had written to the faculty

of Wittenberg for counsel concerning this move and was d i s
satisfied with the uncertain reply that he had received.^

1Morris,

ojd.

c i t ., p. 99 .

2Wehrhan, o. c i t ., p. 46.
^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), pp. 839-41.
^Wehrhan, o. ait., pp. 60-62.

-viiiIt was during Arndt's years at Celle that his w r i t

ings became widespread.

They injected into mainstream

Lutheranism the spirit of his proto-Pietism which was to

last down to the present day.

It was also during these

years that violent controversy broke out over his major

work True Christianity.

It centered around the question

of whether it was scriptural or not and should be accepted

as a valid part of Lutheranism.

Thus surrounded by controversy, and defending the

right of his work to be considered a valid part of Luther
anism, he died on May 11, 1621.3

He was buried on the 15th

Gottfried Arnold in referring to the controversies

that surrounded Arndt's writings says that he was obliged
to answer "sophists, hypocrites, and Epicureans," until it
was finally realized that "God cares for truth, for he
turned the hearts of the devout toward Arndt, so that they
approved his diligence to uphold moral order, and regarded
it was a sin and shame to oppose Arndt even in the smallest
matter."
Cf. G. Arnold, Unparteyische Kirchen-u n d -Ketzer
Historle (3 Band; Schaffhausen:
Bnanuel und Benedict
Hurter, 1740-41), II, 92.
2Morris, ojd. cit ., pp. 171-73.
3john Lawerence von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesias
tical History; Ancient And Modern, trans. by James Murdock
(3 vols.; New Haven: published by A. H. Maltby, 1832),
states, "The celebrated work of Arndt, on true Christianity...
was too bitterly taxed by Lucas Osiander, George Rost, and
many others, with being written, among other faults, in a
style that was debased by Weigelian, Paracelsic, and the
like phraseology
But he has been absolved from all
great errors, by the most respectable men, especially by
Paul Egard, Daniel Dilger, Melchior Breler, John Gerhard,
Dorscheous, and numerous others; and, indeed, he appears to
have derived reputation and renown, rather than disgrace,
from those many criminations."
Ill, 446.

-ixof May in the church yard at Celle.

The Influence of Arndt's Works

Arndt's True Christianity is probably the best extant
work of his proto-Pietistic thoughts.

It went through numer

ous editions, influencing not only men that were his con
temporaries but also those who were to become the purveyors
of his spirit within the developing history of Lutheranism.
Many editions of True Christianity found their way into
religious circles outside Lutheranism in other countries,
and were carried by those imbued with the Pietistic spirit
as they immigrated to America.'1' Spener, who has been fre
quently called the father of Lutheran Pietism, makes mention
of the influence of Arndt in his early life and states that
the idea of his Pia Desideria was crystalized while writing
a preface to a new edition of the sermons of John Arndt.2
Since the entire works of Arndt have never been
translated into English and no book-length scholarly work
on Arndt's Pietistic ideas has appeared in English, this

1Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria, trans. & ed.

with an introduction by Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1964), p. 8. All subsequent references to
this work will be, Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert).
2Ibid ., pp. 14-17.

-X-

dissertation is an effort to provide an introduction to

Lutheran Pietism through an investigation of his works and
the sources of his religious thought.

While Arndt never

intended that his writings be used to disavow the estab

lished Lutheran Church and its doctrinal teachings, one
cannot deny that they tended toward heterodoxy and separa
tism.

Despite this fact, Arndt's importance lay in the

historical truth that he did exercise a primary influence

over the spirit of Pietism that was to flow through the
Lutheran Church not only in the seventeenth century, but in
its development down to the present.

It is important at

the beginning therefore to clarify the meaning of the word

Pietism and the relationship between the various groups
who have been labeled Pietists.

Significant Differences Within Lutheran Pietism

In the most general sense, Pietism can be classified
as a religious endeavor within the stream of Christian h i s
tory which stressed a warmhearted, devotionally oriented
Biblicism, self-criticism and self-surrender through repent
ance, practical application of Christian truth, and a
face-to-face relationship in which laymen and clergy share
responsibilities in the ministries of the church.

It was

this type of praxis pietatls in the developing stream of

-xiChristian history that Arndt was attempting to establish in

his works as the essence of his religious interpretation of
Christianity.
While the name Pietism originated in connection with
Spener's efforts, and while its prototype can be found in
Arndt, one cannot confine the desire for a spirit of prac
tical piety emanating from the "heart" to the Lutheran
Church of the sixteenth, seventeenth,
turies.

and eighteenth cen

The spirit of practical piety as a reaction to arid

religious intellectualism can be found in many movements

outside Lutheranism.

Aside from the Christian tradition

there was the movement of Hasidism as a counteraction to

the dry spirit of orthodoxy within Judaism.^

There was

also the movement of Jansenism within the Roman Catholic

Church.

The Quietism of Molinos, Guyon, and Penelon also

sought to deepen the piety of its followers.

One can trace

a similar spirit of Pietism in the British and American

Evangelicalism, the Great Awakenings, revivalism, and
modern fundamentalism.

But while there are certain simi

larities to sixteenth and seventeenth century Lutheran

^Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, Edited and

Trans, by Maurice Friedman (New York:
Horizon Press, 1958),
passim.

-xiiPietism in these movements, they are radically different

from the proto-Pietism of Arndt.

One also needs to keep in

mind that while there is a similar spirit in the desire

for piety between Puritan Pietism and Continental Pietism,
there are also unique differences that arise out of their
approach to the implementation of Pietism.1
When one turns to the movement of Pietism within
Lutheranism,

there are six separate groups that are more

or less related.
1.

The Arndtian Pietists who carried on

his ideas immediately after his death.

2.

Spener and those connected with his group.

3.

Francke and the Halle theologians.

4.

The Wurttemberg Pietists, centered around

Bengel and Oettinger.

5.

Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren

movement.

6.

The German radical separatist Pietists.

All these groups had originated before the middle of the

eighteenth century.
If one were to trace the widespread influence of

1John T. McNeill, Modern Christian Movements

(Philadelphia:
The Westminster Press, 1954), pp. 73-74.

-xiiiArndt's proto-Pletism, it would be necessary to consider

the churchly Pietism which grew up within Scandinavian,
Swiss, and American Lutheranism, along with the
Erweckungsbewegung (Awakening Movement) throughout European
Protestantism in the late eighteenth and nineteenth ce n
turies.

The essence of these later developments, which

is beyond the scope of this dissertation, Is evident in the

differing theological and ecclesiastical characteristics
which they displayed.
The proto-Pletistic influence of Arndt and his
immediate followers produced few doctrinal or ecclesias
tical divergences from standard Lutheranism, though one can
readily see that the spirit was different.

The orthodox

party within the Lutheran Church insisted in the main that

true Christianity was a matter of assensus in regard to
Christian teaching, while Arndt and his followers, not
denying the creedal confessions of the church, implied that
fiducia was more the essence of true Christianity.

The

later wiirttemberg Pietistic movement followed closely the

intention of Arndt to maintain the Pietistic spirit within
the ecclesiastical and theological structures of Reformation
Lutheranism.

One can also observe in the later efforts of

Zinzendorf the same desire to maintain Moravianism within

-xivthe Lutheran structure.

But as history shows, he was not

too successful and there arose within this group a theology

that differed from that of traditional historic Lutheranism.
An examination of the later Halle school of thought
reveals a type of Pietism which emphasized penitential
conflict and datable conversion as the true evidence of a
genuine Christian life.

Also there arose under A. H.

Francke's influence an ascetic,

intellectual attitude.

legalistic, and anti-

This posture was developed so

completely that there was not much resemblance to Arndt's

more liberal, individualistic spirit or Spener's views
which had developed Arndt's proto-Pietism to its fullest
extent within the Lutheran Church.
Furthest from the spirit of Arndt's proto-Pietism
were the Radical or Separatist Pietists who left the estab
lished Lutheran Church and in the main developed their
movement apart from the traditional theology and conven
tional ecclesiastical practices of mainstream Lutheran
Pietism.1

For the most part Radical Pietism disagreed with

the spirit of Arndt's proto-Pietism because Arndt always

insisted on loyalty to the teachings of the Lutheran Church.

^George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Phila

delphia:
The Westminster Press, n.d.), pp. 796-845, passim.

-XV-

In rejecting the idea that the practice of piety could be

carried on within the structures of the Lutheran Church,
the Radical Pietists turned primarily toward the teachings
of Anabaptism.1

Important Literature Concerning Pietism

An investigation of the literature which flowed from
the pens of the Pietists and those who were opposed to them
reveals a vast amount of material.

While there are a number

of studies on Pietism, few of these are recent and many

evidence a bias which is anti-Pietistic.

A very few able

studies on Pietism are available at the present time.

Yet

there are some along with the earlier studies in this area
which must be mentioned as necessary sources for one who
wishes to conduct a scholarly investigation of the subject.
In most cases these works have yet to be translated from
the German.
The most complete study of Pietism was a three
volume work done by Albrecht Ritschl in the last century.

^Donald F. Durnbaugh, European Origins of the

Brethren, compiled and translated by the author (Elgin,
Illinois:
The Brethren Press, 1958), pp. 37-131* passim.

Bonn:

2Albrecht Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus (3 V o l s .j

Adolph Marcus Co., 1880, 1884, 1886).

-xviHe devoted his first volume to Pietism among the Reformed

which he stressed as the most authentic form of original
Pietism.

Unfortunately he devoted only a minor portion of

his work to John Arndt in his second volume of 584 pages,

and made only passing references to him in the other two
volumes.

He classified the work of Arndt as only a carry

over from late medieval mysticism.1

In this attempt to

disassociate Arndt from traditional Lutheran Pietism, it is

obvious that Ritschl pays little attention to the Influence
of the early Luther in Arndt's religious thought.

These

blind spots in Ritschl's work, along with many others, have

caused some scholars in the field of Christian history to
assert the need for a more thorough study in the history of
Pietism.2
A one-volume study on the development of Pietism
is that of Heinrich Schmid, Geschlchte des Pletlsmus,
published in Nordlingen by Beck in 1863 .

Unfortunately

Schmid gives no space to the influence of Arndt.

After a

brief Introduction which treats scantily the antecedents

of Pietism in Lutheranism, Schmid begins his first chapter

1Ibid., pp. 34-38.

2 Jaroslav Pelikan, From Luther to Kierkegaard
(St. Louis:
Concordia, 1950), p. 151* n. 26.

-xviiwith Spener.

The work is also extremely limited in docu

mentation.
A definitive study on the life of John Arndt has been
done by Friedrich Arndt in his Johann Arndt:

Ein blograph-

lscher Versuch, published in Berlin by L. Oehmigke in 1838 .

However this book does not undertake any complete analysis
of the religious thought of Arndt.

In the same category

there is also Otto Wehrhan's little book, Lebensgeschichte

Johann Arndt1s des Verfassers vom "Wahren Christenthum",
published at Hamburg in 1848.

This book is valuable not

only from the standpoint of biography, but also because it

contains most of the letters written by Arndt.
Among those works which treat the religious thought
of Arndt is an exceptionally useful book by Wilhelm Koepp
entitled Johann Arndt, eine Untersuchung uber die Mystic
im Lutherturn, published by Trowitzsch & Sohn at Berlin in
1912.

In this book the author traces the influence of

mysticism throughout Arndt's works and letters.

He also

gives some attention to the influence of the early church

fathers on Arndt's religious thought.

Another important

book which presents a brief analysis of the writings of

Arndt is Friedrich Julius Winter's,

"Johann Arndt, der

Verfasser des Wahren Christentums," Schriften des Vereins

fur Reformationsgeschichte, published by Rudolf Haupt

-xviiiin Leipzig in 1911.

In English the only three books in

publication that historically treat the life and work of

Arndt along with some analysis of his religious thought are
The Life of John Arndt Author of The Works on True Christi
anity by John G. Morris, published in Baltimore by T. N.
Kurtz in 1853 J John Arndt, A_ Historical Life Picture by
Karl August Wildenhahn which is a translation by C. F.
Welden edited by J. K. Shryock, published by M. J. Riegel
in Easton,

Pa. in 1882; and The Rise of Evangelical Pietism

by F. Ernest Stoeffler, published at Leiden by E. J. Brill

in 1965 .

This latter work devotes a considerable section

to the religious thought and influence of John Arndt in

the developing stream of early Lutheran Pietism.
Other works in German of significance in more limited
sections germane to the subject of this dissertation are
noted in the footnotes and in the bibliography.

Primary

sources from which the material of this study is drawn are

also noted in the footnotes and bibliography.
Thus it must be concluded that there has been very
little recent scholarly work on the early development of
German Lutheran Pietism.

Much of the nineteenth and early

twentieth century studies relating to John Arndt and the

Pietism that can be traced to his influence are of a highly

-xixbiased character.

What is needed is more impartial studies

of major individuals connected with this movement and their

influence in this much neglected area.

Pelikan has stressed,

in connection with the study of church history, that more

scholarly attention needs to be given to theological devel
opment in the period between the formulation of the Reform
ation confessions and the rise of rationalism.1

Research

covering this period has been restricted in our country

because of our limited access to much needed studies of
Pietism and its prime movers.

Thus this fertile field still

needs further development.

Arndt's Indebtedness to Earlier Sources and Traditions

Part of the purpose of this dissertation is to treat
the subject of Arndt's indebtedness to earlier sources and
traditions.

Investigation shows that not only is Arndt

indebted to the traditions and devotional ideas of the early

church fathers, the medieval mystics, and Luther, but that
he on occasion incorporated portions of their writings into
his works without giving documentation as to his sources.
This dissertation has attempted to bring these sources to
light wherever it has been possible to do so.

Y a r o s l a v Pelikan, o. c i t ., p. 151.

However

-XX-

Arndt has clearly stated his indebtedness to the lmitatio

Christl of Thomas a Kempis,
Theology.-*-

Tauler, and the German

There are also indications that Arndt used some

of the philosophical teachings of Paracelsus in chapter nine

p
of his Ikonographia.

Further the second book of True

Christianity shows evidence of being adapted from the writ

ings of Angela da Foligno, and Valentine Weigel, while the
second part of book four contains excerpts from Raymond of
Sabunda's Theologia naturalls.

There is also some evidence

that Arndt was influenced by earlier Roman Catholic prayer

/i

literature in his w o r k s .

Some scholars have suggested that

Arndt may have acquired his ethical zeal from the writings
of the Calvinistic tradition.^

However there is no firm

evidence at the present to substantiate this claim.

Thus the question of Arndt's dependence upon other

^Winter, o. cit., p. 32.

Wilhelm Koepp, Johann Arndt, elne Untersuchung uber
die Mystic im Luthertum (Berlin;
Trowitzsch & Sohn, 1912),

3f . Ernest Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism

(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965)* pp. 205-06.
^Paul Althaus, Forschungen zur evangelischen Gebetsliteratur (Gutersloh:
Druck und Verlag von C. Bertelsmann,
1927), P. 6 5 .

5stoeffler,

ojd.

cit., p. 205.

-xx i writers for the ideas of his proto-Pietism has engendered

scholarly interest.

Ever since Arndt first published his

writings, friends and enemies even in his own lifetime have

attempted to discern the sources of his ideas.

Certainly

much of what he wrote was of a different spirit than that

of classical Lutheranism.

The real question here turns on

how strictly one demands evidence of direct borrowing and

immediate reference to an acquaintance with particular
writings.

The attempt will be made in this dissertation to

document those portions of Arndt's writings which indicate

redaction on the basis of similar ideas and admitted
acquaintance with the religious thought of others.

Origins and Structure of Arndt's Proto-Pietism

Upon reading Arndt's works, one becomes aware that
he was a man extremely sensitive to the needs of his time.
The failure of the church to address itself to the personal
spiritual needs of the layman and the preoccupation of its
leaders with theological minutiae and polemics against
fellow Protestants created an almost total indifference to
the cultivation of the spiritual life of the Christian.
Arndt sought to correct this condition by emphasizing the
need for and the practice of personal piety.

While the

spirit of Arndt's religious thought was different from that

-xxiiwhich pervaded Lutheranism in his age, it was not unrelated

to the emphasis on personal piety that had been a basic
feature of the Christian tradition.
It is thus the purpose of the first part of this
dissertation to Investigate the historical context of
Arndt's religion.

In this section particular attention

is given to the concept of personal piety, in the tradi

tion of the Christian church, and its influence on the
religious thought of Arndt.

Early patristic influences

on Arndt's religious ideas are first investigated.

Next

the influence of medieval mysticism in Arndt's writings

is examined.

This is followed by an investigation of those

Reformation and post-Reformation Influences that contributed

to Arndt's proto-Pietism.

The immediate causes of Arndt's

religious reaction to post-Reformation Lutheranism are then

discussed and analyzed.
The second part of this dissertation investigates
the important theological insights of Arndt's proto-Pietism.
The Biblical emphasis, the Christocentric emphasis, the
emphasis on living faith, and his doctrine of renewal are
discussed and analyzed.

These dominant theological insights

are shown to be basic to Arndt's proto-Pietism.

The third section of this study treats in detail
Arndt's understanding of the practical features of the

-xxiiiChristian life.

Daily repentance, the exercise of prayer,

the practice of Christian love, and the lifelong struggle

for perfection are described and examined.

The last chapter

of this section treats the oppositive element in Arndt's

proto-Pietism and its influence on later Lutheran Pietism.
My desire in this investigation of John Arndt's
religious thought is to point to it as the major influence
in the rise of Lutheran Pietism.

It is hoped that this

study will provide a reasonable appreciation of John Arndt

as one who most*effectlvely introduced the spirit of Pietism
into the Lutheran Church.

TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE

..................................................
PART I.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF JOHN ARNDT'S

RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

Chapter
I.

EARLY PATRISTIC INFLUENCE ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS

THOUGHT ...........................................

Irenaeus
Augustine
General Patristic Influences In the Ikonographia
and True Christianity
Summary of Patristic Influences on Arndt's
Thought
II.

MEDIEVAL MYSTICAL INFLUENCES ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS

T H O U G H T .............................................. 29
Tauler and The German Theology
Thomas a Kempis and The Imitation of Christ
Bernard of Clairvaux
Raymond of Sabunde and Angela da Foligno
A Summary of Arndt's Mysticism

III.

REFORMATION INFLUENCES ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS

THOUGHT .....................................

51

Mystical Elements in the Young Luther's

Writings
Luther's Early Christology
The Lutheran Source of Arndt's Irenic Spirit
Influence of the Lutheran Pastor Weigel
Summary of Reformation Influences on Arndt's
Religious Thought
IV.

IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS REACTION

TO POST-REFORMATION LUTHERANISM .................

8l

Confessional Controversies and Scholastic

Orthodoxy
Caesaropapism of the Lutheran Princes
Post-Reformation Neglect of Personal Piety
Summary of Arndt's Religious Reaction

PART II.

V.

THE BASIC THEOLOGICAL INSIGHTS OF JOHN

ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

THE BIBLICAL E M P H A S I S .............................. 105

The Authority of Scripture
Arndt's Concept of the External Word and
the Inner Word
Scripture Supplemented by Natural Revelation
The Bible as a Norm for Preaching
Summary of Arndt's Biblicism

VI.

THE CHRISTOCENTRIC E M P H A S I S ....................... 132

Arndt's Affirmation of the Christological
Dogmas of the Ancient Church
The Major Emphasis In Arndt's Christology
Union With Christ
The Life of Christ as a Pattern of True Piety
Summary of Arndt's Christocentricism

VII.

THE EMPHASIS ON A LIVING AND OPERATIVE FAITH

. . 152

The Necessity of a Living Faith

The Meaning of Living Faith
The Result of -Living Faith
Summary of Arndt's Emphasis on a Living
and Operative Faith
VIII.

THE DOCTRINE OF R E N E W A L ........................... 172

The Emphasis on Spiritual Renewal
The Nature of Renewal
The Renewed Man
The Influence of Arndt's Doctrine of Renewal
Summary of Arndt's Doctrine of Renewal
PART III.

IX.

THE BASIC FEATURES OF ARNDT'S UNDERSTAND

ING OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

THE DAILY PRACTICE OF R E P E N T A N C E ................ 197

The Need for Daily Repentance
The Essential Qualities of Repentance
Repentance Increases True Piety

X.

THE PRACTICE OF TRUE CHRISTIAN L O V E .............. 212

Arndt's Motivation to Emphasize Love
Essential Properties of True Christian Love
The Need to Avoid Self-Love
Love as the Motive of praxis pletatls

XI.

THE PRACTICE OF P R A Y E R .......................... 228

The Importance of Prayer for Personal Piety
Prayer as a Holy Exercise
The Inspirational Element of Prayer

XII.

THE PERFECTIONISTIC EMPHASIS

..................

241

Arndt's Religious Idealism

Christian Self-Criticism and Arndtian
Perfectionism
The Influence and Results of Arndt's
Perfectionism on Lutheran Pietism
A Life Long Struggle of Earnest Effort
XIII.

THE OPPOSITIVE INFLUENCE OF ARNDT'S PROTO

PIETISM............................................. 260
Arndt's Reaction to Rigid Confessionalizing
The Protest Against Religious Formalism
A Recall to Education in Christian Virtues
The Influence of Arndt's Mood Concerning
Theological Controversy

XIV.

SUMMARY

AND C O N C L U S I O N S .......................... 282

B I B L I O G R A P H Y ...............................................301

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgments should be extended to Dr. Ernest

Stoeffler whose classroom lectures first created interest in
John Arndt, and who has given direction to this study as my
dissertation advisor.

Dr. Owen Alderfer and Dr. Rendell

Rhoades rendered astute criticism and much helpful advice.

Mrs. Nancy Rhoades,

librarian of Ashland Theological

Seminary, who has given of her time to provide for me

numerous books through inter-library loan service.

Finally,

my gratitude is expressed to my wife and family whose

patience and encouragement have proved helpful in the com
pletion of this work.

PART I

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF JOHN ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

CHAPTER I
EARLY PATRISTIC INFLUENCE ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

There is ample evidence that Arndt was influenced in

the development of his religious ideas by the writings of
the early church fathers.

While it is extremely difficult

to document all of the sources of patristic influence on

Arndt, it is known that he quoted numerous passages from
Cyprian, Augustine, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus,
Bernard, Dionysius, Irenaeus, Basil the Great, and Bonaventura .1

Influenced by the writings of the early church

fathers, Arndt used many of their ideas for the purpose of

either illustrating or supporting his thesis that personal
piety as he understood it, was an essential part of the

M o rris, ojd. c i t ., p. 133 f. A more thorough reading

of Arndt's writings reveals that Arndt also quoted from the
works of Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin the Martyr, Tertullian,
Cyril, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Rome,
Epiphanius, Lactantius, Athanasius, Ambrose, and Laurentius.
Following the practice of the early church fathers, Arndt
occasionally quoted from ancient sources outside of Chris
tianity such as Seneca, Ovid, and Plato. Cf. Wilhelm Koepp,
Johann Arndt eine Untersuchung uber die Mystic im Luthertum
(Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1959) > p. 148.
-2-

-3stream of Christian tradition.

Arndt's reading of the early church fathers had
strengthened his conclusion that if theological teaching
were to be effective it must express itself at the ethical
level in a life of piety.

One is reminded of the statement

of Justin that the reality of religion consists not in words

but in deeds 1 when Arndt in the spirit of true pastoral con
cern w r o t e :
As it is a most false and absurd thing for any
one to profess himself a Christian, and yet to lead
at the same time an unchristian Life; or to pretend
to Faith and the true Church, and yet never produce
any of its true and genuine fruits; so it is no less
a most preposterous and blameable practice for a man
to pray, and desire to be heard, and yet to rebel at
the same time against God with a wicked and profligate
l i f e . Such a man approaches the Lord with fair words
but spurns at him with profane and Impious deeds:
he
honors God with his lips, but blasphemes him with his
whole life and conduct.
This is certainly so palpable
an error and yet so obvious everywhere among those
that profess Christianity, that I thought it worth my
while openly to rebuke it in my book of True Chris
tianity published for that very end and purpose .2
John Arndt was painfully aware of the fact that the

1Justin Martyr, Discourse to the Greeks, 35. Res

nostrae rellgionis non in verbis sed in factis conslstunt.
2John Arndt, The Garden of Paradise, or Holy Prayers
and Exercises (London:
Printed and Sold by F. Downing, in
Bartholomew close near West Smithfield, 1716), p. ix.
Following references to this edition will be Arndt, Garden
of Paradise (London, 1716 ).

-4organized church of his age had failed to communicate to its

clergy and laity the spirit of piety of the early church
fathers.

Influenced by the writings of the early church

fathers Arndt had concluded that the failure to stress pe r

sonal piety resulted in a type of Christianity that

stressed

proper verbal confession without the demand for proper ethi

cal conduct.
An analysis of the patristic influences on Arndt's
religious thought reveals that the writings of two of the
early church fathers dominate his thought more than others.
While there are many references to different early church
fathers scattered throughout the writings of Arndt, one must
first turn to those who exerted a profound influence on his
religious thought.

It is necessary to do this in order to

understand the fundamental patristic structures of Arndt's

proto-Pietism.
Irenaeus
Arndt used Irenaeus as a major source to support his
own religious ideas.
use of Irenaeus.

However Arndt was selective in his

This selectivity arose from the fact that

he was bound to the creeds of the Lutheran Church .1

It

1John Arndt, True Christianity, A new American

Edition by Charles F. Schaeffer (Philadelphia:
The United
Lutheran Publishing House, 1868), pp. xlil, and 374.
All
subsequent references to this edition will be Arndt, True
Christianity (Sch).

-5was Arndt's conscious endeavor to remain within the accepted

creeds of the Lutheran Chruch that would not allow him to
accept everything that Irenaeus wrote.

Arndt wrote as a

member of the Protestant Reformation and would therefore cer

tainly not accept the teaching of Irenaeus on the primacy of
R o m e .1

Nor could he accept the idea of episcopal succession

as taught by Irenaeus.

Furthermore Arndt would not be in

agreement with the implied subordination in some of the

Christological teachings of Irenaeus.

There is also no

doubt about the fact that Arndt would reject the mariology
4
of Irenaeus.

Apart from these divergences between Irenaeus

and Arndt, one can discern in Arndt's writings a close affin

ity to Irenaeus' view of redemption.

The teaching of Irenaeus

that the Son of God in his redemptive work delivers mankind

from its slavery

can be observed in Arndt's second book of

1Johannes Quasten, Patrology (Westminster, Maryland:

The Newman Press, 1958), I, 302-03.
Cf. also Philip Schaff,
History of The Christian Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962) ~I, pp. 149.

2Ibld.
3Schaff, op_. clt., I, 554.
^Quasten, o. clt., pp. 297-99 .
3Cyrll C. Richardson, Early Christian Fathers, The
Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia:
The Westminster
Press, 1953) I, pp. 350-51.

-6True Christianity where he asserts that all is recovered in

Christ that was lost in A d a m .1

Arndt also shows the influ

ence of Irenaeus 1 teaching that in Christ there is a new

creation and a new source of higher life, overcoming the
defects of the basically good yet weakened creation.

The

idea of the old Adam and the new Adam as taught by Irenaeus 3
is elaborated upon by Arndt in his second book where he sets
Adam and Christ in contrast.^- Arndt frequently insisted
that Christianity must be more than a verbal faith.

There

must be a joyous and loving fellowship with God at the level

of spiritual consciousness.

In writing on the restoration

of the image of God in man, Arndt declared,

"As the right

eousness of Christ is verily begun in sincere believers, so

it follows that they also enjoy a real beginning and fore
taste of divine joy and comfort ."3

Arndt insisted that this

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 269-70.

^Richardson, ojc. c i t ., p. 351.
^Gregory T. Armstrong, Die Genesis in der Alten Klrche
(Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, Paul Siebeck, 1962), pp. 72-73.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 184-87.
Here
Arndt seems to be following the doctrine of recapitulation
as stated by Irenaeus.
Cf. Armstrong, o. c l t ., pp. 72-79.
Arndt ends this section of book II by suggesting that Christ
the new Adam renews all that was lost in Adam for the benefit
of all mankind.

3Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 145.

-7ls an essential part of the new life in Christ.

In these

words of Arndt, one can observe the influence of Irenaeus

who declared, in his doctrine of redemption, that the new
life in Christ is a life of faith that is much more than
simply correct information about God.

It is also an

experience of a joyful turning to God on the part of the

believer.^
The classical idea of the atonement which has been
attributed to Irenaeus^ is also found in Arndt.

Like

Irenaeus, Arndt declared that God is the effective agent in

the redemptive work of man.

Furthermore Arndt, influenced

by Irenaeus 1 theology, declared that it is Christ who overcomes the enemies of man, i.e. sin, death and the devil.

Arndt also taught, as did Irenaeus, that it is God's love

that removes the sentence of condemnation that rests on man
r.

and creates a new relationship between man and Himself.^

^Richardson, 0. c i t ., p. 351.
^Cf. Gustaf Aulen Chrlstus Victor, Trans, by A. G.
Hebert (New York:
The Macmlllen Company, 1951) PP. 4-6.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 251-55.
cf. Auleh, o p . c l t ., p. 34.
^I b i d ., p. 250.

Also

Also cf. Aulen, 0. cit., pp. 22-28.

5l b i d ., pp. 109-13.
Also cf. Irenaeus, A Refutation
and Overthrow of the Knowledge Falsely So Called, 5.* 21.
Cf. Early Christian Fathers, The Library of Christian Classics.
I, 388.

-8Influenced by Irenaeus, Arndt also declared that the new

relationship was established between God and man in terms of
renewal or the new life.

It is a new life of righteous

living as a direct result of the redemptive work of Christ."*"

One is reminded of the teaching of Irenaeus that He (Christ)
became what we are so that we might become what He is,

when Arndt declares in his third book of True Christianity

concerning the work of God on behalf of man,

"This is, then,

one of the greatest demonstrations of the love of God, that

God is made man, and has showed himself a true lover of men,
having taken upon him what is human that he might give us
what is divine.

He is become a Son of man, that he may

make us children of God.

He came down to us upon earth,

that he might lift us up unto h e a v e n . "3

Arndt was also profoundly influenced by Irenaeus 1
teaching on the Eucharist.

He followed Irenaeus' teaching

that the new life in Christ is nourished by the body and

blood of Christ in the reception of the Eucharist.

-*-Ibid., p. 105.
2

>

also cf. Quasten, 0. c l t . I, 309.

Richardson, ojd. c i t ., p. 351.

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 251.

^Quasten, o. c i t ., I, 304.

-9According to Arndt, this nourishment received through the

Sacrament is essential in sustaining a life of devout Chris
tian piety.

In writing on this idea he asserted,

"Thou

believest that Christ was the true Lamb of God offered for
us upon the cross

. . . yet consider:

What good can this do

thee, unless the same Lamb of God become the daily food and
1

nourishment of thy 'inward man'

2
."

Arndt further taught the

nourishment of the new life of the Christian as a guarantee

of the believer's resurrection. ^
the influence of Irenaeus.

This idea also reveals

Arndt also believed that

Irenaeus' understanding of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper

was applicable to views held concerning this Sacrament by the

^The expression "inward man" according to August

Langen, Per Wortschatz des Deutscher Pietlsmus (Tubingen:
Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1954}"
158, is taken from Paul's
concept of man 2 Cor. 4:16.
Paul indicated that the Lord,
or Spirit, dwells in the Christian's inner self providing
grace necessary to bring the flesh under discipline.
Cf.
also The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (New York:
Abingdon Press, 1962), II, 704.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch) pp. 380-81.
3John Arndt, Per gantze Catechismus Erstlich in
sechtzig Predlgten aussgelegt und erklaret, mit schonen
Exordiis gezieret und in no'thige und ntttzliche Fra gen und
Antwort verfassett (Frankfurt: in verlegung Antori Hummen S .
Erben, 1665), p. 166.
^Quasten, ojd. c i t ., pp. 304-05.

-10Lutheran Church of his age.

Concerning the Lord's Supper he

wrote,
For this reason he gives us his body in the
form of bread, and not in the form of a body, which
is a palatable food; he also gives us his blood in
the form of wine, and not in the form of visible
blood, which is pleasant drink; yet so, that with
the bread and with the wine the essential body and
blood of Christ, namely the heavenly good, is united
through a high heavenly, imperceptible, mysterious
union, from which the celebrated saying of Irenaeus
originated:
In a Sacrament are two things, a
heavenly and an earthly.
From this it became a
customary saying in the church, w i t h , in , and under
the bread and wine; in or under the form of bread
and w i n e . ^
In reference to Arndt's concept of union with God,
one can find its parallel in some instances in the teaching
of Irenaeus.

Arndt taught that the perfection and salvation

of men depended on union with God.

Furthermore, in Arndt's

-^John Arndt, A_ Sacramental Sermon on Maundy-Thursday,

translated from the German by the Rev. Philip Henkel (NewMarket:
Printed S. Henkel's office, 1834), p. 9. Cf. also
The Augsburg Confession, art X. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of
Christendom with a_ History and Critical Notes (New York:
Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1877 T > III* 13.
2Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5*1 so, then since the
Lord redeemed us by his own blood, and gave his soul for
our souls, and his flesh for our bodies, and poured out the
Spirit of the Father to bring about the union and communion
of God and man - bringing God down to man by (the working of)
the Spirit, and again raising man to God by his incarnation and by his coming firmly and truly giving us incorruption,
by our communion with God, . . ., Early Christian Fathers,
The Library of Christian Classics, I, 386.

-11estimation,

this union with God is accomplished through the

redeeming work of Christ.

In regard to this idea, Arndt

declared,
As man by his apostasy from God, . . . was
separated from him, and fell from the perfection in
which he was created, so he must of necessity return
to his original tranquility and happiness, by a union
with God; in which the whole of human perfection con
sists.
It was therefore necessary, that the son of
God should become man in order that human nature, being
again united to God, might thereby be restored to its
primitive integrity and perfection .1
In the rest of the chapter which begins with the above quote,
Arndt warns against the dangers of a "perverse will" in man
that can result in a loss of the benefits that are offered
to man through the redemptive work which Christ alone
accomplished.

One is again reminded of the influence of

Irenaeus who stated,

"But if thou, being obstinately hard

ened, dost reject the operation of His

(God's) skill, and

show thyself ungrateful towards Him, because thou wert

created a (mere) man, by becoming thus ungrateful to God,
thou hast at once lost both his workmanship and life."3

''Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 182.

2Ibid., pp. 182-84.

3lrenaeus, Against Heresies 4, 39:2; The Ante-Nicene
Fathers, translations of the writings of the Fathers down to
A.D. 325 > the Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson
(New York:
The Christian Literature Company, 1896) I, 523.

-12While Arndt frequently used the term "union" in refer

ence to the believers relationship to God and Christ, it is
not the central theme of his religious thought.

Arndt's

main theme was the new life in Christ, an emphasis which is

implied in the recapitulation theory of Irenaeus .1

It is the

New Testament concept of the new life espoused by Paul and

elaborated on by Irenaeus
Arndt's Pietism.

that is the quintessence of

"Christians are to grow," he declared,

"in

faith and in a virtuous life" until they reach the stature

of a perfect man in Christ.

In the last part of the fourth

book of True Christianity where Arndt referred to the redemp

tive wo r k of God through Christ in creation, he uses a
quotation from Irenaeus to support his own idea on the new
life.

In setting forth the idea that the faithful soul in

union with the Son of God is capable of union with the beauty
and glory of God, he affirmed,
thought.

"Upon this Irenaeus has a fine

He says that 'the glory of man is God, but the

receptacle of all the operations of divine wisdom and good

ness is man'".^

Thus the influence of much of Irenaeus'

1Richardson,

ojd. c i t ., p.

351*

^Quasten, ojd. c l t ., I, pp. 295-96.

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 127.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 457.

-13theology can be observed in the religious thought of Arndt.

It is not here being advocated that the redemptive theology
of Irenaeus was the only important patristic influence on
Arndt's thought; rather that it was a_ major influence in
much of Arndt's thought.1

There are three primary reasons

why Arndt would have a natural attraction to the redemptive

theology of Irenaeus.
Scripture.

First, it was based primarily upon

This fact would be in agreement with Arndt's

attempt to confirm everything he wrote by Scripture.

Secondly,

the redemptive theology of Irenaeus still survived

in the devotional language of the Middle Ages.

Arndt

frequently used the devotional language of the Middle Ages

^Cf. Aulen, o. c i t ., Yet of all the Fathers there is

not one who is more thoroughly representative and typical, or
who did more to fix the lines on which Christian thought was
to move for centuries after his day.
His strength lies in
the fact that he did not like the Apologists' and the Alex
andrians ' work along some philosophical line of approach to
Christianity, but devoted himself altogether to the simple
exposition of the central ideas of the Christian faith itself,
p. 17.
For further support of this idea, cf. Wilhelm Bousset,
Kyrios Christos (funfte auflage;
Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1965 . He refers to Irenaeus' theology as "Die
Kunftige Gestaltung der Dinge" and says of Irenaeus, "Man
kann ihn wirkllch etwa den Schleiermacher des zweiten
Jahrhunderts nennen." p. 33^.
^J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 38-39*
3Aulen, o. clt ., p. 6.

-14in expressing his own ideas of true Christian Pie t y .1

Thirdly, the redemptive theology of Irenaeus is believed to
have had a profound effect on Martin Luther and constitutes
an important part of his expression of the Christian faith.
Thus Arndt could feel free to draw upon the thought of
Irenaeus without alienating himself from the basic teaching
of the Lutheran Reformer.

Augustine
The second major source of early patristic influence
on Arndt's religious thought was Augustine.

Arndt often

used Augustine as a source to support his accent on praxis

pletatis.

It has been said of Augustine that he lived the

theology that he wrote.

Augustine did more that set

abstract principles down in writing; he carried them into

practice.^

Some have evaluated his City of God not only

as an explanation of dogma, but also as an exposition of

^Langen, o. cit ., pp. 399-400.

Aulen, o. clt., pp. 6-7.
^Saint Augustine, The City of God, Trans, by Marcus
Dods, with an introduction by Thomas Merton (New York:
Random House, Inc., 1950), p. x.
^Joseph Mausbach, Die Ethik Des Heillgen Augustinus
(Preiburg-im-Breisgau: Herdersche Verlagshandlung^ 190977*
I, pp. 1-34. passim.

-15living theology .1

Augustine implied in all his writings

that Christianity is more than an objective code, more than

a philosophy, and more than a system of rites.

For Augus

tine, Christianity is a belief that is lived, experienced,

and expressed in action.

This action which is expressed,

experienced, and lived is to forward the growth of man in

spiritual union with God.

Augustine's influence on Arndt's

thinking is most clearly traced through this sense of man

in spiritual union with God.

Arndt's familiarity with the

writings of Augustine is obvious from the many references

that he makes to him in his own w r i t i n g s . ^

Arndt's emphasis

on critical self-examination of the soul as essential to

genuine Christianity shows similarity to Augustine's teach
ing on The Lord1s Sermon on the Mount and in the autobio
graphical Confessions concerning the development of the soul.
In these two works seven steps are set forth.
are (l) poverty of spirit,
sacred Scripture,

The steps

(2 ) piety in reception to the

(3) knowledge of one's own miserable

defection from God,

(4) hard-working painstaking cultivation

^I b l d ., I, 19.
2 Ibid.

^Wilhelm Koepp, ojd. c l t ., p. 48. Cf. also Winter,

o p . cit., p. 79, cf. Morris, ojd. c i t ., pp. 133-39.

-16of the hunger and thirst for righteousness,

(5 ) further open

ness to God's gracious mercy extended to others in need of

help,

(6) clean-hearted, pure-minded, self-liberating prepara

tion for the contemplative vision, and (7 ) wisdom wherein

the purified intelligence contemplates truth and the divine
perfection even as it comes to experience true peace and
genuine similitude to God.1
Corresponding ideas are expressed in the writings of
John Arndt.

The idea of poverty of spirit as necessary to

true Christian living

Ikongraphia .2

isfound in the introduction to his

In Book I Chapter XIX of True Christianity,

Arndt sets forth the basic contention that to be conscious

of one's own misery before God is to be conscious of God's
grace.

In Chapters XXII and XXIII of Book II there is

another statement of the necessity of humility through

poverty of spirit in the consciousness of the Christian.
And Chapter

V of Book II develops a whole section on the

^Ray
C. Petry, Late Medieval Mysticism, The Library
of Christian Classics (Philadelphia:
The Westminster Press,
1937), XIII, 27-30.
Cf. also Arndt, True Christianity (Sch),
III.5.1; I.6.8.9; 1.2; Preface, III.7; 1.24.7; II.9.13;

1 .11.18.
^John Arndt, Ikonographla (Halberstadt: bey
Georg Koten, 1596), P.2, recto. All subsequent references
to this work will be Arndt, Ikonographla (Koten, 1596).

-17idea of poverty of spirit.

This section begins by stating:

Many are the means which men make use of to

come to a union with God; such as reading and other
external exercises of religion.
But in truth, next
to that true, living faith which purifies the soul
from the love of the creatures . . . there is no
better or easier method than that of humility.
This,
however, does not consist in words, or in any exter
nal behavior; but is seated in the bottom of the
soul, so that the man upon all accounts, both natural
and spiritual, reckons and esteems himself as nothing;
and being truly poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), he values
neither wealth nor honor, body nor soul, peace nor
joy, nor anything in this world, in comparison with
his duty and the glory of God.
Augustine's teaching on the need for piety in the use
of the sacred Scripture is likewise expressed throughout
Arndt's writings whenever he discusses the Scriptures.

The

Scriptures are not to be despised by the true believer

(Bk. 1.38:8); they are God's means of grace and help to the
Christian (Bk. 1.36.20,21); they are not a dead letter, but
a communication of the Living Word (Bk. 1.6,2); when applied
to in faithful piety they help to strengthen faith and ward
p
off temptation to despair (Bk. 11.51:16).
Arndt's religion, influenced by Augustine, is expres
sive of the need to be aware of one's own miserable
defection from God.

This idea runs through most of the

Ijohn Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 389 .

2 Ibld., pp. 131, 120, 17, 349.

-18Arndt-Spener tradition of Lutheran Pietism.

In Arndt's

proto-Pietism there is also a dominant accent on confession

of sin, repentance, and the need for constant selfexamination.
fourth,

This idea finds its parallel in Augustine's

fifth, and sixth points concerning the Christian

life .1
The ethical influence of Augustine's De Doctrina is
/

discernable in Arndt's sermons on the Ten Egyptian Plagues,

in which he implies the need for knowledge of one's own
miserable defection from God, the need for a daily selfexamination in order to continue in the faith, and the
necessity for a pure heart in order to keep from being
defiled by the decadent morals of the time.
The whole idea of piety as set forth

2
by Augustine

suggests that it is a good work, not in the sense of earning

a reward, but rather in the sense of thankful worship.
is the service of worship of God.^

It

One sees immediately

1sura_, pp. 13-1^.

2

**

John Arndt, Predlgten uber die zehen Egyptlschen

Plagen (Neue Ausgabe, Stuttgart:
Johann Christoph Bertulius, 1771) t PP. 1-7* also for a discussion of similar
ideas leading to piety in Augustine's De Doctrina Chris
tiana, c f . Etienne Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of
Saint Augustine (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1961),
pp. 123-24.
3Augustine, ojd. c i t ., p. 305.

-19the same Idea of humble thankfulness in Arndt when he writes

of the prophet Samuel, through whom God made clear that he
judges the actions of men by judging their hearts:
By this example God declares, on the one hand,
that he has no regard to any man's person be he ever
so great and eminent, when the heart is destitute
of piety, love, faith, and humility; and on the other,
that he esteems persons and works according to the
inward spirit and intention of the mind, and thence
allows or disallows them, according to Prov. 21:2.
Moreover, all gifts and endowments, how considerable
soever they be, and how admirable, great, and glorius they appear in the eyes of men, in nowise please
the Lord, unless they be accompanied with a pure
heart, a heart that has a steady respect to the honor
of God and the profit and edification of our neigh
bor; and which, at the same time, is freed from pride
and arrogance, from self-love, and self-interest, and
any of those sinister views which are apt to mingle
with the works of a Christian .1
In his book of prayers, Arndt includes a prayer "for Chris
tian Thankfulness," in which he sets forth essentially the
same ideas that Augustine expresses concerning the pious
life as one of thankful worship.

In the major themes of Book One of True Christianity,

there is also evidence of the influence of Augustine's
classical theology in Arndt's thinking.

This can be seen

in the idea that the Holy Trinity is expressed in the image

of God in man through spirit, mind, understanding and

^John Arndt, True Christianity (Sch)., p. 108.

2Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), pp. 31-33.

-20will.^

The restored image of God is essential to the pious

practice of sincere sorrow for sin, repentance,

faith, and holy living.

living

Most scholars agree that there is a definite mysti

cism in Augustine's w o r k s . ^

It has been suggested that

Augustine Christianized Neoplatonism as Aquinas later did

the system of Aristotle.

The basic idea of Augustine's

mysticism is that God is not found by reason alone; the

seeker must experience him in will and heart as well as in
reason.

It must be pointed out, however, that Augustine's

Neoplatonism never superseded his Christian faith.

For

Augustine sin, the Fall, salvation, grace, and election,

all kept their rightful Christian meaning and application.

In summing up the influence of Augustine's mysticism

on Arndt's religious thought one is led to class it as an

^John Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 1.

2Ibid.
^Cf. Gilson, ojc. c lt., pp. 20-21, Joseph Mausbach,
o p . c l t ., II, pp. 117-26.
^Aloys Dirksen, Elementary Patrology (London:
B. Herder Book Co., 1959)> P 165.
^Gilson, ojd. c i t ., pp. 20-24.
^Ronald A. Knox, Enthusiasm (New York:
University Press, 1961 ), p. 580 .

Oxford

-21evangelical influence with neoplatonic overtones .1

also a Christocentrlc mysticism.

It is

In this sense the idea

of union with Christ found in the early church fathers and

given full expression in Augustine, contributes to the devel
opment of Arndt's proto-Pietism.
Augustine's Christocentric mysticism along with his
teachings on piety moreover helps to give to Arndt's w r i t
ings some of their profound ethical sensitivity.^

In

Chapter XXIX of Book I of True Christianity, where Arndt

dwells on the idea of man's proper ethical relationship to
his neighbor, he quotes Augustine in order to show that
repentance also involves ethical activity toward one's
neighbor who has been wronged.

Thus he writes:

This restitution of things unlawfully taken

away is commanded in such strong and expressive
words as to show that it is absolutely a neces
sary part of unfeigned repentance.
St. Augustine
has thus expressed his mind on this subject;
'The sin is not remitted, unless the thing that
is taken away may be restored.' . . . 'When the
thing that is taken away may be restored, and is
not restored, there is no true, but a feigned

(Namz:

G a i t h e r von Loewenlch, Von Augustin zu Luther

Essener Cruckeral Gemenwohl GmbH., 1959 )> p. ^1.

^Stoeffler, o. c i t ., p. 205.
It is probably this
link with Augustine in Calvinism that has caused some
scholars to associate Arndt's ethical sensitivity with the
teaching of Calvin.
For a thorough study of ethical teach
ings of Augustine cf. Mausbach's Die Ethik Des Helligen
Augustinus Vol. I & II.

-22repentance.' . . . Therefore, in order that r e

pentance may prove true, and the conscience be
freed from guilt, all possible restitution is
to be made; or if a man be not able to make full
restitution, he ought feverently to implore the
Lord, that he himself, in his stead, would r e
store the things taken from his neighbor, and
thus do justice.
Thus Augustine also must be pointed to as an impor
tant source of ethical influence on the religious thought
of John Arndt.

In the light of Arndt's familiarity with

the writings of Augustine it is an oversimplification to

assert that all of Arndt's thinking was moulded by the great
reformer Luther, or that all of Augustine's influence on
Arndt came by way of Luther.

Arndt's proto-Pietism defi

nitely reveals the dominant influence of Augustine's thought.

General Patristic Influences In The

Ikonographla and True Christianity
In addition to the dominant influence of Irenaeus and
Augustine there are many references to other early church
fathers scattered throughout the writings of Arndt.

These

references reveal less dominant sources of early patristic

influence on Arndt's developing ideas of Pietism.

The

Ikonographia and the first four books of True Christianity

clearly reveal Arndt's familiarity with the writings of the

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 96-97.

-23early Greek Church as well as those associated with early

Latin theology.
In the Ikonographla there are numerous references to
the devotional ideas of the fathers of the early church.
The ideas of Origen, Clement of Alexander, Clement of Rome,
Lactantius, and Epiphanius concerning personal piety and
prayer are used by Arndt in developing his views concern
ing the right devotional use of pictures and images in the
church .1

The ideas of Tertullian in regard to personal

piety and the devout life are also used as sources by

Arndt to prove his case that when true personal piety is
involved external aids to genuine devotion are rightly
used.

There is no fear of idolatry since true piety

guards against it.

The idea expressed by Cyril and

Chrysostom commending the use of the sign of the cross by

the early Christians as an act of pious devotion also i n
fluenced Arndt in developing his own ideas concerning the
essential need of piety at the personal level.

In writing

the Ikonographia, Arndt influenced by the writings of the

early church fathers on personal piety had begun to develop

1Ikonographia (Koten, 1596), pp. 29-37.

2Ibid., p. 29 .
^Ibid., p . 38 .

-24their concept of piety as basic to the practice of the true

Christian life.

This fact becomes more obvious when Arndt

quotes from the Divine Institutes written by Lactantius in

order to support his own developing idea that personal piety
is a necessary part of the practice of true religion.'*'
Arndt also indicates in this same section that he has been
influenced in his thinking by Lactantius' work, Adversus
natlones .2
An analysis of the Ikonographla reveals the influence
of early patristic thought on Arndt's developing protoPietism.

All of the quotations from the early church fathers

used by Arndt have either explicitly or implicitly indicated

that all true worship stems from personal piety.

It is this

idea that Arndt used to prove the major point of his argu
ment in the Ikonographla that the use of pictures and other
external aids to worship can be a valid form of Christian

*~Ibld., p. 30. also cf. Lactantius, The Divine Institues, The Fathers of the Church, translated by Sister Mary
Francis McDonald, O.P. (Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic U n i
versity of America Press, 1964), "We have said that the name
of religion is taken from the bond of piety, because God has
bound and fastened man to Himself by piety, since it is
necessary for us to serve Him as God and obey Him as Father."
VI, 49, 319.
2Ibid.

-25worship.

But of greater importance is the fact that Arndt

expands the patristic idea of personal piety as that which

makes valid all worship activity to the point where it is
vital to all true Christian living.

In Arndt's estimation

there is no authentic Christian living without a conscious

practice of piety at the personal level.

It is this e x

panded interpretation of the patristic idea of personal piety

that became a dominant part of Arndt's later major work,
True Christianity.
An analysis of the four books of True Christianity
reveals the following general early patristic influences on
Arndt's religious thought.

In book I, there are no scat

tered references to individual early church fathers.

He

refers to the holy examples of the early fathers of the

church as the basis of his idea that the purity of the d o c
trine of the divine word must be maintained not only through
discussion and publication but also by true repentance and
holiness of life."* This general influence can also be
observed throughout most of Arndt's Pietistic writings.
In book II, Arndt indicates that he has been influenced by
Bonaventura's teaching that "the highest perfection of

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 132-33.

-26religion, consists in renouncing our own w i l l ."1

In the

same book, Arndt affirms that his ideas concerning Chris

tian patience in suffering and facing the evils of life are
drawn partially from Tertullian.

Arndt further indicates

in this book that he has been greatly influenced in his

ideas of piety b y the lives and writings of St. Laurence,
St. Vincent and St. Ignatius in regard to patience as an
essential part of Christian living .3

in book III Arndt

declares in the preface that Cyprian's ideas concerning

prayer and contemplation as an essential part of true piety,
"express a great truth, and are a sort of epitome of this
book.

In book IV, Arndt Indicates in the preface that he

has partially been influenced by the ideas of St. Ambrose,

Basil the Great, and Theodoret,

"who have written largely

and learnedly upon the six days of creation.

In chapter

four of this book, Arndt declares that its content has

largely been influenced by the "sixth homily of St. Basil.

1Ibid., p. 183.

2Ibid., p. 217 .

3Ibid., p. 325.

4Ibl d ., pp. 376 -7 7 .

5Ibid., p. 423.

6 Ibid., p. 440.

-27Summary of Patristic Influences on Arndt's Thought

Im summarizing the influence of the early church
fathers on Arndt's religious thought, one must take into
consideration what value there is for his proto-Pietism in
having chosen to include them in his works.

First of all

it must be understood that it is Arndt's desire to show that

the essence of his religious thought is basically in agree
ment with the devotional piety of the early church fathers.
A great injustice is done to Arndt when one seeks to brand
his thinking as totally under the influence of late medi
eval mysticism .1

While it is true that many elements of

medieval mysticism play an important part in Arndt's

religious thought, it cannot be claimed that his ideas
concerning devotional piety are drawn only from these
sources.

In the second place, Arndt chose to quote from the

writings of the early church fathers because he believed

that their emphasis on the pious life was an expression of
their true Christian experience.

Arndt would be in complete

agreement with Mosheim who asserts that the faith and

actions of the early church fathers were often referred to
as paragons of true Christian piety.

These served to inspire

1Albrecht Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus (three

volumes; Bonn:
Adolph Marcus Co., 1880-86)', II, 36-38.

-28the lives of the Christian laity .1

It was this spirit of

piety expressed by the early church fathers that influenced

Arndt to such an extent that he believed it to be an answer
to the decadent Christianity of his own day.

By repeated

references to the writings of the early church fathers,

Arndt had attempted to demonstrate that his own ideas re
garding personal piety as essential to Christian faith
were grounded in the tradition of the early church.

Arndt

thus did not believe that he was Introducing into the

Lutheran Church an emphasis that was foreign to accepted
Christian tradition, but rather was recalling it to a
valid Christian teaching that had been greatly neglected.
In the light of this fact it can be affirmed that Arndt's
Pietism is not original, but traces its inception to an
influence of devout pastoral concern frequently expressed
by the fathers of the early church.

1John L. Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History Ancient and

Modern translated from the original Latin by Archibald
Maclaine (Cincinnati:
Applegate & Co., 1857)* PP. 21-28.

CHAPTER II
MEDIEVAL MYSTICAL INFLUENCE ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

In analyzing the important features of Arndt's mysti

cism the Influence of some late medieval writings on his
thought must be considered.

It is not too difficult to

ascertain what were some of these sources.

At a very early

age Arndt had begun reading the works of St. Bernard, Thomas
a Kempis, and a book which had widespread influence at the
time called the German Theology .1

It is further evident

from the works of Arndt that he was also influenced by the

ideas of Tauler, Raymond of Sabunda, and Angela da Feligno.
The Ikonographla, which is one of Arndt's earliest
works, reveals that he preferred the terminology of medi
eval mystical piety in presenting his deepest feelings

-*-K. R. Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte von der altesten

Zeit bis zum 1 9 . Jahrhundert (7 vols; Leipzig: Verlag von
S. Hirzel, 1870), IV, 396.
2Stoeffler, o. c i t ., pp. 204-06.

-29-

-30about Christian piety .1

In the dedication where Arndt

expresses his own ideas of personal piety he used a number

of medieval mystical expressions such as,
faith",

"inner spirit of the heart",

with God", heart-felt humility",

"pure well of

"inner man",

"union

"inward service of God",

2
and "Sabbath rest in God and Christ".
In the preface to his Garden of Paradise Arndt indi
cates that he has been influenced by medieval mystics in
composing this book of prayers.

While Arndt does not

identify these writers, one can easily observe the termi

nology of medieval mysticism in his summary of their
thoughts on the pious duty of prayer:
They compare Prayer to a ladder, on which we
ascend up to Heaven, and whereon the holy Angels
come down with us again.
They say, that by Prayer
we do friendly embrace the Lord, and that it is a
Kiss of Peace and Love, given by the faithful Soul,
or Spiritual Bride, to her heavenly Bridegroom
Jesus Christ.
Prayer, they say is an internal Sa b
bath or a Day of Rest, on which the Soul takes her
Repose in God, and rests awhile from all the
Imployments of an inferior Nature.
They call it a
Spiritual Pavlllion upon spiritual Mount Lebanon,
wherein the heavenly Solomon, Christ our Lord,
taketh his Pleasure.
It is a Medicine for our
daily Infirmities, softning and mollifying our

^Wilhelm Koepp, 0. c l t ., p. 18.

2Arndt, Ikonographla (Koten, 1596), pp. 3-5. also

cf. Langen, o. c l t ., who elaborates on the medieval sources
of these terms in the Pietistic vocabulary of Arndt, pp. 393401.

-31hard and unbelieving Hearts Into a Sense of

divine Love . . .
Thus in the very earliest of A r n d t s writings as well
as in his later works, one can discern the influence of
medieval mystical piety on Arndt's religious thought.

He

uses the vocabulary of the medieval Christian mystic in

order to express what he believes to be the essential nature
of true Christian piety.

In Arndt's estimation the essential

nature of the Christian life is "inward."

It is "inward"

because, according to Arndt, the new life begins in the

spiritual consciousness of man when the soul is converted
to Christ through faith.

Arndt was convinced that certain

expressions of the medieval mystics best expressed the

deepest feelings of this "inward li f e ."

Influenced by their

religious thought in regard to personal piety, Arndt thus

took over, changed, and passed on into the stream of Lutheran
Pietism many of the expressions of medieval mysticism.

In establishing an order of relative influence on

Arndt in regard to the persons and works treated in this
section, one must begin with Tauler and the German Theology.
These two are grouped together because Arndt, following the

^Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), pp. xiiixiv.

2 Langen,

ojd. c l t ., p. 399.

-32scholarship of his day, believed that the German Theology

was the work of Tauler.

Later scholarship has shown the

German Theology to be a composite work of a number of

medieval mystics .1

The ideas of personal piety and Chris

tian disclpleship as taught by Tauler and the German

Theology are those which are most frequently found in Arndt's
works.

Next in order of influence on Arndt's religious

thought are the ideas of Thomas a Kempis, especially those

found in his De_ imitatlone Christi.

Arndt was particularly

fond of the idea expressed by a Kempis that Christian

'humility is an essential result of the new life in union
with Christ.

Arndt is also indebted to Bernard of Clair-

vaux's teaching that repentance and increased personal piety

arise from the devotional contemplation of Christ.

While

Bernard of Clairvaux's ideas are not found as frequently as

those of Tauler and a Kempis in Arndt's major work, True
Christianity, they do occur quite frequently in his devo
tional work on prayer entitled the Garden of Paradise.

The

ideas of Raymond of Sabunda, who sought in a rational yet in

some respects rather mystical manner to demonstrate the
harmony between the "book of nature" and the Bible, are

^Theologlca Germanica, edited with an introduction

by Thomas S. Kepler (Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1952),
pp. 26-27 .

-33dominant in part two of book four of True Christianity.

While Arndt was also acquainted with the mystical teachings
of Angela da Foligno only a few chapters of the second book
of True Christianity give evidence of her influence on his
religious thought.

Therefore in order to understand Arndt's

ideas of personal piety it is also necessary to survey and

analyze how the ideas of the mystics mentioned above influ
enced his religious thought.

Tauler and the German Theology

That Arndt was intimately acquainted with the writ
ings of Tauler is easily substantiated by the fact that he
frequently mentioned him by name.

In the first book of True

Christianity Arndt indicated the influence of Tauler on his

own religious thought .1

However he made it clear to the

reader that he did not follow Tauler or any of the other

mystics blindly.

Arndt believed that his first book counter

acted the error of the mystics who at times seemed "to

p

ascribe more than is due to human ability and w o r k s ."

In writing on consolations for those who labor under
great spiritual temptations in his second book of True

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xlii.

2 Ibid.

-34Chrlstianlty, Arndt also quotes Tauler at length .1

In writ

ing on the "great internal treasure of an enlightened

believer", Arndt says that "he will explain the several
heads of this doctrine referring occasionally to the theology
of Dr. John Tauler, and quoting him as often as possible in
his own wor d s ."2

In another section of True Christianity

Arndt declares that he has been profoundly influenced by the

sermons of Tauler which stress the need of self-examination
if one is to remain a true Christian:
All the sermons of Tauler refer to this
subject.
He makes it appear that without a
serious course of mortification, without selfdenial, without a narrow search into o n e s
own heart, and without the inward, calm sabbath
of the soul, no man can obtain or enjoy the
divine light.3
In writing on the renewal of the image of God in
Christ Jesus as an exalted honor, Arndt quotes Tauler as a
h.

basic source for his own ideas.

In discussing the power

and necessity of prayer, Arndt turns to Tauler to support

his idea that one Is led gradually to the supernatural
through internal prayer.

He quotes Tauler who says of super

natural obtainment in prayer that it,

"consists in a true

1Ibid., p. 360 .

2Ib i d ., p. 379 .

3lbld., p. 126 .

4Ibid., p. 39 .

-35union with God by faith; when our created spirit dissolves,

as it were, and sinks away in the uncreated Spirit of God.
It is then that all is transacted in a moment, which in
words or deeds has been done by all the saints from the
beginning of the w o r l d ."1

In developing his idea of true

Christian love, Arndt again looks to Tauler to substantiate

his view that love of God causes a contempt for this world:
"If one might taste but a drop of the perfect love of God,
all the joys and pleasures of this world would be changed
to us into the greatest bitterness."

In one of his e x

tended chapters on prayer in True Christianity, Arndt

develops the idea of "a quiet Sabbath" and refers to Tauler
again, honoring him as a devout writer who advises the true
seeker in prayer.^

In his chapter entitled "Reasons Why

God Certainly Hears our Prayers," Arndt uses Tauler to lend

weight to his Idea that God's accessibility by prayer is
due to God's love for man.

In treating the problem of

spiritual temptation, Arndt points to Tauler's statement

that such temptations and trials are "singular gifts and
favors of God" which increase patience and make true

-^-Ibid., p. 235 *

2 Ibid., p. 254.

3 ibid., pp. 283-84.

4Ibid., p. 293 .

-36"spiritual martyrs" of Christians.^

When treating the sub

ject of Christ the eternal word in the soul, Arndt once more
turns to Tauler as an authoritative source.

Finally, when

Arndt takes up, in his third book, the subjects of "the

inner man" and "union with God," he quotes extensively from
Tauler to substantiate his ideas.
The fact that Arndt published an edition of Deutsche
Theologie in 1597

shows his penchant for this aspect of

medieval German mysticism.

What doubtless drew Arndt to

this work was that, over and beyond the stages of purifica
tion, illumination and union, it set forth the idea of true
Christian discipleship Nachfolge Christl.

The work is a

call to true righteousness without vain accent on works,

and nearly balances the active and the passive.

The work

reminds one that "blessedness lies not in any creature or

workings of the creatures, but it lies alone in God and his

1Ibid_., p. 360 .
2 Ibid., p. 405.
3 Ibid., p. 379. Here Arndt also relies on Tauler in
order to develop his distinction between the learned man and
the holy man:
a mystic's distinction between intellectual
knowing and experiential knowing.
^Winter, o. c l t ., p. 104.
This work, published at
Halberstadt, included Luther's Vorrede to the edition of
Eyn Deutsche Theologie published in 1529 at Wittenberg.

-37working. 1,1
In the preface to the first edition of the Deutsche
Theologie Arndt presents the mystic's idea that true know
ledge of Christ is more than intellectual knowing.

In

order to be valid, knowledge of Christ must also be found

in the experience of holy living.

While he is aware of

the necessity of defending doctrinal purity,

Arndt, influ

enced by the ideas of the Deutsche Theologie, stressed the

Nachfolge Chrlstl taught in this work as an answer to the
lack of pious living that was so prevelant among the church
members of his time:
Whoever confesses the doctrine of Christ,
and rejects him in his life, confesses him only
in part; and whoever preaches the doctrine of
Christ without his life, preaches Christ only
in part.^
Arndt was so persuaded that the ideas expressed in
the Deutsche Theologie could help restore genuine piety to
his age that he issued a second edition of the above work
in 1605

The purpose of this publication as expressed

^Petry, ojd. cit., p. 321 .

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 132-33.
3lbid., p. 134.
^Winter, og_. c i t ., p. 104.
This edition was entitled
Zwei alte und edle BUchlein. Das Erste die deutsche Theo
logie . . . Das andere die Nachfolgung Christi.

-38by Arndt in the new preface was to assist in "leading one

and all to the one Book of Life of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to learn from him the right and true Christian life and
godliness .11*
In the preface to this second edition, Arndt also
elaborated on the idea of self-denial as an essential el e
ment of true Christian piety.

He was convinced that such

piety involves the following characteristics which are

stressed by the Deutsche Theologie:
Pure love, desire after the highest eternal
good, denial and renunciation of the vain world,
sacrifice of one's own will, crucifixion and
mortification of the flesh, the conformity to
Christ in patience, meekness, humility, cross,
tribulation and persecution.
In summary, how
one must die to self and live unto Christ.
Arndt concluded the preface to his 1605 edition of
the Deutsche Theologie with the assertion that while its
thoughts may be hard to understand, the same ideas will be
more easily understood by reading De_ imltatlone Christ!.
Furthermore, one can find a good and useful exposition of
3

these ideas in his True Christianity.

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 825 .

2Ibld.
^Die Deutsche Theologie, Abdruck nach der Ausgabe
Arndt's Magdeburg 1605 besort von Johann Andreas Detzer,
Erste Americanische Ausgebe (Lancaster, Pa.:
gedruckt
und verlegt von H. W. Billee, 1829), p. x v i .

-39Thomas a_ Kempis and The Imitation of Christ

To the second edition of the Deutsche Theologie
Arndt added the text of De_ lmitatione Christl in a new Ger
man t r a n s l a t i o n . A s in the case of the Deutsche Theologie,
Arndt was influenced by the extreme emphasis on self-denial
in De_ lmitatione Christ!.

The extent of the influence of

Thomas a Kempis 1 writing on Arndt can be observed particu

larly in book I of True Christianity.

The ideas of the

imitation of Christ in dally life, and the practice of selfdenial as essential to true piety are especially emphasized
in chapters eleven through nineteen of book I.

There are

also striking similarities of thought between the latter

part of book II of True Christianity, especially chapters
twelve to fifty-seven, and the first three books of De
lmitatione Christ!.

The themes of the first three books

of Ete lmitatione Christ! whose ideas are woven into the

latter part of book II of True Christianity treat,

(l) The

discipleship of Christ and the rejection of all the vanity

of this world.

(2) The life of the inner man, its behavior

and patient suffering in all adversity.

(3) The inner

^Winter, o. c l t ., p. 104.

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 29-60.

3Ibid., pp. 207-374.

-40communion between God as Lord and man as his s e r v a n t . T h e

fourth book, which Arndt did not include in his translation,
is highly sacramental and thus of little use to his develop
ing ideas of Pietism.
The influence of Thomas a Kempis on Arndt is also
evident in Arndt's continual emphasis on the idea that prac
tical humility and devotion are essential parts of the new
life in union with Christ.

Arndt always insisted that true

Christian illumination which was the result of union with

Christ must produce Christ-like humility.

This illumination

by the Spirit of Christ producing genuine humility in turn

brought the Christian into true unity with God the Father.
Thus through the teaching of De lmitatione Christ!, Arndt

1Johann Arndt, Des gottsellgen Thomas von Kempis . . .

Vier Bucher von der Nachfolge Christl, Im Jahr 1617 aus dem
Lateinischen herausgegeben (Neue Ausgabe mit grossem Druck,
Stuttgart: Druck und Verlag von J. F. Steinkopf, 1882).
A notation on the flyleaf reads in part:
"Von den veilen
Uebersetuzungen der Nachfolge Christ! von Thomas a Kempis
1st die beste ganzlich verschollen gewessen, namlich die von
dem frommen Johann Arndt . . . vom Jahr 1617 . . . J. Arndt
hat nur die drei ersten Bucher Uebersetzt . . . Der neue Uebertragung des vierten Buches 1st die von Poiret von 1734 zu
Grunded gelegt, welche der von J. Arndt am nachsten steht."
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), bk. I, pp. 57-60;
bk. II, pp. 238-45; bk. Ill, pp. 389-90, 393-95, 405-07,
414-15.
3Koepp, 0. c l t ., p. 25.

-41enforced his own ethical position in his effort to counter

the deadening influence of Lutheran polemics and the inter
confessional hatred produced by radical creedalism.

Bernard of Clalrvaux
Arndt also used the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux
to enrich his own ideas.'*'

One finds Bernard's Influence in

Arndt's Garden of Paradise and in his True Christianity.

Koepp says that the Bernardian influence can be easily seen
in such expressions of Arndt's as "loving Bridegroom, to
whom the heart shouts with joy;"

a "most gracious loving

union with a Friend," i.e., God; a "friendly kiss within the

chamber of the heart;" the "dove;" and the 'Wounds of Jesus"
(Felslochern der Wundmale Jesu).^

Koepp maintains that

Arndt used the Iubllus Bernardl in developing some of the

basic ideas of his proto-Pietlsm.

In the closing para

graph of his prayer on Love in the Garden of Paradise, the

''Wilhelm Gass, Geschichte der Chrlstlichen Ethik

(2 vo l s ., Berlin:
Druck und Verlag von George Reimer,
1886), II, 170-71.
2Wilhelm Koepp, ojd. cit., pp. 74-75.
3Ibid.

-42influence of Bernard's Ite dlllgendo Deo'1' is evident:

Grant that thy Love may draw and unite me to
thee, and make me one Spirit, soul and body with
thee, my Lord:
That I may always think on thee,
speak of thee, hunger and thirst after thee, and
being satiated with the Sweetness of thy Love, I
may abide in thee forever and thou in m e .2
The same warming influence of Bernard can be noted in
Arndt's teachings on Christian love.

In the Garden of Paradise is a section entitled

k_

Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Spiritual Marriage of Christ

with our S o u l .

Its vocabulary definitely reveals the influ-

ence of Bernard on Arndt's devotional thoughts.

Thus a

portion of the prayer rea d s :

0 Lord Jesus Christ, thou fairest among the
children of Men, thou most amiable Bridegroom
of our Soul, . . . I thank thee heartily for thy
fervent, pure, and holy Love, with which thou
hast always loved me:
Thou hast shewn thy Love
in thy blessed Incarnation, when thou didst

^Petry, ojo. clt.. "There is a sense in which Bernard

may be said to have written but one treatise on spirituality,
to have elucidated but one relationship of the soul with
God.
That treatise and that relationship center in love
. . . . The treatise, On the Love of God (De dlllgendo D e o )
is at the heart of Bernard's mysticism of love .11 P. 50.

2Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. 12.

3lbid., pp. 137, 404.
^Gf. St. Bernard, On the Song of Songs, Translated
and edited by a Religious of C.S.M.V.; with an introduction
and notes (London:
A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1952), passim.

-43receive our human Nature, Body and Soul, in

the Unity of thy Person, uniting them to thy
Eternal Divinity, so as never to be dissolved
hereafter.
0 comfortable, sweet and delight
ful Union.
God is Man, and Man is God, Can
there be a more agreeable Kindness, and more
endearing Friendship? . . . 0 give us, Lord
Jesus, to know, and duly to ponder so sublime
and heavenly a Marriage, so constant and Royal
a Union, and to abide betrothed, espoused, and
united unto thee to all Eternity.
Amen.-*Book II of True Christianity also indicates Bernard's
influence on Arndt.

It is especially clear in the sections

dealing with love; in Chapters XXIV to XXXIII, Arndt applies

the Bernardian idea of the soul's mystical love of God, link
ing it up with the soul's union with Christ.^

Chapter XXXVII

of book I stresses the Bernardian idea of mystical union with

3
the divine through love as an operation of grace.
The idea of interior revelation which is asserted by
Bernard is also declared by Arndt in the preface to the third
Book of True Christianity.

Mystical and personal involve

ment with Christ is mainly what draws Arndt to the writings

-*-Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), pp. 101-04.

Cf. Petry, ojd. c l t ., who treats Bernard's thought on mystic
union as marriage.
Pp. 50-53.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 245-69.
3ib i d ., p. 125 .
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 377.

-44of Bernard.

It is Bernard's homilies upon the Song of

Solomon which appear to exert the greatest influence on

Arndt's thinking.

One can discern many ideas in them which

are similar to those in Arndt's sermons and writings,

(a)

contemplation of the Passion by which God's love is revealed

to the true Christian;'*' (b) devout contemplation of Jesus the
man as a way of union with Christ the divinity;

(c) the

necessity of repentance in pious works^ and of following

Christ's example in suffering and crucifixion
attain the goal of union.

in order to

For Bernard Christ is not merely

a dogmatic formula, not only the transcendent and eternal

judge of the world; he is the personal revelation of God, a
means of immanently apprehending God.

^Bernard, o. c i t ., pp. 194-200.

Cf. also Arndt,
Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), pp. 160-192.

2I b l d ., pp. 88 -89 .

Cf. also Arndt, Garden of Paradise

(London, 1716), pp. 101-04.

^Ibld., pp. 219-22.
(Sch), pp. 201-06.
^Ib l d ., pp. 56-57.
(Sch), pp. 137-53.

Cf. also Arndt, True Christianity

Cf. also Arndt, True Christianity

^Reinhold Seeberg, Text Book of The History of Doc

trines, trans. by Charles E. Hay, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1952), II, 54.

-45Raymond of Sabunda and Angela da Foligno

Another important source of medieval mystical influ
ence on John Arndt's religious thought was Raymond of
Sabunda's Natural Theology.^

This influence is most promi-

2
nent in the fourth book of True Christianity.

Arndt,

following the ideas of Raymond, attempted to show that the

entire creation points to God.

After the first six chapters,

in which the accounts of creation are treated,

the remainder

of the book draws extensively from Sabunda's Natural Theology.

According to the Natural Theology, God has granted
men two books, the book of nature and the book of Scripture.
These two books must not and cannot contradict each other.

In agreement with this idea, Arndt writes in the conclusion

of his fourth book of True Christianity:

1The Spaniard Raymond of Sabunda settled as a physi

cian in Toulouse in A.D. 1430, but afterwards turned his
attention to theology.
Seeing the need of infusing new life
into the corrupt scholasticism, he sought to rescue it from
utter formalism and fruitless casuistry by a return to simple,
clear, and rational thinking.
He also turned for stimulus
and instruction to the book of nature.
The result of his
studies is seen in his Theologia naturalis s_. liber creaturarum, published in A.D. 1436.
C f . P. Kurtz, Church History
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892,) II. 169-70.

Stoeffler, 0. c l t ., p. 206.

3k . R. Hagenbach, A_ History of Christian Doctrines,

trans. from the German by E. H. Plumptre (3 vols.j Edin
burgh:
T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street, 1880), II, 163.

-46This part II is on the contrary, only in

tended to show that, besides the Word of God,
the Holy Scriptures, even our own heart and
conscience may teach us, from the book of n a
ture, and the light of nature, that we are
bound to love God on account of his great love
bestowed upon us, and manifested through the
means of all his creatures . . . And as he calls
and invites us to love him, by all the creatures
which are bestowed in common upon all mankind,
who can deny that the love of God is discovered
to us in the book of nature and that the heathens
themselves may be convinced by arguments drawn
thence?
Koepp further enumerates several passages in Book I of True
Christianity which point to the influence of Raymond of
Sabunda.

There Arndt sets forth the idea that all men

should love one another as themselves,

as they are of such

a nature and species (Bk. I, 24, 20:18).

The creatures, with

their various services to man, also teach one this (Bk. I,

25:2) as the law of nature

(Bk. I, 26:10; 28:1).

It is

through love that all evil in the world is overcome with

good and with virtue (Bk. I, 26:13).

Self-love is but the

approximation of an inordinant and unrighteous falseness and

an unlawful love (Bk. I, 14:2).
the root of all evil in us

Thus self-love is actually

(Bk. I, 2, 3; 14, 10; 5, 11;

-*-Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 489.

Cf. also
Arndt, Ikonographla (Koten, 1596), pp. 33 recto and verso,
where a similar idea is expressed.
O
^Wilhelm Koepp, 0. c i t ., p. 190.

-4731, 7).
Arndt has adopted Raymond's moral argument for the
existence of God.

The order and adaptation which exists

in the outer world also operates in the moral sphere.

Every

man knows that he is fitted for and deserving of rewards and

punishments.

His nature, therefore, points to a rewarder

and punisher, to a judge of infinite perfection; for only

such a judge can perfectly meet the conditions.

Thus the

awareness of the divine existence arises through the natural

testimony of the soul as it sees nature.1
Among the lesser known medieval mystics who influ
enced Arndt there is Angela da Foligno, a nun of thirteenthcentury Italy.

Koepp refers to her as a Franciscan mystic

whose influence pervades book II of True Christianity.

Ritschl also maintains that the ideas expressed in the thir

teenth to the twenty-seventh chapters of Book II were taken
3
from Angela da Foligno's Theology of the Cross of Christ.
These chapters give evidence of what Knox calls the "indif
ference" of Angela da Foligno:

self-denial, the resignation

1Henry C. Sheldon, History of Christian Doctrine

(2 v o l s .; New York:
Harper & Brothers^ 1895), I, 33p

Wilhelm Koepp, ojd. c l t ., p. 76 .

^Albrecht Ritschl, o. c i t ., II, 18.

-48of all to the glory of God, contempt for the world and
earthly life .1

A_ Summary of A r n d t 1s Mysticism
One cannot read the literature both old and new con
cerning John Arndt without becoming aware of scholarly
contention over the dominant influence of late medieval
mysticism in his religious thought.

Ritschl tends to cata-

gorize him completely as a mystic and of little influence on

German Lutheran Pietism.

However this analysis of Ritschl

completely ignores the patristic influence on Arndt.

Furthermore Ritschl neglects to take into account Spener's
professed indebtedness to the religious thought of John
Arndt.^

Nor does a thorough investigation of the historical

facts concerning the influence of the late medieval mystics

on Arndt substantiate the analysis of Martin Smith in refer
ence to Arndt's mysticism.

Smith declares that it was

primarily the Boehme-Arndt tradition that introduced the

wave of spiritual mysticism into the stream of Lutheran

^Ronald A. Knox, 0. c i t ., pp. 255, 272, 285 .

2Ritschl, 0. c i t ., II, passim.

^Stoeffler, o p . c i t ., pp. 238-39.

-49Pietism. 1

This analysis completely overlooks the influence

of the German Theology, not only on Arndt but also on the

young Luther.

Horst Weigelt is more thorough in his investi

gation of the historical facts concerning Arndt's mysticism.

He links Arndt with the neoplatonic schema of the via
purgativa, illumlnativa,

and unitiva of the German mystics.

However Weigelt declares the above to be in subordination

to Arndt's main theme which is the new life in Christ.^

It

is in this sense that the mysticism of John Arndt must be

understood.

It is also in the above sense that the influ

ence of medieval mysticism on John Arndt's religious thought

passed into the later developments of Lutheran Pietism.^
Arndt, influenced by the medieval mystics, used their

iHorst Weigelt, Pietismus-Studien, I Theil, "Der

Spener-hallische Pietismus'1 (Stuttgart:
Calwer Verlag,
1965), PP. 17-18.
2supra., pp. 27-33.
^Horst Weigelt, Pietismus-Studien, I Theil, "Der
Spener-hallische Pietismus-Arbeiten zur Theologie." II
Reihe Band 4 (Stuttgart:
Calwer Verlag, 1965)* p. 116.
^Koepp, 0. c i t ., Koepp writes concerning the influ
ence of Arndt's devotional mysticism on developing Lutheran
Pietism, "It appears to me not only that he (Arndt), is
rightly referred to as the actual father of Pietism, but even
more so that with him . . . the Pietistic devotional way is
still more meaningful as an introduction . . . of the mysti
cal piety present in Lutheranism today." p. 9.

-50vocabulary to give force to his doctrine of the new life in

Christ.

Furthermore a thorough analysis of Arndt's religious

thought reveals that he never allowed the influence of medi

eval mysticism to contradict his schooling in Lutheran doc
trine.

What Arndt actually did was to apply to the writings

of the medieval mystics in order to emphasize the idea that

the new life in Christ begins in the interior life of the
pious Christian.
pletatis.

From here it works itself out in praxis

In so doing he changed the emphasis from belief

to practice.

It was this change in emphasis that Arndt

believed necessary if true historical Christian piety was

to be maintained in his spiritually decadent time.

CHAPTER III
REFORMATION INFLUENCES ON ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

It would be unfair to assume that John Arndt conscious

ly endeavored to change the basic doctrines of the Lutheran
Church.

Rather his whole desire was to develop the religious

ideas of the Reformation at the level of personal piety.

In

this sense Arndt could be referred to as a reformer of Chris

tian life, rather than a reformer of Reformation theology.
When challenged as to his devotion to the Lutheran Church,
Arndt always asserted his loyalty to the Church and its
doctrines.
Wherein then did Arndt differ from the orthodox
Lutheranism of his age?

The answer to this question resided

in Arndt's intense desire for a meaningful praxis pletatis.

Because of this intense desire, Arndt was influenced by
certain religious emphases connected with the Lutheran
Reformation era which he believed would foster the practice
of true Christian piety.

The orthodox Lutheranism of Arndt's

period had either ignored or rejected those sources within

-51-

-52early Lutheranism that stressed the idea of personal piety

as essential to the Christian life.

Orthodox Lutheranism

during Arndts time sought to develop its doctrine through

debate and precise definition.

Its desire was to preserve

the theological structures of its Church as a whole.

Arndt

on the other hand, while not in disagreement with this aim,

believed that the Lutheran Church had neglected the personal
aspect of the Christian life in its emphasis.
thus to translate theology into life.

His aim was

Arndt therefore

sought to emphasize those aspects of Reformation Lutheran

teaching that would develop active piety on the part of both
laity and clergy.

The difference was therefore one of

emphasis rather than doctrine.

In this sense it can be said

that Arndt introduced a different spirit into the Lutheran

Church.
What then were these major sources of influence on
Arndt?

The first was the mystical element in the waitings

of the young Luther.

young Luther.

The second was the Christology of the

The third was the irenic spirit of Melanchthon

in respect to the basic affirmations of the Lutheran Church.

The fourth was the writings of the Lutheran Pastor Valentin

-53Weigel.^

Therefore one must examine these sources of influ

ence on Arndt's developing ideas of piety, if one is to

understand his belief that his teachings on personal piety
were soundly Lutheran.

Mystical Elements in The Young Luther's Writings

One must ask how Arndt, who frequently used the terms
of medieval mysticism, could also adhere strictly to the
Lutheran confessions the Augsburg Confession and the Formula
of Concord.
himself.

The answer lies in the precedent set by Luther

Mystical elements in the writings of the young

Luther allowed for Arndt's use of them in his own religious

thought without placing him in any danger of betraying the
Lutheran Church.

Luther had read Augustine; he had read the

mystics and had at one time sought inner peace through m y s

ticism.

Watson states that the young Luther "sought to

follow the directions of the Areopagite and Bonaventura, to

Valentin Weigel (1533-1588) was a German mystic who

had been influenced by Sebastian Franck, Paracelsus, Ne o
platonism and the "Friends of God." He developed a philo
sophy of monistic subjective idealism in which all truth was
traced to a divine "inner light" in man.
A successful Luth
eran pastor, Weigel reconciled his ideas with the accepted
dogmas by placing an allegorical interpretation upon the
latter.
The real import of his teachings was revealed in
the posthumous publication of his writings, the most impor
tant of which is Dlalogus de Christlanismo (l6l6).
Cf.
Rufus M. Jones, Spiritual Reformers in the 16th and 17th
Centuries (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1959 )> PP- 133-50.

-541climb up into the majesty of G o d , 1 and experience the union

of his soul with the Divine.

He endeavoured after the manner

of Bernard to lose himself in meditation on the Passion of

Christ.Arndt

could draw freely on these mystics, since

he believed Luther's use of them was a stamp of approval.

Luther also found Tauler and the German Theology very
helpful in developing his innovations.

In a letter to

Spalatin (Dec. 14, 1516), he commended the writings of Tauler

as a pure and firm theology more resembling the ancient
authors than anything else in the German language.

It was also in 1516 that Luther published the Deutsche

Theologie.

Concerning this work Luther wrote:

This noble little book, though simple and with

out adornment in words of human wisdom, is much
richer and more precious in art, and that wisdom
which is divine.
And, to praise according to my
old folly, next to the Bible and St. Augustine,
I do not know of any book from which I have learnt

^Philip S. Watson, Let God Be God (Philadelphia:

Portress Press, 1947)* p. 19.
2Hagenbach, o p . c i t ., "Si te delectat puram, solldam,
antiquae slmilliman theologiam legere, in germanica lingua
effusam, sermones Johannis Tauleri, praedicatoriae professionis tibi comparare potes . . . Neque enlm ego vel in
latina vel in nostra lingua theoliglam vldl salubrlorem et
cum Evangelio consonantiorem. P . 138 .
^ib i d ., p. 139. The full title of this work is
Deutsche Theologie, Oder ein edles Buchlein vom rechten
Verstande, was Adam und Christus sel, und wie Adam in uns
leben soil.)

-55or would wish to learn more of what God, Christ,

man, and all things are.-1Luther spoke of the German Theology as "showing what Adam
and Christ are, and how Adam should die and Christ should
p

live in u s ."

In Chapter VII of the second book of True

Christianity, Arndt links Christian repentance with dying

and rising in Christ.

He states that in order to under

stand the true nature of repentance, one must know the dis
tinction between the old and the new man, or how Adam must
die and Christ live in the Christian.
Koepp, in treating the mystic and Augustinian strain
in Lutheranism, notes a neoplatonism and a Bernardian influ
ence in Luther's lectures on the psalms from 1513 to 1516.^
Koepp further elaborates:
We have seen that mysticism goes together with
forming the thoughts of upright living and faith
based on the practice of mercy.
Furthermore after
1515 the German mystics along with Paul exerted a
great influence on Luther.
This is very clearly
proved by the very careful preparation of the
German Theology
(1516 & 1518) with its introduction

1Ibid., p. 140.
2

Professor Kurtz, Church History, trans. by the Rev.

John Macpherson (3 V o l s ., London:
Hodder and Stoughton,
1811), II, 174.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 184-88.
^Wilhelm Koepp, o. ci t ., pp. 11-12.

-56by Luther.
It stresses among other things that the
religious speculative motive, and moreso that the
very energetic religious ethical tendency, of German
mysticism attracted and influenced Luther.
Thus the
historical fact still stands no less firm today that
with Luther, the neoplatonic Middle age mystics
played a chief role along with Paul in the decisive
years of Luther.1
While Luther later rejected the influence of medieval
mysticism and its neoplatonic elements, his earlier works
undeniably attest its attraction for him.

Rupp writes of the

young Luther's affinity for mysticism:

Later, Luther was strongly to repudiate this
'theology of glory', but even at this stage it is
possible to distinguish a novel insistence on the
importance of faith.
This is apparent in Luther's
use of the technical expressions of the mystic
theologians, of purgation and illumination of the
mind, and above all in the conception of 'ecstasy'
or 'excessus mentis' which passed from Platonism
into Augustine, Dionysius and St. Bernard.
Luther's whole encounter with mysticism tended to
increase his emphasis on personal piety as a part of the true
3

Christian way.

Furthermore, after this encounter his

1Ibid.
^Gordon Rupp, The Righteousness of God (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1953)7 PP* 142-43.
^Edward Lehmann, Mystlk in Heldentum und Christentum
(Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von B. G. Teubner, 1908).
jlEr
(Staupitz) war ein gelehrter und felner Kopf, dessen theologlsche Werke elne unmittelbare Fortsetzung der EckhardTaulerschen Mystik bilden, und Luther wurde durch ihn in
eine FrOtnmlgkeitsrichtung hineingezogen, deren Suchen er
zum flnden verhalf." P. 121.

-57language becomes more simple, more religious and more popu

lar; he has been released from the stiff formal presentation
of ideas into more joyous, free and flowing expressions of
profound sentiment; he has become aware of the birth of God
in his heart.'*'

This same freedom is found in the writings of

Arndt, whose religion is not a logical causal deduction of

one idea from another but, rather like the young Luther's,
is expressed subjectively in terms of the union of God and
man through Christ's birth in the heart.

It was in Luther's youth that he was most influenced

by the type of mysticism found in Arndt's religion.

The

young Luther rejected medieval scholasticism when he began

his reforming activities.

Because of a similar rebellion

against the scholastic tendencies of orthodoxy, Arndt, in

similar fashion,

looked to Augustine, Bernard,

and the German

mystics for a deeper piety.

It is not certain whether Luther did totally reject
medieval mystical piety.

He did turn away from the mystical

1Henri Strohl, L 'Epanoussement de la Pensee Rellgleuse

de Luther (Strasbourg:
Maison d'Edition de l'Imprimerie
Strasbourgeoise, 1924).
"C'est avec Jole que Luther fait
vibrer toutes ces cordes pour chanter 1 'allegresse que Dieu
avait fait naltre en son coeur." P. 133.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 205, 207.

-58overemphasis on suffering; but one need only review his writ

ings on "holy living" or "righteousness" or the "exercise of
faith" to find a basically mystic influence at work.

Further

more, he regards Christ's crucifixion as a very suitable

subject for meditation,

stating that "Christ's sufferings

should be an example for your whole life, and you should

meditate on the same

with the mystics.

. . ."^

This subject was also popular

However Luther always subordinated his

early mystical inclinations to the teachings of the Scrip

tures.

He taught that the Scriptures were the only final

p

authority for true spiritual examination.

Arndt was able

to find kindship with both the mystical and the Scriptural

inclinations of the young Luther's thought.

For Arndt,

Luther's primary emphasis on Scripture as the standard of

faith and practice acted as a safeguard, preventing him from
being completely taken over by the mystic's way.
In view of the fact that Arndt was influenced by the

Martin Luthers W e r k e .
(Weimar, 1883), II, 136-42.

Krltische Gesamtausgabe

supra., p. 38 .

^Martin Luther, Answer to Latomus 1521, The Library

of Christian Classics, translated and edited by James
Atkinson (Philadelphia:
The Westminster Press, 1962), XVI,
344-64.

-59mystical elements In the early writings of Luther, one can

affirm that Arndt was at least consistent with the spirit
and the theology of the early stages of Luther's reforming
activities.

Arndt thus in turning to the middle age mystics

was not interjecting a new approach into the development of

Lutheranism up to his time.

Rather he was following the

example of the young Luther who sought to deepen his per

sonal piety after the manner of the German mystics.

It was

because of this fact that Arndt could use the terminology

of the middle age mystics and believe that he was perfectly
consistent with the teachings of Lutheranism.

Luther's Early Chrlstology

There is ample evidence in the young Luther's Christology of the same ideas of union with Christ expressed in
Arndt's writings . ^

Arndt's frequent accent on the idea of

Christ dwelling in the true Christian, validating his faith

and life, is also found in the development of Luther's
early Chrlstology.

In the sixth chapter of book two of

True Christianity, Arndt sets forth the idea that the per
fection and salvation of man depend on union with Christ by

"^Cf. Seeberg, ojd . c i t ., on Luther's teaching on the

"indwelling Christ," II, 231.
Also cf. Arndt, True Christi
anity (Sch), II, 6 .

-60faith and that, furthermore, man can contribute nothing to

the process, as his perverse will only interferes with the
grace of God.

Christ alone can accomplish the work in m a n .1

In association with this idea, Arndt stated:

This union by faith, is of the highest neces
sity, because 'our iniquities have separated b e
tween us and our God* Isa. 59:2.
And this deplor
able state will continue to all eternity, unless
Christ dwell in us here by faith.
Moreover, we
are not able to perform the least good, if God,
himself, even after conversion, does not graciously
operate in us . . . . Therefore, Christ alone is
our help and support, when the help of men cannot
avail.^
These ideas of man's helplessness apart from union
with Christ through faith in him are frequently expressed in
the writings of the early Luther.
Galatians,

In his Commentary on

Luther treats the absolute power of the Christ

who inhabits the true Christian as an answer to man's help

lessness.

Another early work by Luther, A_ Treatise on Chris

tian Liberty, treats the soul's union with Christ as an answer

to man's ultimate helplessness under the symbolism of
marriage:

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 182-84.

2Ibid.
^Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians 1535, Luther's
Works, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Walter A. Hansen
(St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1 9 & 3 ) > 26, 167-70.

-61The third incomparable grace of faith is

this, that it unites the soul to Christ, as the
wife to the husband; by which mystery, as the
Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul are made one
flesh.
Now if they are one flesh, and if a true
marriage nay, by far the most perfect of all
marriages--is accomplished between them (for
human marriages are but feeble types of this
one great marriage), then it follows that all
they have, becomes theirs in common, as well
good things as evil things; so that whatsoever
Christ possesses, that the believing soul may
take to itself and boast of as its own, and wh a t
ever belongs to the soul, that Christ claims as
his.
One finds a striking similarity to this passage of
Luther's with its mystical terminology in Arndt's third
book of True Christianity:
Secondly, by faith the soul is united to
Christ, as a bride with her bridegroom . . .
The consequence of this espousal, is a com
munication of all good things . . . so that
all that Christ has, belongs to the soul, and
all that the soul has, belongs to Christ.^
Hagenbach states concerning the Chrlstology of the Reformer,
"Luther himself combined with the orthodox doctrine of the
person of Christ, which he obtained in the Roman Catholic
Church, also the mystical one he derived from the work
already mentioned, Die Deutsch Theologie."^

In criticizing

1Luther's Primary Works, trans. by Buchheim and Wace

Hodder and Stoughton, 1896), pp. 111-12.

(London:

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 385 .

^Hagenbach, 0. c i t ., III, 204.

-62Arndt, Ritschl says that while Arndt's statement of justi

fication by faith was doctrinally correct, it was subor
dinated to the idea of retirement from the world and rest
in God .1

But at this point Ritschl fails to compare Arndt's

Chrlstology with that of the early Luther, which draws

primarily from the German Theology.

Chapter two of the second

book of True Christianity, with which Ritschl is dealing

here, is significant because its Chrlstology uses terms
similar to those found in the German Theology.

This is

especially clear in such statements as the following:

"For

faith, as has been observed, brings the soul into the true
sabbath of the heart, into a state of divine quiet and
o
heavenly rest, in which God delights to manifest himself."
In writing of the early Luther's Chrlstology, Seeberg
sets forth a number of Luther's assertions about Christ
dwelling in union with the believer and directing his life
in the Christian way.
the early Luther.

These assertions are fundamental to

The Christian is said to experience Christ

1Albrecht Ritschl, o. c i t ., II, 40-41.

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 381.
^Seeberg, o. c i t ., II, 230-31.
Also cf. D. Martin
Luther's Werke, Krltische Gesamtausgabe (Weimar ed. 1883IV, 328, 85, 646; I, 31, 35, 117.

-63as a present and active reality in his life.

Christ is

therefore acting within the believer and bringing him into

a state of sabbath rest.

It is by the indwelling Christ that

the Christian is set free to do good and is made capable of

doing it.

This relationship with Christ makes the Christian

good in both the real and the ideal sense of the word.

In

writing on Luther's Commentary on Galatians, Strohl points

out that Christ is called the Word (la Parole), and that the
ubiquity and action of the Word is synonymous with the ub i
quity of Christ.

Thus in this Christological sense, the

Word becomes an instrument of divine action .1

A correspond

ing idea is developed in the third book of Arndt's True

Christianity where he discusses in reference to personal
piety the fact that Christ the eternal Word of the Father
perfects his work in the hearts of the faithful by love and
humility.

There is thus a major link between the Chrlstology

of the young Luther and that of Arndt.
and the German Theology.

That link is Tauler

Both the early Luther and John

^Henri Strohl, op. cit., "La parole de Dieu est audessus de tout, hors tout,~~en tout, avant tout, apres tout et
par la partout. L'ublquite de 1 'action de la Parole est synonyme de 1 'ublqulte de Christ. 'La Parole est 1 'instrument de
1'action divine.'".
P. 162.
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 405.

-64Arndt were very much influenced by Tauler, each thinking

him sufficiently important to make significant references to
him in their works.

Rupp presents considerable evidence that

both Tauler and the German Theology played a significant part

in the religious thought of the young Luther .1

Both Winter

and Koepp make similar remarks about the influence of both

sources on Arndt.

Koepp further states that Arndt often

uses the quintessence of the ideas of Tauler, sometimes

stating thoughts directly from some of his mystical writings
or from his sermons.

Koepp thinks it probable that Arndt

had access to an anthology of Tauler*s then available.

Arndt, thus influenced by the example of the young Luther,
used Tauler and the German Theology as a major reference in
developing his Chrlstology.
As

the Chrlstology of the early Luther was influenced

by the German mystics' concept of the uni o , primarily e x

pressed by the German Theology, so was Arndt influenced in
his Christological teachings.

1Gordon Rupp,
189, 193.

ojd .

Winter notes the warmth and

c i t ., pp. 145, 151, l67n., 173,

^Friedrich Winter, o. c i t ., pp. 20-21.

Koepp, o. c i t ., pp. 48, 54.
^Wilhelm Koepp,

ojd .

c i t ., pp. 54-55.

Wilhelm

-65elevation of Arndt's preface to the German Theology.

It is

proof of how deeply Arndt was moved by the work, indicating

a major source not only of his Chrlstology, but also of his
ideas on true repentance and true belief.'1' Arndt's emphasis
on the kind of Chrlstology expressed by the young Luther
under the influence of the mystics is evidenced by his tend
ency to speak of Christ iri us rather than Christ for us.
This is in contrast with later Lutheranism, which emphasized
more strongly the doctrine of imputation concerning faith.
Arndt, on the contrary, dwelling on the existence of Christ
in the Christian, insists that its effects must be seen in
external conduct.

Through this interior union, man over

comes his corrupt nature:

The Son of God truly became man, not for his
own sake, but for our sakes; that, by reconciling
us to God by himself, he might make us partake of
the sovereign good, having cleansed and sanctified
us, to that end; for whatever is to be sanctified,
must be sanctified by God and with God.
And as
God is in Christ, so ought we to be united to him
by faith, that we may live in God, and God in us.
. . . This is the only way in which Christ adminis
ters medicine to our corrupt nature; and the more
powerfully he influences man, the more thoroughly
will human nature be purified.
In commenting on this statement, Winter asserts,

^Friedrich Winter, o. c i t ., p. 20.

2Arndt, Time Christianity (Sch), pp. 30-31.

"Therefore

-66A m d t sees in Christ less the reconciler, than the healer

of our decayed nature."1
It is basic to Arndt's religion that life in union
with God is the same as life in union with Christ.

This

concept forms the motivation and the goal of his Chris

tianity.

At this point Arndt is both part of and distinct

from the theology of the great Reformer.

Luther had grad

ually oriented all his works around the consciousness of

guilt and the longing after grace and forgiveness based on
his principle of sole fide.

Arndt, on the other hand, makes

this secondary to his teaching of union with Christ and the

inner life which calls the whole man into true discipleship.
For Arndt sin is not so much a problem of guilt as a spirit
ual sickness that can be healed through union with Christ.
Out of this idea Arndt then develops his emphasis on the need
to express this inner union in the daily life of disciple
ship.

He pronounces in a letter to John Gerhardt written

in 1608:
The foremost and innermost part of theology
is, that one must employ all varieties of teach
ings and writings therein, that one turn men to
recognize the abyss of their miseries, thereby
to lead them to Jesus Christ the treasury of grace,

1Friedrich Winter, 0. c i t ., p. 95.

-67as the theme must be grasped and verified inter

nally in the heart with belief.
For internal is
the temple of God, internal is the true service of
God, internal is the true prayerhouse in spirit
and in truth and is the schoolhouse of the holy
Spirit . . ,1
Only in relation to Arndt's Chrlstology do repentance,

living

belief, the new birth, and the new life of love express the
true meaning of Christianity.

Using this idea to counteract

the lack of vital Christianity in his day, Arndt further

stated that his books of True Christianity are meant to
show how the Christian life with its holy beliefs must be
initiated not only in doctrine, but with the Christian's
discipleship immersed in Christ's life.

Arndt has thus

developed, in agreement with the Chrlstology of the young

Luther and that of the German mystics, a theologlca praxis
which became the foundation stone of later Lutheran Pietism.

The Lutheran Source of Arndt's Irenic Spirit

There is without doubt a latent irenicism in the reli
gion of John Arndt.

Christianity.3

^Winter,

This is especially true of his True

More strongly than any other Christian work

ojd .

c i t ., p. 79 .

2Ibid., p. 33.
^Wilhelm Koepp, Johann Arndt und seln Wahres Christenthum (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1959)# PP. 27-28.

-68of its day, it influenced surrounding countries and cut

across denominational lines.

In paying tribute to True

Christianity, Morris says that no other book of devotional

literature created such a sensation at the time of its
appearance and met with such wide acceptance .1

It is to the

irenic spirit of Arndt's religion that Morris alludes when

he w r i t e s :
It was not only the divines of the Lutheran
Church, but theologians of the Reformed Church
have also borne evidence to the exalted merits
of this illustrious man of God.
Even in the
Church of Rome his worth has been known and ac
knowledged.
In 173^ the True Christianity was
printed in the Romish Institute at Kempten in
Bavaria, but without the original title, dedi
cation, preface, and biography, and given out
as though written by a Dr. Randt.
Schaeffer notes that True Christianity was translated into
many languages,
Turkish.^

including French, English, Russian, and

John Wesley mentions having been twice spiritually

moved by his reading of True Christianity.

^Johann G. Morris, o. c i t ., p. 200.

2I b i d ., p. 226 .
3Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxii.
^John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Journal from
October 14, 1735, to November 29, 1745 (l4 vols.j Grand
Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.), I, 131, 139.

-69The Lutheran source of Arndt's irenic spirit which

caused his work to be so widely taken up can be traced back
in part to the irenic influence of Melanchthon which is
latent in some parts of the Augsburg Confession.

Manschreck,

tracing the influence of Melanchthon's irenic spirit down

through Ludwig von Zinzendorf to the revival of Melanchthonianism in America, writes thus:
The irenic spirit of Melanchthon displayed in
his many colloquies looms large in the heritage of
ecumenicity.
The motto with which Peter Meiderlin
closed his Paraenesis votiva pro pace eccleslae,
1626, did not originate with Melanchthon but is
expressive of his spirit:
'In things necessary,
unity; in things not necessary, liberty; in both
charity.' Significantly, the tract was addressed
to the theologians of the Augsburg Confession.1
In referring to True Christianity Arndt states that
he wants not only to be loyal to the Augsburg Confession,
but to have his writings understood in the light of this
confession along with the Formula of Concord.

This desire

is evident when Arndt speaks of the object of the work:

In writing these Books I have had no other
object in view than :that, in connection with our
pure religion and confession of faith, as set
forth in the Church of the Augsburg Confession,
and repeated in the Formula of Concord (which I
publicly and sincerely adopt, and in accordance
with which I desire these writings of mine to be

1Clyde L. Manschreck, trans., Melanchthon on Christian

Doctrine (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1965T, PP.
xxii-xxiil.

-70understood), purity and holiness of the life

might be promoted.
At the end of the preface to the first book, Arndt
also demands of his readers that they not see his work in
any other manner than that which is in accordance with the
Symbolical Books of the churches, and the "first Unaltered
Augsburg Confession, the Apology, the Smalcald Articles,
2
the Two Catechisms of Luther and the Formula of Concord."
Likewise in his preface to the fourth book, Arndt once more
informs his readers of the underlying influence of the
Augsburg Confession on his religious thought.
It was the failure of Arndt's critics to appreciate
the origin of his irenic spirit that caused the publication
of his books to become a center of stormy controversy.

Many

of his contemporaries, and later generations of Lutherans,

accused him of forsaking pure Lutheran doctrine.

In defense

against the charges of his contemporaries Arndt constantly

maintained that he was a true Lutheran and that his writings
were always to be understood in the light of this assertion.
In the foreword to the sixth book of True Christianity, he

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 374.

2Ibid., p. xliii.
3ibld., p. 424.

-71once more marks his intention to uphold the Lutheran confes

sions :
My dear reader, inasmuch as our holy Christian
faith, the pure and evangelical doctrine, has, for
about one hundred years been elucidated, purified,
and sufficiently explained, in accordance with the
rule of the holy Word of God, and has also been
cleansed from many errors through the means of two
glorious and praiseworthy confessions of faith,
namely, the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of
Concord, which have hitherto been, and still con*1
tinue to be, my own confession of faith . . .
In a letter written to Doctor Peter Piscator, Theological
Professor at Jena, in 1607, Arndt further established that
the creedal structures of his writings are the Augsburg
Confession and the Formula of Concord:
I call on the great God, the Searcher of
hearts, as my witness, that it was not in my
mind, in anything which I have written, to de
part from the true religion of the Augsburg
Confession and the Formula of Concord, and that
I had no intention to disseminate erroneous
opinions, much less to defend any which con
flicted with the Symbolical Books of our Church.
The strong irenic spirit of Arndt's works can thus in
part be traced to the Confessions of the Lutheran Church,
particularly to the Augsburg Confession.

In this confession

there is ample evidence of the irenic spirit of Melanchthon.

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 756.

2Ibid., pp. 812-13.

-72In establishing the influence of Melanchthon*s irenic spirit

not only on Lutheranism but on other Christian denominations,
Manschreck quotes an article from the Lutheran Quarterly
Review, written in 1897 by William Kelly, who states:
We hesitate not to declare that Melanchthon's
influence instead of waning, in some directions
at least, is still in the ascendant. By virtue
of the fact that the Augsburg Confession, written
by him, is not only the doctrinal standard of the
Lutheran Church throughout the entire world, but
the source from which the Church of England drew
the Thirty-Nine Articles of the English confes
sion . . . the influence of Melanchthon will con
tinue to be felt, as long as these great churches
continue to endure. But with the churches men
tioned that influence does not stop.
The twentyfive articles of Methodism, largely based on the
Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglicanism, may with
justice be claimed indirectly at least as an out
growth of the Augsburg Confession, so that the Meth
odist Church also is indebted to Melanchthon.
The
slightest acquaintance with the Westminster Confes
sion, with the Dort and Heidelberg Catechisms, will
show . . . that the Augsburg Confession was consulted
by the authors of the later confessions, and that
portions were substantially drafted from that Con
fession into the later productions .1
Though Melanchthon was later engaged in several theolo
gical controversies with the conservative wing of the Luth
eran Church, his Influence continued even in the writing of
the Formula of Concord.

While his rationalism was condemned,

his dialectic was employed by the theologians whom he had

^Clyde L. Manschreck, Melanchthon the Quiet Re former

(New York:
Abingdon Press, 1938), pp. 16-17.

-73trained.'1' Schaff, commenting on the Augsburg Confession as

being more irenic than polemic, says:

"In short, it is the

most churchly, the most catholic and the most conservative

creed of Protestantism."

Arndt's insistence that his works

were Lutheran was based on a careful and deliberate alignment

of them with the early Lutheran Confessions, by which he
sought to structure his primary religious ideas.

Also one

must note the influence of Luther's Catechism on Arndt's

religious thought, especially Luther's treatment of the commandments which emphasize personal piety.

Arndt's irenic spirit was certainly foreign to the

orthodox controversies of his day; it was adverse also to the
cold intellectualism growing from the debates of the Lutheran
theologians in their attempt to preserve orthodox teaching.
But Arndt did not believe that his spirit was out of line
with early Lutheranism.

Because of this belief, Arndt

thought he was justified in injecting his religious ideas

into the developing Lutheran Church.

1Ibid., p. 17 .
^Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (10
v o l s .; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1910), VII, 708.
^Cedric H. Jaggard, "The Exercise of Faith in Luther's
Theology and Its Contribution to a Protestant Piety," Unpub
lished ThD. thesis, Princeton Theological Seminary, Prince
ton, N. J., 1950.

-74Influence of the Lutheran Pastor Weigel

In connection with his use of Weigel's writings, Arndt
has been falsely accused of being totally Weigelian in his
religion.1

The major portion of his writings around which

the charges of Weigelianism raged was the thirty-fourth chap

ter of book two of True Christianity.2

Koepp asserts that

the twelve sections of this chapter are taken from a book

of prayer by Weigel.

It should be noted that Weigel, like

the young Luther and Arndt, was influenced by Tauler and the
German Theology.

Jones says of Weigel that "His spiritual

conception of Christianity was formed and fed by the sermons

of Tauler, and by that little book which was

'the hidden

manna' for all the spiritual leaders of those two centuries,

the German Theology. H o w e v e r ,

while Arndt used portions

of Weigel's writings, he was always conscious of Weigel's

errors in reference to the Scriptures,

and attempted to

purge these from the portions he used.

In defending his use

^Morris, o. cit., pp. 171-7 8 .

2Stoeffler, 0. c i t ., p. 204.
^Wilhelm Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 251.
^Rufus M. Jones, Spiritual Reformers in the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1959),
p. 141.

-75of Weigel Arndt declares:

As regards the writings of Weigel, they
contain much which in my opinion, is contrary
to the scriptures, particularly in the resur
rection and glorification of our bodies, and
that of Christ, and other doctrines also.
Not
withstanding these blemishes, I have not r e
jected them altogether, but have followed Paul's
direction, 'prove all things and hold fast to
that which is good' . . . I have also occasion
ally inserted a passage from him into my books,
which I thought would minister to edifying, but
I first purified it of everything objectionable.
What Arndt actually omitted were the purely gnostic theosophical thoughts of Weigel.

According to Weigel, Christ

is the divine Spirit in man, the Word, the divine idea.

Incarnations of this Word took place before Christ, as in
the cases of Adam and Abraham.

Weigel also posited the idea

of two bodies of Christ:

He did not derive his flesh and blood from
the earthly virgin or from Adam, but from the
eternal virgin through the Holy Ghost, in order
that we, by means of this heavenly flesh, might
become new creatures that henceforth we might
not be earthly, owing our existence to Adam,
but heavenly, being created by Christ, and in
such flesh possess heaven."3
Koepp holds that Arndt was not under the complete influence

'Morris, o p . c i t ., p. 171.
2Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 51.
^Hagenbach, o. c i t ., p. 205.

-76of Weigel, as some of his opponents had charged, but that

Arndt actually disagreed with him totally at the level of
Christology.^

In a letter addressed to Dr. Wolffgang

Frantzium, dated March 29, 1620, Arndt discussed Weigel's

view of the person and human nature of Christ as a dangerous error.

Arndt likewise discussed these same errors

of Weigel in a letter to Anton Buscher, dated February

19,

1619, pointing out also that he was well aware of other

3

areas of Weigel's writings that he knew to be in error.

In his sixth book of True Christianity, Arndt cate
gorically denies that he is an Enthusiast, but rather that
his idea of the inward illumination is Paul's idea of the
spiritual glow; neither is he a Schwenkfeldian, but rather
regards the sacraments as necessary to the Christian life;
neither is he a follower of Osiander, for he believes that
it is not the substance of the Christ, but the righteous
ness of Jesus Christ which is granted to us through grace;
neither is he a papist, as some accused, for his system
does not turn on works, but on grace.

He ends this section

with an absolute denial that he is a Weigelian, but states

^Wilhelm Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 31.

^Arndt, Wahren Chrlstenthum (Mentz), p. 797.
3Ibld., p. 805.

-77that he rests his religious ideas on the "power of the

living Word of God.

,.1

Summary of Reformation Influences

On Arndt's Religious Thought
In summarizing the Reformation influences on Arndt's
religious thought it must be pointed out that he was pre
dominantly influenced by the writings of the young Luther.
Arndt found fertile ground for the development of his own
ideas on personal piety in the religious ideas of the young
Luther.

Furthermore the attraction which Arndt felt for the

idea of inward piety expressed by the German mystics of the

late middle ages was justified in his own thinking as being
within the bounds of Lutheranism.

He could point to the

fact that the young Luther in his struggle for a more devout
life claimed to be helped by them.

However while Arndt

Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz).

" . . . und ist
kelne Enthuslasterey, wle du elender Mensch meynest; sondern
es 1st eben das, was S t . Paulus sagt, dass aus einem Funkleln
eln Feuer kann aufgeblasen werden, und aus einem Senfkdrnleln
eln grosser Baum werden. Ist auch kein Schwenkfeldianlsmus,
wle du meynest, sondern ein Christ ist allbereit durch Gottes
Wort und hochwurdiges Sacrament neugeboren, glaublg worden
und bekehret-, N . B . mangelt nur die Praxis und Uebung des
thatigen Glaubens; 1st auch kein Osiandrlsmus, denn es ist
nicht die wesentliche, sondern die gradenreiche Gerechtlgkelt Jesu Christi, die uns aus Gnaden geschenket w i r d , welche
in uns eitel Gnadenfruchte wlrket. N . B . Ist kein Papismus,
denn es 1st kein Verdienst, sondern Gnade. N . B . Ist kein
Weigellanlsmus, denn es 1st hie die Kraft des lebendlgen
Worts Gottes." p . 785 .

-78frequently made use of the ideas of piety expressed by the

German mystics, he also followed the example of the young
Luther in always subordinating the teachings of the mystics
to holy Scripture.

In this way he stayed clearly within

the limits of early Lutheran doctrine.

Arndt's Christological assertions also reveal the
influence of the young Luther.

Arndt believed and taught

that the foundation of all true Christian piety rests on

union with Christ by faith.

Without this union of faith

man is helpless against the sinful inclinations of his

fallen nature.

It was because of this Christological

assertion drawn from the teachings of the young Luther,

that Arndt insisted that his call for a return to personal
piety was thoroughly Lutheran.

Furthermore it was in keep

ing with the basic tenets of Reformation teaching when Arndt

insisted that the fruits of praxis pletatis did not result
from works but from grace.

It was always with this Reforma

tion principle In mind that Arndt combined his Christolo

gical teaching with the ideas of pious practice expressed
in the German Theology.

He did this in order to emphasize

the idea that true piety is a work of Christ in the soul

of the believer.
While Arndt always insisted on his loyalty to the

-79basic affirmations of the Lutheran Church of his age, his

attitude toward other Christian structures outside of Luther
anism was much more irenic than those of his orthodox con
temporaries .

Arndt further believed that his irenic dis

position was not a contradiction of the basic doctrines of

Reformation Lutheranism.

It is this aspect of the religious

thought of Arndt that reveals a latent Melanchthonian influ

ence .

Arndt had caught the irenic spirit of Melanchton

expressed in certain of the early Lutheran affirmations.

It

was this Reformation influence that gave Arndt the incentive

to express his call to personal piety in such a way that It
transcended all formal denominational lines.

Arndt believed

that wherever true Christian piety was active in the wider

circle of the Christian church it was to be favorably
acknowledged.

It was this attitude that frequently brought

Arndt into controversy with the orthodoxy of his day.

On

the other hand, Arndt influenced by the Irenic spirit of

Melanchton, had so conveyed this influence in his major work,
True Christianity that it received favorable acceptance far
outside the orbit of Arndt's homeland.

Thus Arndt could

profess his loyalty to the Lutheran Confessions of his day,

while at the same time influenced by the irenic spirit of
Melanchton latent within them, recognize genuine Christianity,

-80in terms of piety, beyond the bounds of his own Lutheranism.

It is in this sense that Arndt's thought was mainly I n f l u
enced by early Reformation writings.

Thus it was not Arndt's

idea to change the basic confessions and writings of the

Lutheran Reformation Church, but rather to find in them that
latent spirit of piety demanded of all true Christians that
had been overlooked and neglected in the period in which
he lived.

CHAPTER IV
IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS REACTION
TO POST-REFORMATION LUTHERANISM

John Arndt's religious reaction can be best under

stood in light of German culture and Lutheran Christianity
during his lifetime.

The arid Christianity of his day led

him constantly to reassert certain major themes which later

became dominant in Lutheran Pietism.

He attempted to r e

affirm certain classic Christian concerns that were to

receive emphasis at the University of Halle.^

These con

cerns were mainly the centrality of the Bible, preaching

as a simple straightforward evangelical call for personal
spiritual renewal, and lay activity as a functional role in
the true Christian life.

Post-Reformation Lutheranism

^Founded in 1694 by Spener, Francke and Christian

Thomasius, it gave a fresh impulse to German Pietism.
From
this center Lutheran Pietism spread through Germany, Scan
dinavia, and Switzerland.
Cf. Kurtz, ojd. c i t ., III, 104-09.
^Cf. also Spener's Pla Desiderla (Tappert), pp. 87115> passim.
-81-

-82was prone to interconfessional hate and strife, empty ser

mons, and a creedalism lacking both dynamism and human
concern.

Arndt's religious reactions were so conditioned by

these historical considerations that a brief representative

survey of German religion and life in the late sixteenth
and early seventeenth centuries is essential to an under
standing of Arndt's proto-Pietism.

Confessional Controversies and Scholastic Orthodoxy

It is extremely difficult to state with complete fair
ness the actual religious conditions as they would have
appeared to an unbiased observer living in Germany in the
late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Some fairly

reputable conclusions, however, have been reached by those

who have studied this period exclusively.
Ergang calls the period after 1555 one of social
decadence.

He suggests that the rebirth of German national

life which many expected to follow the Reformation was

stopped by theological bickering and disunity:
Luther, who had appeared as a liberator,
ended as the founder of a new orthodoxy based
on scripturalism instead of papalism; and
Calvinism soon settled into a dogmatism no less
inflexible . . . the adherents of the two sects
often quarreled violently, overwhelming one
another with malediction . . . In such an atmos
phere of religious intolerance and party strife
the development of a vigorous German culture was

-83hardly possible.
Polemics, theological bickerings,
and sectarian hatreds absorbed the energy that
had previously been devoted to art and literature.
One must add to this rising controversy the asserted Lutheran
definition of the church as existing only where the Word
is rightly preached and the Sacraments correctly adminis
tered.2

This concept lent itself to the drive for doctrinal

purity within the Lutheran Church.

It fostered a rapidly

spreading orthodoxy whose rigid structures resulted in

numerous heresy-defying documents and a demand for strict
loyalty to Lutheran doctrine.

Some of this rigidity was a

reaction to the mounting fears and political defeats suffered

by L u t h e r a n i s m . ^

Schaff calls the continued production of

confessional statements, ending with the Formula of Concord

in 1577, as much a result of internal political disharmony
and theological warfare as of outside pressure brought to
bear dh Lutheranism.

Thus an understanding of Lutheran

-^Robert Ergang, Europe from the Renaissance to

Waterloo (Boston:
D. C. Heath and Company, 1954), pp. 337338.
2Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church,
VII, 528 .
3 a . Dorner, History of Protestant Theology, trans.
by G. Robson and S. Taylor "(Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,
1871), II, 98-99.
^Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (3 vols;
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1877), I* 258-341.

-84orthodoxy in terms of external pressures which produced and

maintained it requires some description of the internal tur
moil within Lutheranism.at that time.

One need only recall

the Marburg Colloquy to realize that Luther himself had set

a precedent of controversy.

There is valid evidence that

Luther could be a very stubborn literalist on certain theo

logical points.

Here, then, Lutheran theologians had a

prime example from which they could work with clear con
science in order to make doctrinal correctness a very high
priority.

Beside this rigid orthodoxy there developed a

strong "Philippist" movement among many Lutherans who pre

ferred compromise and an irenic spirit of good will in
order to establish unity in the same manner as that of
Philipp Melanchthon.

But the extreme orthodox party within

the Lutheran Church fought bitterly against this irenicism.

The rigid orthodox party had lost the breadth of Luther,
who could recognize in men like Melanchthon a spirit whose
values were an asset to the developing Reformation.1
The goal of the later Lutheran confessional state
ments was to establish an infallible interpretation which
would settle all ambiguity in the Lutheran doctrinal under-

1Andrew L. Drummond, German Protestantism Since

Luther (London:
The Epworth Press, 1951)/ pp. 12-15.

-85standing of the Scriptures.

In commenting on the results

of this intention within Lutheranism, Dlllenberger and

Welch write:
In this development, Luther's stress upon
the Spirit as the agent through which the Bible
is and becomes the Word of God was considered
too subjective.
The Bible as Bible, understood
through the Book of Concord, was synonymous with
the Word of God.
Faith in revelation meant assent
to statements which had been given in an infallible
form in a book.
God's truth meant propositions
about God.
Thus the initial warmth and freedom
of Lutheranism gave way to a stress upon statements
derived from the Bible.
And these were set forth
with the rigor of a theological method in which
sensitive spirituality was often lacking. Men
were now more concerned with being correct than
with the revivifying power of the Spirit.
This
kind of faith was subsequently challenged within
the churches by the pietist movement.
The roots of the confessional controversies and of
scholastic orthodoxy thus reach back to Luther's lifetime.
And it is the quest for the authentic Luther which becomes,
during Arndt's lifetime, the core of the great Lutheran
controversies.

It was at this time that real separate

parties formed within the ranks of the Lutheran Church.

Melanchthon and his supporters stressed the relative impor
tance of personal effort in the process of salvation, main
taining that man was able to cooperate with God's grace.

John Dlllenberger and Claude Welch, Protestant

Christianity Interpreted through Its Development (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955 )* p. 85.

-86Matthias Flacius, heading the strict Lutherans, Insisted

upon the total ineptitude of man for salvation.

The outcome

was a compilation known as the Weimar Book of Confutations,

1558-59 .

This document proved to be an official condemna

tion of the Confessio Augustana, which had been largely

inspired by Melanchthon and enjoyed general acceptance
throughout Lutheranism.

Zeeden, dealing with the rise of

Lutheran orthodoxy after Luther's death, states:

In the late sixteenth century and all through
the seventeenth the subject matter of theology
was the proper interpretation of the Bible or the
Gospel, the source from which salvation springs.
Reference to Luther was final and absolute, for
his doctrine and God's word were identical.
But
Luther was susceptible to various readings, and
the theologians each claimed to be the true posses
sor of his meaning, treating all other interpre
tations with scant respect as heretical, pertain
ing to the devil and Antichrist.^From this it can be seen that Luther's authority actu
ally came to supplant the authority of the Bible.
had based his claims on the Holy Scriptures,

While Luther

later orthodox

Lutherans based theirs on the Reformer himself.

By about

1580 to 1590, Luther had ceased to be regarded as a man and

had become "a compendium of saving truth and right thinking."

-^-Ernst W. Zeeden, The Legacy of Luther, trans. by

Ruth Bethell (Andover, Great Britain:
Chapel River Press,
1954), pp. 26-27.

2Ibid., p. 35 .

-87Stoeffler thus states the results of this process:

The Christian was now thought to be a
person who interprets the Bible in terms
of the Lutheran symbols as the truth of these
symbols is expressed in an orthodox system of
theology.
Fiducia had become assensus, the
liberty of the Christian man had given way to
the tyranny of scholastic theology, and the
Bible had once again become an arsenal of
proof texts.^
In his preface to the first book of True Christian
ity, Arndt shows himself well aware of the bitterness of
the Lutheran controversies and the attempt to label as
heretics all who disagreed with the orthodox party.

While

affirming his allegiance to the symbolical books and creeds

of the Church, he suggests that Christianity is more than
assent to the accepted doctrine of one's day:
There are many who suppose that Theology
is merely a science, or an art of words, whereas
it is a living experience and practical exercise.
Every one now aims at acquiring eminence and
distinction in the world; but no one is willing
to learn how to be devout.2
Arndt had no desire to oppose the pure teachings of
Lutheranism.

But the structures which underlay his uses

of the confessions and creeds of Lutheranism grew out of

a different spirit than the one which gave rise to the

^Ernest Stoeffler, o. c i t ., pp. 183-84.

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxix.

-88orthodox controversies.

Arndt's could best be described as

a spirit of experiential religion in contrast with the purely

intellectual or conceptual impulse.

Caesaropaplsm of the Lutheran Princes

Despite Luther's Insistence on the separate and di s
tinct functions of the church and the secular realm, and
despite his desire to prevent the infringement of the
Lutheran princes and the emperor on the freedom of the church
in religious matter, Protestantism, like Catholicism, b e
came so much a part of the political history of the German
estates that it cannot be understood apart from the secular
and political realm.

Luther's declaration of justification

by faith, the freedom of the Christian man, and the universal

priesthood of believers,

kept its powerful influence on his

contemporaries, in some places leading to the actual achieve

ment of considerable political freedom.

However, the move

toward territorial control of Christianity, both ecclesias

tical and doctrinal, was too powerful everywhere throughout
Europe to stand aside and allow Protestantism or Catholicism
to develop without political interference.'1'

^Harold J. Grim, The Reformation Era 1500-1650

(New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1955), p. 211.

-89The intermingling of the Church with affairs of state

had set off a series of religious wars which culminated in
the Peace of Augsburg in 1555* the same year in which Arndt
was born.

While this peace agreement had numerous draw

backs, it was of prime importance for the development of

Lutheranism.

It offered protection of the German nation

against partition that could destroy it.

sions were the following.

Its chief provi

(l) The Lutheran princes,

imperial knights, and imperial cities were guaranteed

security equal to that of the Catholic estates, while both
were obligated to maintain "eternal, unconditional peace."
(2) Each estate was given the right to choose between
Catholicism and Lutheranism according to the principle cuius
regio, eius rellgio, although this term was not used in the
Peace itself.

(3)

All church lands seized by the Lutheran

estates prior to the Peace of Passau in 1552 were to be

retained by them.

(4) According to the "ecclesiastical

reservation," every ecclesiastical prince-archbishop, bishop

or abbot who became a Protestant would forfeit his title,
lands and privileges.'*'

Thus the solidarity of Western

Christendom which had been accomplished in medieval times

^Ibid., pp. 261-62 .

-90was now destroyed.

Furthermore, equal political status in

the Empire was given to those who had dared to differ with
the old church in belief and practice.

The result of this

agreement was the almost absolute power of the territorial

princes.

This had come about, particularly in the religious

sphere, by the territorial princes being granted the right

to determine the faith of all their subjects.

Macmillan

thus notes the significance and the novelty of this grant

ing of power to the territorial princes:
It is interesting . . . because of the change
it shows in the conception of the civil ruler
as compared with the views of Luther.
The prince
is no longer merely a conspicuous member of the
church using his office in case of need and extra
ordinarily to purge and reform it. He has ceased
to be an "emergency bishop" and has become a real
bishop in the canonical sense of the word, with
no less and perhaps even more power than had been
possessed by the Roman bishops, for there were
absolutely no legal limits to his jurisdiction.
Therefore, whatever might be their moral character or their
religious beliefs,

the princes were now in a position to

determine religious issues.

Along with the almost complete control of the Luth
eran Church by the ruling princes, there also arose bitter
disputes between Catholics and Lutherans.

ton:

The whole

^Kerr D. Macmillan, Protestantism in Germany (Prince

Princeton University Press, I S V j ) } p. 129.

-91situation was one of social and religious decay, as Walker

notes:
Business was bad.
The debased coinage caused
great suffering, the country was growing impover
ished.
The enforcement of unity of
belief in
Protestant and Catholic territories
alike was
damaging to the intellectual life of the people;
while the witchcraft delusion which cost thousands
of lives, and was equally entertained by Catholics
and Protestants, was at its worst between 1580 and

1620.
Arndt's own expulsion from his home territory over
the

question of Calvinistic teaching

he did suffer personally as

Lutheran princes.

a result

2
has been mentioned;
of

the power ofthe

At the beginning of the seventeenth

century Arndt wrote, in reaction against his age:

Not only, however, is ungodliness, in all
its forms, at variance with Christ and true
Christianity, but it is also the cause of the
daily accumulation of the displeasure of God,
and of the penalties which he inflicts; inso
much that he fits all creatures to be avengers,
and that heaven and earth, fire and water, are
made to contend against us; so that all nature
is thereby sorely distressed, and well nigh
overwhelmed.
Hence, a season of affliction must
be expected; war, famine, and pestilence; yea
the last plagues are coming in with such violence,
that we are exposed to the assaults of nearly
every creature.
For even as the terrible plagues

Iwilliston Walker, A_ History of the Christian Church

(rev. ed.; New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959), p. 392.

^supra., p . v .

-92of the Egyptians overtook them before the redemp

tion and departure of the children of Israel from
Egypt, so, too, before the redemption of the chil
dren of God occurs, dreadful and unheard of plagues
will overtake the ungodly and impenitent.
It is
therefore high time to repent, to begin another
course of life, to turn from the world to Christ , . .
The moral and cultural chaos of the time became yet
more pronounced with the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War.
Tholuck, treating the academic life of the seventeenth
century, says that education reached an all time low.

Another source of social upheaval was the masses of men

serving in the armies; their wives and children followed
them in order to receive support.

This mobility resulted

in a loss of contact with the churches, pastors, and normal

order of community life.

Ferdinand Shevill's estimation

of the toll thus taken on German life is as follows:

Germany, after her insufferable crisis, lay
insensible and exhausted. While the contemporary
stories of the ruin wrought by the war abound in
the usual exaggerations, it is certain that the
country took more than a hundred years to recover
in a moral and material sense . . . We may accept
as substantially true that most of the accumulated
wealth and, more important still, the ethical and
intellectual treasures assembled by a long

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xl.

derts

^ A . Tholuck, Das Akademische Leben des 17 Jahrhun(Halle:

Eduard Anton, 1854), passim.

-93succession of generations had disappeared in the

long agony.1
Wedgwood says of the disruptive influences of the Thirty
Years' War on humanity in general:

"The war was morally

subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading,

confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in
its results."
The proto-Pietism in the sermons of John Arndt during
this period is a spirit of reaction.

In these sermons Arndt

lashed out against the general moral decline and also at the
particular sins of his own congregation.

He preached against

the oppression of the poor by the rich nobles and struck

vigorously at the unrighteousness of the court.

He contin

ually harangued against the unrighteousness of man caused

by the corrupting elements in his nature.

These sermons,

preached mainly at Quedlinberg from 1590 to 1599, made his

ministry a center of controversy and ill will against him5

self.

German manners and customs at that time were marked

1Ferdinand Schevill, A_ History of Europe from the

Reformation to the Present Day ( r e v . e d . ; New York:
Harcourt Brace, 1951), p. 232.
2y. Wedgwood, The Thirty Yea r s ' War (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1947), p. 526.
^Winter, o. c i t ., p. 19.

-94by a crude degeneracy of expression.

Arndt, in commenting

on what he saw at church festivals, said that he was so

weary of the coarse behavior of church goers that he was at
times ready to give up preaching.

Arndt took up his ministry at Brunswick (1599-1608)

in a time of open turmoil and rebellion.

In a letter to

his friend Professor Piscator at Jena, written January 14,

1607, Arndt described the conditions at Brunswick and his
reaction to them:
I came here when there was a terrible u p
roar, which increased daily, for the influence
of the magistracy was at the lowest point.
I was amazed at the melancholy condition of
the city, for it seemed as though everything
was going to ruin.
As soon as I arrived I
began to set forth and maintain the dignity
and authority of the government, and to show
the criminality of the contumacious opposi
tion to its just demands. I was not afraid
to express my sentiments openly, although du r
ing that period it was dangerous for any man
to take the side of the council.
I boldly
declared that all opposition to the council was
open rebellion, and as might be expected, I
drew upon myself the bitter hate of the secret

'Bruno Gebhart, Hanbuch der Deutschen Geschichte

(Stuttgart: Union Deutche Verlagsgesellschaft^ 1955),
II, 736.

Johannes Jannsen, History of the German People at

the Close of the Middle Ages, tra n s . by M. A. Mitchell and
A. M. Christie ("l7 vols .; London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., 1909), XIV, 490.

-95and avowed enemies of the magistracy.

But on
the other hand I did not spare the government.
I as faithfully laid down their duties to them,
and held them responsible, before God and man,
for the righteous fulfillment of their high
trus t .1
Along with the church and the political bodies, the
schools also were subject to the general deterioration in
Germany.

Teachers were often poorly paid for their ser

vices, and students showed contempt for authority, making

themselves generally known for drinking, fighting and
swearing .2

The life of the rude, disorderly student is

described in an address delivered in 1607 by a Wolfgang

Heyder, professor at Jena:
Such a vicious student prays not at all to
God . . . He goes unwillingly past a church, not
to mention his entering it . . . The base desires
which find nourishment in such a life, completely
destroy all susceptibility to honor, all love of
virtue, and pleasure in study . . . He is
absorbed with contemptible tricks, sloth, idle
ness, drinking, harlotry, fighting, wounds, m u r
der . . . He holds all laws and restraints of
authority not worth a snap, and is forsworn and
reckless to God.
Arndts proto-Pietism would not allow him to overlook
the moral deterioration of

the schools.

In his writings he

1-Morris, ojd. c i t ., p. 98 .
^Kurt F. Reinhardt, Germany:
Bruce, 1950), p. xii.
3lbid.,

p.

271.

2000 Years

(Milwaukee:

-96stressed the fact that it is of utmost importance that chil

dren be given training in Christian ethics.

He insisted

that if Christianity is to be maintained in its full vigor,

especially in a troubled time, its principles must be in
stilled at a very early age.1

By the time Arndt had become

superintendant at Celle, he had already launched his program

for bettering the moral conditions of the schools.

He had

assembled an edition of the church fathers to be read and

explained in the schools at Celle.

It was entitled Axiomata

selectoria auch insigniora Sanctorium patrium, continentla

regulas fidei et vitae christianae ad vitam spiritualam
comparandam accomodate explicata et praelelecta in schola
Cellen (l6ll).2
Thus it is evident that Arndt felt that moral deter
ioration must be countered on many fronts, not just within
the church itself.

For him the translation of theology

into life involved also a deep concern for the social con
ditions of the times.

This reaction in its proto-Pietistic

development is found in the development of Lutheran Pietism,

as it reacted against the popular religion of the territorial

^Morris, o p . c i t ., p. 3^.

2Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 71 .

-97churches, which had become formal in their officialism, and

morally far too indifferent."*

Post-Reformation Neglect of Personal Piety

The Pletistic movement within Lutheranism must also
be seen against the background of theological controversy
that had fixed its grip on the young Post-Reformation Luther
an Church.

Confessional controversies, resulting mainly

from Caesaropapism,

scholastic orthodoxy, and the deadly

religious wars, resulted in the neglect of personal Chris

tian piety on the part of many church members and thus led
to a general degeneration of social and moral standards.
Luther had written in his Preface to Romans that there could
be no divorce of faith from its fruits.

Early Pietists

believed that the initial Reformation had been partial, that

their task was to continue it by teaching that true doctrine
involves renewal of life.

It was definitely stated in

Article VI of the Augsburg Confession that "Faith should

1-Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian

Churches, trans. by Olive Wyon (2 v o l s .; New York: Harper
Torchbooks, Harper & Brothers, i960 ), II, 715-16.

2Luther, Works of Martin Luther, trans. by H. E.

Jacobs et al_ (6 vols.; Philadelphia:
A. J. Holman Co.,
1915-32)7 VI, 456.

-98'bring forth good fruits' and the doing of the commandments

of God is the consequence of God's not our own, goodwill."^
Kurtz thus writes of the attempt to extend the Reformation:
The attachment of the Lutheran Church of
this age to pure doctrine led to a one sided
over-estimation of it, often ending in a dead
orthodoxy.
But . . . a b l e and learned theolo
gians who recognized the importance of heart
theology as well as sound doctrine, corrected
this evil tendency by Scripture study, preach
ing, and faithful pastoral work.
A noble and
moderate mysticism, which was thoroughly ortho
dox in its beliefs, and opposing orthodoxy only
where that had become external and mechanical,
had many influential representatives throughout
the whole century, especially during the first
half of it.
Kurtz further says of John Arndt in this period:
Christianity' and his

"His

'True

'Paradlesgartleln'3 are the most widely

read Lutheran devotional books, but called forth the bitter

hostility of those devoted to the maintenance of a barren
orthodoxy."^

Stephen Praetorius

(1536-1603) also helped

^Erik Rout ley, Creeds and Confessions From the Refor

mation To the Modern Church (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1963 ), p. 16.
^Professor Kurtz,

ojd .

c i t ., III, 44.

3pull original title: Paradies-Gartlein, Voller

Chrlstllcher Tugenden, Wie dieselbige in die Seele zu
Pflantzen, durch andffchtige, lehrhaffte und trflstliche
Gebet. (Magdeburg:
Francke, 1615). This was the first siz
able publication of Arndt's after he began his ministry at
Celle.

4Ibid.

-99prepare the way for Arndt's proto-Pietism In its reaction to

the lack of personal piety among Christians.

In Praetorius

there is a combination of evangelical mysticism and practical

piety which Arndt further developed."*'

Praetorius had openly

written against the causes of declining piety.

His aim was

to restore it in a solemn, zealous and public manner.

He

had composed certain devotional works designed to revive a

spirit of vital religion, and awaken in the minds of men an
O
interest in their future and eternal destiny.

Arndt first

published the complete works of Praetorius in 1622 under the

title, Achtundfunfzlg schone auserlesene, geist-un d -trostrelche Trachtgtlein, etc.3

The "Pectoral theology" of

Praetorius was succeeded in the early developing German

proto-Pietism by the unio mystica of Philipp Nicolai
1608).^

(1556-

The doctrine of mystical union was delineated with

a final emphasis and completeness in Nicolai's writings.

This doctrine is found as early as 1598* in his frequently

^-Stoeffler, o. c i t ., p. 1932John L. Mosheim, o. c i t ., p. 597*

3stoeffler, o. c i t ., cf. p. 193 .

^Ibid.

- 100reprinted Freudensplegel des ewigen Lebens .

Stoeffler

writes thus of Nicolai's theology:

On the practical level Nicolai's preaching
dealt frequently with the importance of the
Christian's love for God.
Here he followed
closely in the tradition of Richard of St. Victor
and St. Bernard . . . Love in the thinking of
Nicolai, involved perfect knowledge of God, while
faith implied only partial knowledge of him. What
he was really concerned with here, of course, was
the fact which Pietism always insisted upon, name
ly, that the essence of Christianity consists in
an experiential relationship to God rather than
assent to dogmatic formulations.^
In keeping with the reaction to the lack of "heart
felt" religion that influenced Arndt was the work of Martin
Moller, pastor in Sprottau, who in 1593 published the
Manual on Preparation for Death (Manuale de praeparatione
ad mortem).

In this devotional work he attempted to bring

the Christian to the point where his daily experience is

lived constantly in the awareness of death.3

Similar ideas

can be found in Arndt's writings where he undertakes to

impress on his readers the vanity and the transitoriness of

1Werner Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, trans.

by Walter A. Hansen (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House,
1962), p. 168.
2Ernest Stoeffler,

o. c i t , pp. 198-99 .

3Elert, o]D. c i t ., p. 46.

-101this world.^

This spirit in Moller caused him, as well as

those who followed his proto-Pietistic endeavors, to incur

the severe criticism of being "Sacrementarlan and Calvinis t i c .1,2
By the time Arndt had begun to express his protoPietistic ideas in writing and preaching, there had already
been established a tradition that attacked the laxity of
Christian living in Lutheran circles.

Because of this lax

ity in Lutheran Christendom of his period, Arndt addressed

the major ideas of True Christianity not to those outside
the sphere of Christianity, but to those who are Christian
in name but not in practice.3

Arndt openly attacked the

arid Christianity of his time in the preface to the Garden

of Paradise, where he declared that all genuine Christianity
must express itself through a transformation of character
resulting in a life of personal piety:
They pray time after time, year after year,
and yet do not so much as mend one of their
corrupt inclinations, nor make the least step
toward improving themselves in any Christian
virtue.
These people do not consider, that a
holy life is itself the best and the most

1Ibid.
2Ibid., p. 251 .
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxix.

-102power ful prayer; or that It Is a living and

practical prayer, whereby a man approaches
the Lord, not with words only, but in truth
and reality .1

Summary of Arndt's Religious Reaction

John Arndt focused a whole developing tradition of
reaction against the shallow Christianity that had grown up
after Luther's death.

Men like Praetorius, Nicolai and

Moller had addressed themselves to the anthropological needs

of the Christian and had placed the emphasis on feeling
rather than on objective structures in theology.

Arndt,

continuing this tradition in contrast to orthodox Lutheran

theology, made a case for experiential rather than proposi
tions! Christianity,

the former which he believed would

result in a genuine practiced faith and goodness.

In a letter written in the last year of his life to
Duke Augustus the younger of Brunswick, he summarizes what
he had in mind while writing True Christianity.

In the

following statement one sees his desire for an emphasis on

experiential religion as an answer to the stultifying
impasse that had resulted from an overemphasis on polemic
Christianity:

1Arndt, The Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. x.

-103In the first place, I wished to withdraw the

minds of students and preachers from an inordi
nate controversial and polemic theology, which
has well-nigh assumed the form of an earlier
scholastic theology.
Secondly, I purposed to
conduct Christian believers from lifeless
thoughts to such as might bring forth fruit.
Thirdly, I wished to guide them onward from mere
science and theory, to the actual practice of
faith and godliness; and fourthly, to show them
wherein a truly Christian life consists, which
accords with the true faith as well as to explain
the apostle's meaning when he says:
'I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me,' etc. (Gal. 2:20).1,1
The second part of this study will discuss and analyze
the basic theological insights of Arndt's proto-Pietism and
their influence on the development of the type of Lutheran
Pietism later asserted by Spener and the University of Halle.

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxi.

PART II

THE BASIC THEOLOGICAL INSIGHTS OF

JOHN ARNDT'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

CHAPTER V
THE BIBLICAL EMPHASIS

The Authority of Scripture

The authority of Scripture is an important part of
John Arndt's proto-Pietism.

In this it reached back through

Luther to the fathers of the early church.

Arndt followed

the dictum that teaching is true if it is in agreement with

Scripture.3* While Arndt's experientalism and religious
idealism bore a certain affinity to medieval mysticism it
differed sharply from that movement in its Biblicism.

Arndt

insisted that any ideas he drew from the mystics had to

harmonize with Scripture.

If any writing in his opinion

was contrary to Scripture he first sought to purge it of

everything objectionable.

Thus in Arndt's estimation the

Bible is not merely one authority alongside that of the

^J. L. Neve, A History of Christian Thought, 2 v o l s .

(Philadelphia:
The Muhlenberg Press, 1956), p. 317.
2

Morris, o. c i t ., p. 171.

-105-

-106church or tradition but is superior to them.

Arndt was not

interested in proving theologically that the Scripture is

divinely inspired.
will of G o d ."1

He simply accepted it as the "revealed

Arndt followed the tradition handed down

by Luther, who basically accepted the Bible as an essential

ly infallible book inspired in its content by the Holy
Spirit.

Arndt thus believed that the Bible is authorative

for the Christian as the major standard for faith and

practice.

Seen as a totality its historical accounts,

its

world-view,

and all miracle stories are "God's word" given

by the Holy

Spirit for the salvation of man.

They are there

fore all unquestionable truth to be "believed" because they

are contained in the Bible:
It is therefore evident, that all the se r
mons, discourses and epistles contained in the
Word of
God whether proceeding from Christ, or
the prophets, or the apostles; and,
in a word,
that all the Scriptures, in general, as it
regards their complete fulfillment, belong to
man, and to every man individually.
Not only
do the plain doctrines appertain to us; but
all the parables and miracles with which the

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 17.

2Paul Althause, The Theology of Martin Luther, trans.
by Robert Schultz (Philadelphia:
Portress Press, 1966 ),
p. 50.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 25.

-107history of Christ abounds have their final refer

ence to man.-*Arndt also asserts that the authority of Scripture
rests on the fact that God is its author.

As such, it

follows that the Scripture is the ultimate source of faith

for the Christian.

"Through his word the Lord God awakens

p

faith in the heart of fallen man."

Scripture is also the

ultimate source of Christian knowledge concerning God and

eternal life.

"The Spirit of the Lord hath spoken through

the prophets, and his Word was in their mouth:

Thereby

hast thou made known thyself unto us and in this thy knowO

ledge we have eternal life conferred upon u s .

In his

fourteenth sermon on the 119th Psalm Arndt makes it

absolutely clear that without the Bible the Christian
would be devoid of all essential knowledge of God and the
Christian life.

In commenting on the text,

"Thy word is

a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:

105), Arndt declares:
How would we know that God in his eternal,
united, holy, divine, inherent qualities, is a
trinity if the light of the divine word had not

1Ibid_., p . 18.
^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 758.
3Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London,

1716), p. 134.

- 108revealed it? What would we know of our Lord

Jesus Christ our savior and of our only com
forter God the holy Spirit, wh o dwells in us
and fills us with his gifts? What would we
know of true faith, and heartfelt reliance on
the mercy of God and on Christ our Lord . . .
the whole holy Scripture must occupy your
faith and spirit otherwise God's word can
not be your light, your comfort, your joy.1
In a sermon which immediately follows the above commentary,
Arndt declares that God's word is the only guiding prin
ciple of our faith and life and that all who depart from it
are misguided in faith.

The high regard for the authority of the Scriptures

expressed by Arndt can be observed in all of his writings.
In Arndt's estimation it is the authority of the Scriptures
which validates all that he has to say in his protoPietistic emphasis.

He believes that all true interpreta

tion will inevitably lead to the type of personal piety

that he is advocating.

Doubtless he lays himself open at

this point to the charge of subjectivism; but the charge

must not be unduly pressed.

For Arndt like Augustine and

John Arndt, Per gantze Psalter Davids in 431

Predigten aussgelegt und erklart etc.
(Frankfurt:
Gedruckt
und verlegt von Johann Gorlin, 1686), pp. 201-02.
All sub
sequent references to this work will be, Arndt, Per gantze
Psalter Davids (Gorlin, 1686).
^Ibid., "Gottes Wort is allein die Regel und Richtschnur unsers Glaubens und Lebens: Alle die davon abweichen,
geben vom Glauben irre, und mussen ze Schenden werden.",
p. 203 .

-109Luther uses the principle of letting Scripture interpret

Scripture.'1' All interpretation has to be congruent with
the general norm of the Word of God.
A thorough investigation of Arndt's works reveals
that he left no systematic scheme of interpretation, even
though he accepted the principle of "by Scripture alone."
One can only try to understand Arndt's general attitude
toward the Bible, rather than to attempt to give his thought
a precision it does not really possess.
in his estimation,

The Scriptures were

the reliable record of divine revelation

in which the Christian must have confidence because the Old

Testament expresses the will of God through the prophets
and the New Testament expresses that same will through
Christ and the apostles.

The authority of the Old Testament

message was confirmed by the miracles and the testimony of

the Patriarchs and prophets as that of the New Testament
by the testimony of Christ, his miracles and parables along
with the Spirit's work in the Apostles.2

^Neve, o. c i t ., I, 317.
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 17-19.

-110Arndt's Concept of The External Word

and The Inner Word
It has previously been established that Arndt taught
that the soul's union with Christ through faith is essential
to the Christian's praxis pietatls.^
nected with Arndt's Biblicism.

This idea is also con

Arndt taught that Jesus

Christ is the Word of God revealed to men and that in the

history of the man Jesus, God became manifest to men.

This

knowledge concerning Christ can be only obtained from the

Scriptures.

In addition to this idea Arndt declared that

all Scripture centers about Christ.

It is in association

with this idea that Arndt placed important emphasis on

Christ the "inner Word" in his Biblical emphasis.

He

stressed the Idea that to the "external Word" i.e. the

written Scriptures,

God adds the "inner Word."

The histori

cal Jesus as set forth In the written Word is active and

ever present through the Spirit in the Christian who reads
the Bible with faith.^

"it (the Scripture) describes the

kingdom of God in letter, which is to be established in

the heart, by faith after the Spirit.

It exhibits Christ

^supra., pp. 52 -5^.

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), pp. 96-97.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 380.

- 111outwardly, who is, by faith, to live within me."1

more, in Arndt's understanding,

Further

the presence of Christ in

the believer transforms the written or external letter of

Scripture into a vital power for Christian living.

"God

did not reveal Holy Scripture that it might remain a dead

letter, but that it might become a living power within us,
and create in us an entirely new and spiritual nature,
otherwise it is of no use.

All that Scripture teaches

externally must be worked into man through Christ, in the

Spirit and in faith."

Thus in Arndt's judgement all the

Scripture leads to Christ, is centered in Christ, and

testifies of him as no other writing does.

However a

knowledge of the external Word of Scripture is not to be

confused with a knowledge of Christ the living Word.

It

is not by faith in the external Word of Scripture that one

arrives at spiritual realities that produce true piety, but
rather by faith in the internal, living Word of Scripture,
i.e. in Christ.

"All this 0 man I doth faith in Christ

effect within the heart; and thus the Word of God becomes
a living Word, and as it were, a living witness in us of
all those things which are externally declared in the

1I b i d ., p. 19.
^Arndt, Wahren Chrlstenthum (Mentz), p. 35.

-112Scriptures.1,1

In Arndt's estimation the vital power of a

truly pious life cannot be found by arduously gathering

Scriptural texts in defense of a doctrine or by subtle theo
logical "word games" that have no meaning apart from their
own logic, or even by astute exegesis of sacred passages.
Rather Arndt asserted that -if the written Word is to become
)

real and effective in us, it must be through direct relation

of the human spirit with the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
This direct relation comes about through the written Word
leading man to apprehend the Spirit of Christ through faith:
Thou believest that Christ is the eternal
Word of the Father; that he is the true life and
light of man.
John 1:4.
Thou believest aright.
But then thou must take care that this Word speak
in thee, that this light shine in thee, that this
life live in thee.
For unless thou hast this i n
ward treasure in thy soul, and art united to
Christ by a living faith, everything else shall
avail thee nothing.
In this concept of Arndt's one can discern a differ
ence between his understanding of the Word of God and that
of the Enthusiasts, the Evangelical Anabaptists, and the
Puritan Separatists.

While Arndt may agree with the

Enthusiasts that the dead letter of Scripture avails nothing,

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 18.

2Ibid., p. 380.

-113hls view of the living Word empowering the Christian through

the written Word would never allow him to assign pre-eminence
to the Spirit without Scripture.

On the other hand the idea

espoused by Anabaptism,1 that the Gospel is a new law to be

literally followed and obeyed by all who are to have the
right to be called "saints ,

"

also is of a different spirit

2
than that of Arndt's Biblicism.

Nor would Arndt's concept

of the living Word in relation to the external or written

Word agree with the concept of Puritan separatists at the
turn of the seventeenth century expressed by Chillingworth,
"The Bible and the Bible a l o n e . A r n d t

in his Biblical

emphasis on the other hand, while assenting to the authority

of the written Word, understood it as the source which dis
closes Christ the living or internal Word who empowers man
to live the Christian life and illumines him as to the proper
understanding of the Scriptures for praxis pletatls.

Those

in Arndt's own denomination who failed to understand his

^The term "Anabaptism" which is used here refers to

those who opposed infant baptism and who insisted on adult
baptism, not as a means of grace but as a visible sign of
the covenant of man with God.
2

Jones, 0. c i t ., p. 17.

^Charles Clayton Morrison, The Unfinished Reforma

tion (New York: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 1953 )>
p. 209 .

-114emphasis at this point accused him of Enthusiasm and labeled

him a Schwarmer.

In a letter to Balthasar Mentzer, p ro

fessor of theology at Giessen, Arndt answered these charges

by asserting that the firm basis of all his religious thought
is the supremacy of the Word of G o d :
For if I taught that the conversion of man
occured without means, that is, without the
Word of God, then this misunderstanding would
have a reason to result in insult and slander.
However I piously teach that God is the word,
and works through the word, and dwells in us
through the word, through the word has been
united with us, through the word enlightens
the heart, and comforts it, awakes desire,
preserves the fire of devotion, inspires c on
versation with the soul, rejoices the heart
and allows a sweet fortaste of eternal life.
. . . They (the Enthusiasts), do not realize
that the true Christian life which is spirit
ual could not be taught, promoted, and prac
ticed -unless first of all the foundation has
been laid by means of the revealed word of
God, through Christ's merit and example, the
work of the Holy Spirit, faith, and justifi
cation.
For is it not the decrees of holy
Scripture which bind together the teaching of
faith and piety?
(I. Tim. 6:3) . . . The ed i
fice of the soul, and the reformation of the
old deeply rooted evil nature, demand a stren
uous practice of piety, an example, and spirit
ual wisdom.
To this end therefore the Apostle
(2 Tim. 3:16) sets teaching and reformation
together for without both parts the true church
cannot be built.1

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 810.

-115It is also in this emphasis on the twofold aspect of

the Word of God that one can discern a great difference
between the Biblicism of the orthodox and that of John Arndt.
While Lutheran orthodoxy spoke of the authority of the
Bible for the Christian, the real authority was its own
perspective on the Bible.

To disagree with this viewpoint

was considered an attack on Scripture, and thus heresy.^

While Arndt on the one hand subscribed to the authority of the Bible in terms of the Lutheran symbols,

on the

other hand he insisted that it only became a meaningful

authority for the Christian when it was rightly apprehended
through faith as a vital power conducive to genuine Chris
tian character. ^

in declaring this vital power of the

Word of God, as he understood it, Arndt wrote:

Inasmuch as man's whole welfare depends on
his regeneration and renewal, it was the will
of God that all those changes which ought to
take place in man spiritually and by faith,
should also be outwardly set forth in the words
of Holy Scripture. Since the Word is the seed
of God . . . within us, it is necessary that
it should also spring up and spiritually bear
fruit.
That must be accomplished in us_ by
faith, which is declared without us in the

^Ernest Stoeffler, ojd. c i t ., pp. 183-84.

2Morris, o. c i t ., p. 178.
3Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 17.

- 116letter of Scripture; and if this effect be not

produced, then the Word is evidently to us but
a dead Seed, destitute of life and energy.
Hence, we ought in faith and in spirit to learn
. . . the truth of that which the Scriptures
have outwardly declared.
Arndt thus advocated in his Biblicism that the w r i t
ten Word as a standard of faith and practice is an outward
expression of divine truth.

It only becomes a meaningful

authority when its external truth is inwardly appropriated

through faith and produces the fruits of regeneration in
the life of the Christian.

Thus if Scripture is to be

received as a real authority, more than mental assent must

be involved.

It must also be experientally acquired as the

"inner W o r d , " on the part of the Christian, bringing him

into union with Christ and affording him with power to live
the true Christian life:
And if we advert to the New Testament itself,
what is this but an outward expression of those
truths, which are to be inwardly fulfilled by
faith, in the experience of the believers?
If
I become a new creature in Christ, it is incum
bent on me to live and walk in him; in him and
with him, to flee into exile, and to be a
stranger upon the earth.
The virtues that r e
sided in him I ought to practice; humility,
contempt of the world, meekness and patience;
and I am bound to be fervent in acts of b e
nignity, charity, and living kindness.
In and

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 17.

-117with Christ I should exercise mercy, and pardon

and love my enemies, and, with him, do the
Father's will.

Scripture Supplemented b y Natural Revelation

Arndt's Biblical emphasis also included the idea that
Scripture is supplemented by natural revelation.

Arndt

understands this as taking place by "two powerful witnesses

of God in the book of Creation ."2
universe;

"The first is the

the second is the inferior world, that is, Man.

Both of them, the universe and the heart of man, furnish

glorious testimony in the Scriptures, by which the Creator
and Preserver of all things is revealed, and also formed
in our h e ar ts.

In his understanding of natural revela

tion Arndt in no sense regarded the creation as a starting

point in the quest for God.

Rather Arndt taught that

what is revealed in Scripture concerning God especially

through Jesus Christ, helps the pious Christian to recog
nize God in his creation.

In Arndt's estimation, one may

assume that God is disclosed in creation although that di s

closure may only be properly understood by those who have

1Ibld ., p. 18.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 423.

3Ibid.

-118already accepted the Gospel in faith and have been grasped

by the special revelation of Jesus Christ in it.

Thus the

revelation of God in creation understood in this way is an

encouragement to the faith of the Christian.

In setting

forth the concept that Scripture is supplemented by natural

revelation Arndt declared:
An indulgent father invites his children
to come to him; and if they are backward, offers
them an apple or some other engaging present.
This he gives, not that the child should be in
love with the present, but be induced by it to
be more fond of the giver.
Just so God deals
with us; he Invites us by all the engaging in
vitations and promises of the Gospel; and not
content with that, he offers us many great and
noble gifts, . . . All these blessings are so
many messengers sent from God to draw us to him
self, and to instruct us how to taste the good
ness of the Giver and Creator in that of the
creature.1
Arndt in his commentary on the Psalms often referred to
natural revelation supplementing Scripture.

He particularly

liked to use illustrations from the realm of natural science

as it was known in his day.

The same idea of natural

revelation supplementing Scripture was expressed by Arndt

in his catechism preaching on the first article of the
Apostle's Creed.

In answering the question of why Christians

1I b i d ., p. 424.
2Winter, ojd. c i t ., p. 63.

-119believe that God Is the creator of heaven and earth, Arndt

declared:
Heaven and earth and all creatures are a
mirror of the power, the good, the love, the
truth and the wisdom of God.
For out of all
the stars God's loves shines on us:
they
illuminate us and not God.
He does not com
mand them, but they make known to us God's
love . . . There is no blade of grass, lest
it blossoms forth God's love within, and it
displays to us by its aroma God's goodness,
friendliness, and sweetness.
Augustinus:
Deus oftendit in duratlone rerum aeternitatem, sapientiam in ordine, bonitatem in
u t i l i t a t e , (God displays to us eternity in
creation, in orderliness of wisdom, in its
usefulness, kindness).
While there are scattered references to the idea
that Scripture is supplemented by natural revelation in the
six books of True Christianity, the most elaborate develop
ment in it is in Book Four.
this book,

Stoeffler writes concerning

"Book four grew out of Arndt's lifelong hobby

of studying nature.

The intention is to show how the entire

creation bears testimony to God."

In the latter part of

Book Four Arndt makes his strongest statement concerning

the supplementation of Scripture with natural revelation:

^Johann Arndt, Catechismus Predigten in Fragen und

Antworten (Stuttgart:
Johann Christoph Betulius, 177lT^
p. 272 .
^Ernest Stoeffler, ojc. c i t ., p. 206.

-120Hence, too, Part II of this Fourth Book

is not to be so understood, as If we could
love God from our own carnal will; for love
Is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
This Part II
is, on the contrary, only intended to show
that, besides the Word of God, the Holy Scrip
tures, even our own heart and conscience may
teach us, from the book of nature, and the
light of nature, that we are bound to love
God on account of his great love bestowed upon
us, and manifested through the means of all his
creatures.
Such an argument, derived from n a
ture, ought to convince every man, whether he
be a heathen or a Christian, a believer or an
unbeliever; and no one can refute it.
For,
granting that God has bestowed so many mercies
on us, who can deny that we are in gratitude
obliged to so gracious a benefactor? And as he
calls and invites us to love him, by all the
creatures which are bestowed in common upon all
mankind, who can deny that the love of God is
discovered to us in the book of nature, and that
the heathens themselves may be convinced by argu
ments drawn thence ?1
Thus, while the authority of Scripture is still paramount
in Arndt's Biblical emphasis, he taught that there is an
adjunct to Scripture which supplements its teaching:
providential acts of God revealed in his creation.

the
He b e

lieved these were designed to encourage the Christian in

his faith which has been enlightened by the special revela
tion of God through the Incarnation.
this concept of supplementation,

Thus in the light of

the Word of God in Arndt's

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 489.

-121estimation, is still primary.

of man through faith,

Without its work in the heart

there can be no full knowledge of a

God of love who offers salvation to man in Christ.'1'

The Bible As A_ Norm For Preaching

Arndt's sermons arose primarily from the Bible.
While he often took a hard line toward the evils of the day,
his position was thoroughly Biblical in its orientation.
In this he set a pattern of Biblical emphasis in preaching
that would become one of the main characteristics of later
Lutheran Pietism.

The Biblical emphasis in Arndt's preaching was evi

dent in his first homiletic publication.

Published in

1596, it was a series of ten sermons growing out of the

Biblical record of the plagues of Egypt.

These sermons

were an urgent call to piety through repentance in view of

the threatening calamities and the imminent end of the
world;

they are filled with Biblical references to support

-1-Cf. Arndt's sermon on the 19th Psalm, Per gantze

Psalter Davids (Gorlin, 1686), pp. 166-68.
2Carl Mirbt, "Pietism," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclo
pedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book
House, 1950), IX, 53-67.
^Winter, o. c l t ., p. 19 .

-122each point.

For example, in one short ten-line paragraph

treating the seventh plague of hail, there are no less than

seven Biblical references.'1'
Through an allegorical use of the plagues as present
ed in the Bible Arndt struck out not only at sin in general;
but spoke directly and forcibly to his hearers of their
actual sins and lusts.

Winter asserts that it is Biblical

thoughts like those mentioned in the above sermon that occu

py a large portion of A r n d t 1s four books of True Chrlstian3

i t y It was also because Arndt used the Biblical messages

of the plagues to attack specific sins that much ill will
was stirred up against him while at Quedlinberg.

For

example, in his sermons on the plague of darkness, Arndt

attacked his hearers for their unbelief, false teaching,
apostasy, unrighteousness, covetousness, and selfishness.

^John Arndt, Zehen Lehr, und Gelstreiche Predlgten

uber die Zehen Egyptlschen Plagen (Stuttgart, 1771)> P* 5.

2Ibld.
^Friedrich Winter,

0. c l t ., p. 19.

4Ibid.
5john Arndt, Zehen Lehr, und Gelstreiche Predigten
uber die Zehen Egyptlschen Plagen, pp. 69-70.

-123Yet if Arndt frequently preached the word of God as law he

also just as frequently preached it as Gospel.

In the same

sermon on the plague of darkness he repeatedly calls his

hearers to faith in Christ.

He concludes the sermon:

So come now dear Lord Jesus, and save us

with grace from this valley of tears, and set us
in your Kingdom, in that beautiful, lovely light
and realm wherein you live, so that we may see
your glory just as your disciples saw its form
on the holy mountain .^
During Arndt's stay at Braunschweig he preached a
series of weekday Biblical sermons emphasizing such themes
as purification of heart, the new life in Christ,
need for a genuine love of God and one's neighbor.

and the
Arndt

believed that preaching from the Bible in this manner was

necessary to call man to the pious life through repentance
and self-examination.

It was this series of sermons which

Arndt published in 1605 as Book I of Vier Bucher vom Wahren

Christenthum.

Book I consisted of forty-two chapters,

each beginning with one of the texts used for each sermon
of the series.

The extent of Arndt's Biblicism can be seen

1Ibid_., p. 119 .
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxix.
^Winter,

ojd .

c i t ., pp. 31, 105.

-124in the wide range of texts used, along with the number of
Biblical references throughout each chapter.

A typical

example of Arndt's Biblical emphasis occurs in Chapter III,

entitled "Showing How Man Is Renewed in Christ Unto Eternal
Life."1

In this chapter which covers about three and a half

printed pages,

there are no less than twenty-two Biblical

references quoted and drawn on to establish his points.

In addition to regular preaching, on passages from
the Bible, Arndt sermonized passages from Luther's Catechism
in weekday services.

These sermons are so constructed

that each point in the Catechism is supported by a passage

or passages from the Bible.

All these sermons were eventuO

ally published in l6l6 as a supplement to the Postllla.

I

The Postilla,

which consisted of sermons on the Gospels

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 7 - H .

^Arndt, Catechismus-Predigten (Stuttgart. 1771 )* cf.
"Die Erste Predigt, zum Dlngang' aes Catechismi,
pp. 1-13.
^The word Postilla arises out of the medieval term
Postil, which stands for a marginal note or a Biblical commentary affixed to a text, being an abbreviation of the phrase
post ilia verba textus. After the middle of the fourteenth
century it was applied to an annual cycle of homilies.
Thus
after Luther's use of the term lessons, whether consisting
of homilies or formal sermons.
^The full title of this work reads: Postilla: Das
i s t : Auslegung und Erklarung, der evangellschen Text (2 - 4 :
Christliche Auslegung und Erklarung . . .), sso durchs
gantze Jahr an den Sontagen und vornehmen Festen, auch der
Apostel Tage gepredigt werden . . . Auch einem nutzlichen
Appendice trostlicher Predigten von Leiden Christ! . . .
Gestellet durch Johannem Arndten. Sampt eingreiffen . . .
(Jena: Steinmann, 1616 ).

-125and Epistles, was issued in 1615 at the urgent request of

A r n d t s friend John Gerhardt,

as well as at the expressed

desire of many noble patrons and persons of princely rank.1

In 1617 appeared a large edition of sermons on the
Psalms, which was later expanded to include the Catechlsmus and Haustafelpredlgten.

This work is usually referred

p
to as the Auslegung des ganzen Psalters Davids.

It con

sisted of 451 sermons on the Psalms, to which was appended

a section of 68 other sermons on the Catechism of Luther.
In the preface of this edition John Gerhardt wrote the
following tribute to its Biblical emphasis:
What the heart is in a man, so is the Psalter
in the Bible; for in no book of the Bible is the
heart of the believer so correctly described
with all its spiritual emotions and affections,
in times of joy and sorrow, as in the Psalter.
Would to heaven that every believer knew his

Ijohn G. Morris, o. c l t ., p. 158 .

^The complete title page of this work reads: Aus
legung des gantzen Psalters Davids, des konlglichen Propheteh, in 2_ Theile abfefasset, also, dass uber jeden Psalm
gewisse Predigten und Meditatlones gestellet seyn . . .
I t e m : Der Catechismus, erstllch in 60, darnach kurtzer in
. Predigten, zwey unterschledllche mal verfasset; nebenst
der Haus-Tafel, oder der Beschreibung der gottlichen Stande
und Ordnung, in 10 Predigten richtig erklaret und begrlffen
. . . durch Johannem Arndt . . . V o r r . Johann Gerhards . . .
Luneberg:
Stern, 1699.

-126heart as the Psalms represent It, and improved

it according to this model.-*
It is out of the background of this type of Biblical
preaching that Pietism would succeed in making the entire
Bible available for homiletic purposes, as contrasted with
the compulsory pericopes.

The Biblically centered devo

tional sermon emphasizing the need for personal piety thus

became a major influence in the development of Lutheran
Pietism.

Dargan called this sort of devotional preaching

almost revolutionary in German L u t h e r a n i s m . ^

Rothe also

asserts that it was the Biblical type message developed by

Arndt that later Influenced the religious thought of
Lutkemann, Heinrich Muller, Caspar Neumann, John Lassenius,
Martin Geier and Christian Scriver.^

One must not overlook

the fact, in an evaluation of the influence of Arndt's

Biblical preaching on later Lutheran Pietism, that the
Pia Desiderla, which made Spener famous, was written as

1Morris, 0. c i t ., p. 70.
^Mirbt, "Pietism," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia
of Religious Knowledge, IX, 6l.

Rapids:

^Edwin Charles Dargan, A_ History of Preaching (Grand

Baker Book House, 195 ^ ) , II, 70.

^Richard Rothe, Geschichte der Predlgt von den

Anfangen bis auf Schlelermacher (Bremen: Verlag von M.
Heinsius, l88l)', pp. 371-72.

-127an Introduction to Arndt's sermons.^

Weigelt further asserts

that Spener's sermons show Arndtian influence in such fea

tures as concentration on the Biblical truths of salvation
with the goal of awakening the inner or new man to a life
of piety at the personal level.

Thus the Arndtian type of

devotional preaching which took seriously the Bible as the

norm for its call to praxis pietatis was a far cry from that
type of pulpit oratory which for most preachers of Arndt's
period, according to Grossgebauer, was "an oration or an
artificial rhetorical speech pieced together from the
Bible."3

Summary of A r n d t 's Blbllclsm

In summarizing Arndt's Biblicism it must be asserted
that his understanding and use of the Bible was important to
his whole concept of praxis pietatis.

Arndt stood clearly

in the tradition of Luther with his emphasis on the author

ity of Scripture as essential to the Christian.

While Arndt

laid emphasis on the religious experience of the "inner

man, " by which he sought to redeem religion from barren

^Philip Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert), p. 31.

2Horst Weigelt, op. c i t ., p. 40.
3c. R. Cragg, The Church and the Age of Reason
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962),
p. 100.

-128eccleslasticism and scholasticism, for the most part, he did

not try to base Christian belief entirely on this phenomenon.
Like most of the Pietists after him who remained within
traditional Lutheranism, he rested upon the unquestioned
authority of Scripture and the Symbolical Books of the
Lutheran Church.

The latter he believed to be an expression

of the authority of Scripture for the Lutheran Church.

While Arndt was aware of the Importance of the theo
logical studies in the written Word of God he placed the
emphasis of his Biblical exposition primarily on the need
for spiritual edification.

Thus Arndt emphasized the idea

of "Christ the internal Word" as essential to a full under

standing of the Bible.

It is also through Christ the

"internal Word" that the external Word of Scripture written

down for man's guidance and learning in the Bible takes on
a vital power that produces the good fruits of praxis
pietatis.

There is thus a careful balancing of the written

Word of God contained in the message of the Bible as a book,

and the living Word proclaimed in the Bible.

In Arndt's

understanding Christ dwelling in the believer as the living

Word makes powerful and vital the written Word through the
life of the believer.
It is in this twofold sense of Arndt's understanding

-129of the Word of God, that Scripture is asserted as the major

standard for faith and practice.

Arndt's Bibliclsm is

therefore different at this point from that of the Radical

Pietists and Pletistic Puritans who did not assert the Word
of God to be twofold as Arndt expressed it.

On the other

hand, Arndt cannot be charged with the excessive mysticism

expressed by those spiritualists who placed greater emphasis
on internal illumination than on the external Word of God.
Arndt always sought to harmonize all expressions of the
"inner life" fed and nourished by the indwelling Spirit of
Christ with the teachings of the written Word of God.

In

Arndt's estimation the "internal Word" would not contradict

the "external Word."
Arndt also taught that Scripture is supplemented by
natural revelation.

He believed that man could gain a

limited knowledge of God from creation.

However it is the

pious man taught by Scripture and believing wholeheartedly

in its message who finds in creation around him the marks
of the love of God.

Thus the truly pious man discerns the

will of God not only from Scripture but also from creation.
Yet it must not be forgotten that Arndt always understood
the Word of God revealed in creation as a dim proto-type of
the Word of God fully revealed in the Incarnation.

-130In the light of Arndt's Blblicism, supplemented by

natural revelation, preaching was to convey the Word of God
to man primarily from the Scriptures.

Arndt's sermons were

filled with Scripture texts designed to awaken faith in his

hearers by calling them to the pious life through repentance.
In addition to this Arndt always emphasized the indwelling
Christ who empowers the Christian to live the true Christian
life.

His sermons therefore were, for the most part, a call

for a return to the devout life in contrast with much of the

preaching of his age which sought to use the Bible only in
the defense of some dogma or one of its texts in a novel way.
It was therefore this form of Biblicism that Arndt
introduced into the Lutheran Church of his a g e .

On the one

hand Arndt's Biblical emphasis kept him from becoming com

pletely like the German medieval mystics whose ideas on the
interior life he often used in his writings; on the other
hand, Arndt's emphasis on Christ the internal Word kept his
Biblical emphasis from the dessicated proof-texting of the
orthodoxy of his age.

Arndt's Biblical emphasis is thus an

attempt to set forth the authoritative disclosure of God's

design for life through the written Word which becomes a
vital power within man through the living Word (Christ).

It

-131is the living word that creates in man an entirely new and
spiritual nature through the written Word, otherwise it
remains a dead letter and is of no use.

CHAPTER VI
THE CHRISTOCENTRIC EMPHASIS

Arndt's Affirmation of the Christologleal

Dogmas of the Ancient Church
I believe in Jesus Christ:

this is the confession

of faith in the Christian tradition which Arndt received.^

Arndt felt that the words
Christ is God.
ship to God.

"I believe" asserted that Jesus

In Arndt's estimation, faith is a relation

"This, therefore,

is the true and substantial

faith, which consists in a living and effectual reliance on

O
God, and not in empty w o r d s .'
Arndt understood the confession that Christ is God
not only in terms of the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran
Church, but also in terms of the Christologleal dogmas of

^On Arndt's Christology cf. especially his Catechismus Predigten in Fragen und Antworten (Stuttgart:
zu flnden
bey Johann Christoph Belulius^ 1771) , pp. 252-357.
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 6 7 .

- 132-

-133the ancient church.

In this sense his Christology was in

agreement with Luther's who expressly accepted the great

ecumenical creeds of Greek and Latin theology.

Arndt

expressed no criticism of Luther's Christology or the tradi

tional Christologleal dogmas of the Lutheran Church.

He

particularly emphasized that no power of reason is able to

comprehend the paradox of the Incarnation.

Furthermore

Arndt insisted that Christ could not be man's redeemer, if

5

he were not true and eternal God.

One can find evidence

of the ideas of the Nlcene Creed in Arndt's Christology

when he wrote in his Catechetische Einleitung nach der
Ordnug des Kleinen Catechismi Lutheri:
I believe, that Christ is the true actual
Son of God the Father eternally equal with the
Father, light of light, true God of true God,
and that he took upon himself in time, human
nature from the virgin Mary and inseparably
(unzertrennlich), united it forever with his
divine n a ture.
Thus without reservation Arndt used the traditional

^On Luther's Christology cf. Paul Althaus, The Theo

logy of Martin Luther, translated by Robert Schultz (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1966), pp. 179-223.
^Arndt, Catechismus Predigten, pp. 291-92.
3Ibid., pp. 318-19.
^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), cf. Catechet
ische Einleitung, in this edition, p. 878 .

-134terminology of the "two natures" and their unification in

the one person of the Lord to describe the paradox of the
Incarnation.

There is no basic contradiction with The

Formula of Concord in Arndt's Christological affirmations

about the union of the divine and human natures in Christ.

Arndt also understood the Incarnation as taking place mainly

because of the helplessness of man.

He taught that through

original sin man's true relationship with God had been

broken.

Thus in Arndt's estimation, while man can break the

relationship with God, he cannot restore it.

It is restored

through "Jesus Christ, that everlasting wellspring of man's

salvation in whom alone we find help and a remedy against
the destructive poison of Original Sin,

and against that

2
flood of calamities and miseries which thence proceeds. "
Arndt declared that the Incarnation is an act of God's
mercy for the restoration of fallen man.

"In order to do

this, the Son of God took the form of a man upon him,

there

by to renew our nature that being regenerated bjr him, in

him and from him we might become new creatures."3

Arndt

-*-Cf. statement on the "Person of Christ", art. viii,

The Formula of Concord, Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Chris
tendom, III, 147-59.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 157.
3Ibid., p. 104.

-135frequently declared that the restoration of man in terms of

a father-child relationship is one of the major declarations
of the love of God for the soul of man.

He moreover under

stood the love of God for man, expressed in the act of the
Incarnation as that "in which the grace and goodness of God
are especially revealed."'1'
In his Christologleal affirmations Arndt also, in
good Lutheran fashion, espoused the ancient doctrine of the
communication of attributes, i.e. of the exchange of attri
butes between the two natures in the person of Christ.

In

his exposition of the Lord's Supper Arndt asserted:

It is a holy, hidden, heavenly operation and
in it there comes together and is united two
things, . . . an earthly and a heavenly which
are then administered.
If there was nothing
more in the Lord's Supper than bread and wine,
even though it be sanctified and blessed, it
would not be a sacrament, on the contrary, it
is the mingling of an earthly and a heavenly
thing that makes it a sacrament.2
Arndt was therefore as much concerned with the true deity
of Christ as was Luther and the orthodox theologians of
the seventeenth century.

He insisted that it is because

of the deity of Christ that he is able to be man's mediator

1Ibid., p. 251 .
2A m d t ,

Catechismus Predigten, p. 519*

-136and restore him to his rightful place before God bestowing

on man the gifts of salvation.
sity of the two

In

elaborating on the neces

natures in Christ, Arndt wrote:

He is a mediator between God and man, who

has given himself for the salvation of all.
. . . he has become our brother and has b e
friended us; and has in every way managed our
cause, as if it were his own.
This powerfully
Invigorated our faith, because of the fact that
our savior is almighty God.
It furthermore
invigorated
love, for it is an indefinable
argument of
love, that God has become man. It
invigorated our hope, because he has become man
so that he might make us children and heirs of
God.1
Arndt also followed the traditional way of estab
lishing the true deity of Christ.

The Word of God, the

Holy Scripture, as well as Jesus' own witness to himself

(here the accounts in the Gospel of John are decisive), and
the miracles which have been reported all teach that Jesus
Christ is true God.

In Arndt's estimation, the authority

1Ibid ., p. 307.
^e.g. Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), Das II
Buch.
"Liber Vitae Christus", pp. 197-^66.
Arndt holds
the dogmas concerning the deity of Christ, not just as
important documents of the ancient church, and of the
Symbolical Books of Lutheranism or even because they were
held by Luther, but partly because he sees these Christological affirmations are clearly and firmly based in the
Scriptures and partly because they are a postulate of faith
and thus absolutely essential to developing his protoPietistic ideas.

-137of Scripture thus guarantees the true deity of Christ.

Arndt further advanced the idea that the kind of works
attributed to Christ and even now experienced as coming
from him are not merely human but divine works.

Furthermore

Arndt insisted that the proof from Scripture remains decisive

and primary.

Thus everything that Arndt advocated in the

way of Pietistic endeavor, is centered in a Christology that

presupposes the certain!ty of Christ's deity and Incarnation
in the sense of the ecumenical creeds of the church and the
Symbolical Books of Lutheranism.

Arndt's Christocentrism to

this extent rests on the recognition of the authority of

God's Word and the ancient creedal dogmas of the church.

The Major Emphasis In Arndt's Christology

There is a different emphasis from that of orthodoxy
in Arndt's doctrine of Christ even though he accepted the
doctrines of his church.

With all orthodox theologians of

the Lutheran church he accepted the deity of Jesus Christ.

It was his theological insights into the meaning and signi
ficance for man of the fact that Jesus Christ is true God
that led him to an emphasis that differed from the orthodoxy
of the seventeenth century Lutheran Church.

Arndt's differ

ing approach to Christology depended on his own understanding

of the quest for genuine Christianity as a result of the

-138saving work of Christ.

In Arndt's estimation such a quest

involved an experiential relationship to Christ whose life

expressed itself through praxis pietatis in the Christian.
It has been demonstrated that Arndt knew the tradi
tional emphasis in the doctrine of salvation as held by his
own denomination; for this reason the corresponding forms
of Christology continued to be living elements in his own
emphasis.

At the heart of his teaching, however, the concern

for salvation as it relates to the work of Christ is not

that of systematic theology.
tical theology.

Rather it is primarily prac

He regarded Christianity as pre-eminently

a matter of heart and will directed toward holy living as a

result of inward regeneration through God's grace.
Arndt was primarily concerned with the question,

Thus

"How is

God's saving activity in man effectual at the practical

level?"

All of Arndt's major works centered about the

answer to this question.

Christ.

He finds the answer in Jesus

The heart of Arndt's practical theology was its

Christocentric emphasis.

For Arndt,

the decisive thing

about Christ is that God has come to man in the person,

activity, and history of Jesus Christ.

It is this divine

act that gives man certainty about how God feels toward
man and what God desires to do in man as well as for man.

-139This is the important meaning of the deity of Jesus Christ

for Arndt's whole system of proto-Pietism.

Christ is "a

living mirror of a holy Christian life, because he is the

eternal word and wisdom of the Father, come into the world
and become man in order to teach us through his wholesome
conduct, through his life and death, and by his holy example
to set a pattern before us."^

Thus the Christocentric

emphasis of Arndt's writings presupposes and is bound to

the fact that the historical life of Jesus as portrayed in
the Gospels is essential to the practice of piety.
the supreme pattern for the Christian's imitation.

It is

How

ever the basis of Arndt's Christocentric emphasis is not

the historical Jesus by himself, i.e.

"Christ's flesh," but

it also includes the concept of the 'indwelling Christ."

Thereby Arndt's Christocentric emphasis takes on Johannine
characteristics.

The expressions of Christ recorded in

John such as "Without me you can do nothing"

(15:5) and "To

him that loveth me I will manifest myself" (14:21) are texts

that basically describe Arndt's emphasis on the "indwelling
Christ.it

is this major idea that Arndt associated with

!Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 257*

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 209.
3Ibid., pp. 183-84, and 255 -56 .

-140hls insight on the necessity of union with Christ.

Union With Christ

Arndt believed that the practice of personal piety
as a result of Christ's salvation is only possible when
there is union with the Spirit of Christ.

This more than

justification, sanctification, and even reconciliation, was

the center about which Arndt's Pietistic emphasis on the
new life revolved.

This supremely intimate relation of

union with Christ constituted for Arndt the presupposition

of everything that counts in the practice of true Chris
tianity.

While Arndt frequently wrote of union with Christ

in terms similar to these of the medieval mystics, he did

not wish to be misunderstood as one who placed their ideas
in a more important category than the unlo he believed to
be in the writings of the New Testament.

Rather it was his

desire to express the meaning of Paul's statement,

"I live

yet not I, but Christ lives in me," (Galatians 2:20) as the

working basis of practical piety.1

He desired thus that his

emphasis on personal piety be understood as an external

manifestation of man's spiritual union in faith with Christ.
In Arndt's estimation there was no genuine Christianity where

1Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), pp. 807-08.

-141this union is lacking.

"This union by faith, is of the

highest necessity because

'our iniquities have separated

between us and our God,' and this deplorable state will con
tinue to all eternity, unless Christ dwell in us here by
faith.

Moreover we are not able to do the least good,

unless Christ himself work in us."* In his idea of the

necessity of union with Christ, Arndt was not attempting to
minimize Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone
but rather he desired to expand its meaning to include the
idea of union with Christ as expressed in the great Pauline
affirmation of Galatians 2:20.

In Arndt's estimation union

with Christ meant that the whole man, thought, feeling and
will is unconditionally submitted to the Lordship of Christ
in faith.

Thus Arndt in his Christocentric emphasis taught

that faith includes everything that enters into a vital

personal relationship with Christ.

In terms of Arndt's

understanding of praxis pietatis, this involved trusting

his guidance, obeying his commandments,

following his

example, giving love to God and one's neighbor.

Thus

1Ibld., p. 225 .
^0n St. Paul's mysticism cf. James S. Stewart, A Man
In Christ (New York:
Harper and Brothers Publishers, n . d .),
wEo presents the case that "The heart of Paul's religion is
union with Christ," pp. 147-203, passim.
3Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 14, 67 -68 , 106.

-142Arndt's concept of union with Christ was not primarily cor

porate, but personal.

As Stoeffler writes,

"The believer

is united with Christ, he held, not only as a member of the

body of Christ but above all on the personal level.
Arndt also taught that union with Christ brings the
Christian into true righteousness:

"We appropriate and

apply it to ourselves by faith and hence the imperfections

v/hich still adhere to us cannot condemn us since, for the
sake of Christ, who now lives and works within us, they are
covered with a veil of grace."2

Similarly, Arndt estab

lished the idea of union with Christ through faith overcomes

the power of original sin.^
According to Arndt, the communion of the true Chris
tian with Christ by faith is to move to the last and most

4
perfect state which is union cemented by pure love.
is the state which St. Paul calls the

"This

'perfect man,' and

'the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'"^

'Ernest Stoeffler, ojc. c l t ., pp. 208-09.

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 14.
3lbld., p. 157.
4Ibid., p. 375.

5lbld.

-143It is to this end that Arndt stresses the idea that one must
apprehend Christ personally and in him and through him know
God, his omnipotence,
and wisdom.1

love, mercy, righteousness,

truth

This subjective element in Arndt's Christo

centric emphasis is most evident when he writes:

Thus to_ me_ is God omnipotent; to_ me_ he is
merciful; to me_ eternal righteousness, through
faith and remission of sins.
To me, also he
is everlasting truth and wisdom.
Thus it is,
also with Christ.
He is made to_ me_ eternal
omnipotence, the almighty Head, and Prince of
my life, my most merciful Saviour, everlasting
love, unchangeable righteousness, truth, and
wisdom . . . .
One further point needs to be stated concerning
Arndt's concept of union with Christ.

The experience of

union with Christ does not mean the end of the Christian's
striving.

Arndt believed that while through conversion

the Christian had entered the sphere of eternal life;

material things especially the body of flesh, still kept
him from becoming the perfect man in Christ.

Arndt taught

that only when this body has been exchanged for the spiritual

1Ibid., p. 67 .
2Ibld.
3ibid., p. 354.

-144body, waiting to be revealed beyond death, will man's full

stature in Christ be realized."''

Therefore the Christian

life in the present, though in union with Christ, must be

marked by constant watchfulness, self-examination, repentance,
and progress in holy living.

Stoeffler comments on this

aspect of Arndt's teaching:

This life in Christ which expresses itself
in moral excellence is God's gift, to be sure.
But according to Arndt it is not given except
to him who actively reaches for it. That being
the case the means for its cultivation must not
be neglected.
Among the foremost of these is
the Christian's constant look to Christ . . .
To this upward look must be joined the inward
look.
At least once a day, Arndt felt, the
Christian must take time out in order to sep
arate himself from the things of this world
and to meditate upon those things which have
to do with his spiritual welfare.^
Thus Arndt in his concept of union with Christ insisted
that the Christian possesses the potential to live a new
life.

It is not a question as to whether the Christian has

new life in Christ, but rather whether he will constantly

seek to develop it through the practice of personal piety.
Therefore in Arndt's estimation, the potential of all true
praxis pietatis in the new life is union with Christ by

1Ibid., pp. 371-74.

^Ernest Stoeffler, ojd. c i t ., p. 210.

-145faith .1

It is for this reason that the concept of union with

Christ is essential to the whole of Arndt's religious thought.

"As man by his apostasy from God, through ambition and selflove, was separated from him, and fell from the perfection
in which he was created, so he must of necessity return to
his original tranquillity and happiness, by a union with
God; in which the whole of human perfection consists."

The Life of Christ as a_ Pattern of True Piety

In the thirteenth chapter of Book II of True Christi
anity Arndt refers to Christ as the "true book of life."^
By this expression he meant that the life of Christ reveals
a pattern of ethical conduct for the Christian.

At other

times Arndt uses the mystic term "mirror" to emphasize

Christ's life as a divine example of what the Christian life
ought to be.

"This thou wilt then best understand, when

thou seriously considerest the holy life of Christ:

which

is the brightest mirror both of love, and of all other

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 182.

2Ibid.
3ibid., p. 209.

4Ibid.

-146virtues."^

"And indeed, what else is the life of Christ,

but a most accomplished pattern of love, humility, patience,

and all other virtues whatsoever.

This we ought to look

2

into, and reflect upon it in our hearts

..."

Further,

in commenting on the need to practice humility, Arndt

points to Christ as the best example of this noble virtue:
Without true humility all prayer is vain.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Book from which
this noble virtue is best learned; as he is,
indeed, a perfect mirror to us of all the
virtues and graces.
Look on his life, and
thou wilt find it made of nothing but love
and humility.
Look on his doctrine, and thou
wilt discern it to be absolute wisdom and
truth; a doctrine consisting not in words,
^
but in a living power; and in very deed itself.
The same idea of Christ the pattern for pious living applies
to the practice of prayer:
Set, therefore, this mirror of prayer b e
fore thine eyes, and study to persevere there
in. Whenever thou feelest thyself faint and
weak in prayer, then seriously advert to thy
Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed not for himself,
or upon his own account, but for thee and on
thy account and thus sanctified thy prayer and^
blessed it, and added life and efficacy to it.

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 207.

2Ibid.
3ibid., p. 238 .

4Ibid., p. 237.

-147Arndt views the life of Christ as the perfect reflection of

the

will of God on earth,

the completed pattern of the new

man

"who is regenerated after the image of G o d ."1

In further

developing the idea that the true Christian must imitate the
example of Christ, Arndt writes:
What, indeed, is the safe way, the infallible
truth, and the endless life? What, the way, truth,
and life, that are more excellent than every other?
Surely there is no way, but the holy and precious
merits of Christ; no truth but his eternal word;
no life, but a blissful immortality in heaven.
If,
therefore, 0 Christian, thou desirest to be raised
up into heaven with Christ Jesus, believe in him
here, and tread in the footsteps of his humility;
this is the safe Way to everlasting glo r y .2
Arndt taught that a conscious imitation of the life
of Christ as a true pattern for piety also results in an
experiential knowledge of Christ.

Arndt adds to this the

fact that without communion with Christ leading to an imita

tion of his pattern of life, there can only result the
negative aspect of impiety the unenlightened life:
But how is it possible that Christ should
profit a man who does not desire to have the
least fellowship with him? For, in truth, all
those that live in the darkness of sin, have no

1Ibid., p . 29 .
2 Ibid., p. 43.
3ibid., p. 122 .

-148fellowship with Christ, be their pretences

what they w i l l .1
Arndt's idea of the knowledge of Christ is therefore more
than a mental concept; it also involves the experiential in
that it is inextricably bound up with the Nachfolge of
Christ.

In Arndt's estimation, the Christian has a valid

understanding of Christ when he imitates his example.

To

merely read or speculate about the life of Christ, in

Arndt's opinion, cannot give true knowledge of Christ.

In

order to apprehend Christ meaningfully at the personal level,

the Christian must encounter daily life through the practice
of Christ-like humility, meekness, and patience.
But he who does not understand the humility,
meekness, and patience of Christ, does not know
Christ himself, nor believe in his holy name.
For truly, if ever thou desirest to attain a
sound knowledge of Christ, thou must obtain, by
faith, the same heart which is in Christ; thou
must experimentally perceive in thy heart, his
meekness, his patience, and his humility.
It
is then that thy knowledge becomes solid and
substantial.
Arndt therefore views the life of Christ portrayed
in the New Testament as the model by which the Christian

1Ibid., p. 123 .
2Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 808 .
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 123.

-149judges and guides his life.

His aim was to show to the

church and the world a way of life which takes seriously

the Christian ethic based on the pattern of Christ's life
as he understood it.

Summary of A r n d t 's Christocentrism

Arndt's Christocentrism in' its theological structures
is in keeping with both the ecumenical creeds of the church,
and the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church of his age.
He cannot be charged with introducing a strange Christology
into the Lutheran Church.

It is rather at the point of his

emphasis on practical theology that Arndt differs from the

orthodoxy of his age.

His Christocentrism, while in keeping

with all the Christological doctrines of the Lutheran Church,

stressed two important neglected ideas which he believed
were essential to the practice of true Christianity.
first idea was that of union with Christ.

The

Strictly speaking,

while Arndt constantly uses the mystic's term,

"union", he

has in mind more the Pauline idea of communion with Christ

through faith.

While Arndt had read the works of men such

as Tauler who were in the Dominican tradition there is no

idea in his writings of union with Christ in terms of
verschmelzung or versinken (i.e., the idea of melting away
in God or submersion into God's being, who is conceived

- 150somewhat pantheistlcally).

Rather Arndt, tending toward

the position of the Quietists conceived of the Christian's

union with Christ as a matter of Gleichformigkeit (i.e., the
idea of man's nature and Christ's being in complete conform
ity on the intellectual and moral level).
Thus Arndt did not have in mind the all-absorbing
union with the monistic One.

Rather it is a union of faith

modeled on the Trinity, in which individuality is preserved

and intensified in the union.

Arndt sees individuals having

their autonomy deepened by union with Christ.

In Arndt's

estimation Christ is the perfect, in fact, the only perfect

prototype of that which all love between persons tends to
achieve--absolute unity and yet distinction--to be one with
the other, not by losing one's identity but by perfecting
it, even at the very source of one's being.

In his idea of

the Christian's union with Christ, Arndt sees Christ's divine

existence as the idea of all personal existence--to be fully
oneself, but only in dependence upon, and in adherence to,
another in the communion of unity.
In the light of Arndt's teaching concerning union
with Christ, true knowledge of Christ does not consist in
mere intellectual and theoretical knowing, but is a com
pletely personal, practical, existential and vital grasping

-151of Christ with the whole person.

Thus according to Arndt it

was not the Christ of theological propositions, or the Christ

of the creeds, important as these are for the communication
of the faith, but rather man in conscious communion with
Christ through faith that leads to vital Christianity.
The second idea was that of a constant effort to
follow the example of Christ.

Arndt sees in the historical

life of Jesus the perfect reflection of the will of God on

earth.

Arndt believed that communion with Christ must

result in the Nachfolge of Christ.

The Christian's life is

to be patterned after Christ's life on earth.

All actions

are to be carried out with Christ's life in mind.

Every

inner talent and capability, everything that the Christian

aspires to must be committed to the Lordship of Christ in
order to manifest the highest quality of life that is
found in Christ.
Thus associated with Arndt's teaching of an inward
communion with Christ by faith is the necessity of following
the pattern of his life.

These two concepts are basic to

Arndt's emphasis on praxis pietatls.

In Arndt's estimation

one who is not in communion with Christ cannot have the

potential of the new life as set forth in Scripture.

Thus

Arndt's concept of true Christianity is fundamentally Christocentric in its overall emphasis.

CHAPTER VII
THE EMPHASIS ON A LIVING AND OPERATIVE FAITH

The Necessity of A Living Faith

One of the basic theological insights of Arndt's
religious thought is that true faith must be living and
operative in the Christian.

Writing on the importance of

faith for the Christian life Arndt declared,

"Our whole

Christian life consists of a living and operative faith,

not in mere knowledge, not in a shadow or pretext, but in a
living active power .1

In Arndt's understanding of the Chris

tian life it is living active faith that is needed to deliver

fallen man from enslavement to his corruption and misery
and transport him into the liberty of the redeemed man.
Therefore in Arndt's estimation,

"A Christian ought to employ

his greatest care and diligence in learning the true nature

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 384.

-152-

-153and practice of faith .1'1

Arndt believed that it is only by

a living faith that man is able to establish a true relation

ship with Christ and be admitted into the kingdom of God.
Thus faith was recognized by Arndt as essential to the whole
Christian life, not only in the sense expressed by the
doctrine of justification by imputation but also as a pre
condition to the immediate union with God or the immediate
communion with Christ.

This was what Arndt meant when he

wrote that "the whole treasure of the inner man depends on

faith, namely God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the kingdom
of G o d ."2
Arndt taught that living faith is essential to the
Christian way of life for several reasons.

Without living

faith, Arndt believed that there can be no real freedom

from the evil condition of man's fallen nature.

It is

living faith that brings man into a condition of spiritual

freedom releasing him from the power of sin and death and
all the commandments and traditions of men.

In addition

living faith is necessary if man is to overcome his moral

depravity that causes a complete disregard for the spiritual

^Ibid.
2Ibid.
3lbid.

-154life turning his existence into meaningless despair.'1'

believed that the loss of hope,

Arndt

the turmoil of the spirit,

the complete lack of inward joy, and the fear of life were
all symptomatic of a climate in the church that had become
irrelevant to the needs of the people because it failed to
stress living faith.

Arndt felt that the only way back to

a meaningful Christianity was through the daily practice of

faith at the personal level.

It is only by a personal turn

ing to Christ in faith, he declared, that man is restored to

a true religious life.

When faith is operative at the

personal level, Arndt taught, it "gives quietness to the

soul, peace and plenty to the conscience ; freeing it from
all fears and terrors, and causing the heart to rest joy-

2
fully and quietly in God."

Arndt also taught that a faith

that is living and operative at the personal level is

essential to a genuine Christian life because it is the only
way in which a man can truly grasp Christ.

"By faith the

soul is united to Christ, as a bride with her bridegroom."

Furthermore, Arndt believed that it is only when one enters
into a living union with Christ that all the benefits of

1Ibid.
2Ibld., p. 385.
3ibid.

-155Christ are communicated to the believer.

"Now as Christ had

all heavenly and eternal gifts such as wisdom, righteousness,

sanctification, redemption, blessedness, and eternal life . .
yea is himself all these; the soul therefore receives them
a l l ."1

Arndt thus constantly links his demand for a living

faith with his Christocentric emphasis.

stood as operative in terms of I John 5:4
live the life of a real Christian.

Faith must be under-

if one is to truly

He writes:

In these words (I John 5 **4), the original

of faith is discovered; that it proceeds not
from the powers of man, but that it is the
work and gift of God, (John 6:29); and that
regeneration is a divine, and supernatural
work.
And as this new birth is in all r e
spects superior to nature, therefore it can
not be hurt by any assaults from the world;
for though a Christian be ever so much d e
spised and abased by the world, yet is he i*
Christ a glorious and triumphant conqueror.Arndt also taught that living faith is necessary
because it works in the renewing of the whole man through
the Word of God.

"Faith immediately begins a new life in

man and quickens him through the Word of God; for all the
Holy Scripture is contained in faith.

1I b i d .
2Ibid., p. 386.
3lbid., p. 387.
^Ibid.

2i

Thus Arndt's

-156estlmatlon of faith is more than verbal acknowledgment of

theological affirmations about God's redeeming work in
Christ.

Faith must be operative in redirecting the life

of the Christian in such a way that he is Inspired to live

a pious life.

In Arndt's understanding of the Christian

life, if it is to be authentic, faith must be expressed

through it in living deeds of piety.

The Meaning of Living Faith

The meaning of living faith as Arndt expressed it must
be understood in the light of his proto-Pietistic emphasis.
In his belief that the Christianity of his age stood des
perately in need of spiritual renewal, Arndt constantly
sought to emphasize the theological affirmations of his age
from the standpoint of personal piety.

This caused him to

stress the meaning of faith as fiducla rather than the more

current emphasis on faith as assensus.

While Arndt under

stood and accepted the traditional Lutheran teaching of

justification by faith alone he desired to stress the idea
that justification is meaningless from the position of the
individual who needs salvation unless it is personally
appropriated in a fiducial commitment.

For this reason

Arndt chose to emphasize the primary meaning of faith as a

living active trust.

Arndt felt that the man who becomes

-157a Christian best sustains himself in the struggle to live

the Christian life when faith is understood as a living
trust.

There was no intention on the part of Arndt to

detract from the atonement of Jesus Christ, or to gainsay

the Imputation of his righteousness to the pardoned sinner.
These were doctrines that he held in common with his ortho
dox colleagues.

What Arndt wanted to stress in defining

faith as fiducia was that justification must be understood

as more than a forensic act on the part of God.

Through

faith it must enter into human experience by the working

of the divine miracle of conversion and in a divinely ori
ginated and sustained struggle for sanctification.

For this

reason Arndt had little to say about the idea of faith as

assent.

He believed that the orthodox emphasis on faith as

assent had so depressed the meaning of faith as trust that

many Christians had come to an understanding of faith as a
mere confirmation of theological propositions arrived at by
the use of reason.
In turning to a definition of faith as expressed by
Arndt one Immediately captures the idea of faith as primarily
fiducia when he declares,

"Faith is a sincere confidence, and

a firm persuasion of the grace of God promised to us in

Christ Jesus for the remission of sin and eternal life; and

-158it is enkindled in the heart, by the Word of God and the

Holy Spirit ."1

Arndt further asserted the idea of faith as

trust when he wrote,

"By this cordial and unshaken faith,

man wholly dedicates his heart to the Almighty, in whom

alone he seeks his rest ."2

Thus in his understanding of

faith as fiducia, Arndt believed all actions and thoughts of

the Christian should be expressions of his fiducial commit
ment.

It is in this sense that he regarded faith as co n

stituting a decisive and proper relationship to God.

In

Arndt's estimation-, assensus is not ruled out, but because

he was distressed over the lack of personal piety among
many of the clergy and laity in the church, he believed it
necessary to emphasize the meaning of faith as primarily
fiducia.

He felt that b y doing this the Christian would be

impressed with the fact that his whole life must be an

expression of God's work in him.
Thou sayest that thou believest and confessest all the articles of the Christian faith.
It
is well! but have recourse to the touchstone of
the heart. That is only a true faith, which
unites man with God, and God with man; by which
God dwells, lives, and operates in man.
If these
effects be wanting in thee, thy faith is false

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 14.

2Ibid.

-159and so far from uniting thee with God. it sets

thee at a greater distance from him.'
From this statement it is evident that Arndt rejected the
limitation of faith to assent.

It must also include the

response of the total person in living reliance on the grace

of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

"This, therefore, is

the true and substantial faith, which consists in a living

p
and effectual reliance on God, and not in empty words."
Furthermore Arndt understood the expression,

"living and

effectual reliance on God," as inclusive of hope.

Arndt

identified hope in this sense not as sentimental idealism,

but as an active force in the Christian's life which he
equated with a constant and persevering faith.
As faith is nothing else but a fixed and
steady assurance by which the devout Christian
depends perfectly and entirely on the favor and
mercy of God promised in Christ Jesus (Heb. 11:1),
so hope is a continued and patient waiting for
the accomplishment of that promise which is the
object of faith, and is nothing else but a patient,
constant, and persevering f a i t h . 3
In asserting the meaning of faith as primarily fidu
cia, Arndt wanted to remove the confusion that he believed

1Ibid., p. 176 .
2Ibid_., p. 67 .
3Ibid., p. 341.

-160had arisen in his day regarding the knowledge of faith.

There were those who taught the knowledge of faith as merely
theologically defined truth about G o d .1

To -understand faith

only as intellectual assent to words, in Arndt's estimation,

created a barren religious life because it robbed man of the
primary meaning of faith as trust that involves the whole
person.

Arndt taught that the true knowledge of faith must

include an experiential apprehension of God in Christ in the

"heart through the practice of "true, spiritual, internal
Christian worship" of G o d .2

"The knowledge of God consists

in faith, which apprehends Christ, and in him, knows God,

his omnipotence, love, mercy, righteousness, truth, wisdom;
all which are God h i m s e l f . In further elaborating on the
experiential apprehension of God through internal worship
which effects the whole Christian life in pious living Arndt
wrote:
The true worship of God is seated in the
heart and consists in the knowledge of God,
and in true repentance, which mortifies the
flesh; and through grace, renews man after the
divine image. In this order, man is made the

1Ibid., p. xxxix.
2Ibld., p . 67 .
3Ibid.

-161holy temple of the Lord, where, through the

good Spirit of God, internal worship is per
formed, in the exercise of faith, charity,
hope, humility, patience, prayer, thanksgiving,
and the praise of Go d .
For those who may

be mislead by the idea that faith ismere

acknowledgment of

theological truth without the need for

any

change in the life of the Christian, Arndt had this word:

Therefore, dear Christian I let not your
religion be confined to bare externals, but
see that it proceed from the more inward re
cesses of the heart endued with a true, living,
and active faith . . . If you put away from you
this inward life, this faith, . . . you strip
your religion
of all essential goodness, and,
instead of a
living principle, which ought to
be established in the mind, you carry about an
empty, insignificant name, which will avail
you nothing in that day, wherein God will
judge all things according to the inward frame
of the heart.
Arndt thus believed that doctrine in its attempt to
defend and define faith by reason should not neglect the
experiential knowledge of faith as he understood it.

He

realized on the other hand that theological propositions

concerning faith were necessary as a means to defend the
church from error .3

While he understood that defense of

^Ibid., p. 71 .

2Ibid., p. 177 .
3Ibid., p. 132 .

-162this type was vitally important, it was not in his estimation

vital enough to keep faith alive in the church.

Rather,

from Arndt's point of view, theological refinement existed

for the sake of Christian faith, not vice-ver s a .

Thus, in

Arndt's opinion, unless theology created an understanding of

faith as primarily fiducia at the personal level of the Chris
tian, it defeated its genuine desire to safeguard the Chris
tian life from a vain profession.

Even though Arndt believed

that theology in his age had failed to assert faith primarily

as fiducia he did not want his followers to think that he
was condemning the theological affirmations of the Lutheran
Church.

What he objected to was a failure on the part of

many Christians to personally apply theology in living faith.

Arndt attempted to make this point clear when he w r o t e :
However be the lives of professors of Chris
tianity ever so vain and wicked, it does not
follow hence, that the whole doctrine is also
false and corrupted, as some would insinuate,
vainly condemning our doctrine on account of
the wickedness of some of its professed adher
ents . . . A profane life is not sufficient
proof of false doctrine in general, though it
may give us an insight into the individual h i m
self, whether he be a true or a false Christian.
Truly, he cannot believe aright, who leads a life
opposed to the nature and properties of divine
faith .1

1Ibid., p. 136.

-163The Result of Living Faith

While Arndt thoroughly understood that the blessings
of justification are obtained solely by the merits of
Christ, he insisted that they be accompanied by the reality
of sanctification.

Arndt believed that while it is true

that God alone knows whether a man possess valid faith, it

is also true, according to the teachings of Jesus Christ,
that a man's pattern of behavior gives a real indication of
the genuineness of his faith.

Therefore Arndt wrote:

Though we do not in the slightest degree

affirm that by our own efforts and piety eter
nal life is obtained . . . Yet it is certain
that by an ungodly life, the Spirit of God,
with all his gifts, is banished; amongst
which gifts, faith, knowledge, understanding,
and wisdom, are not the least.
Therefore it
follows again, that without a holy life, purity
of doctrine cannot be preserved; and that the
wicked who will not follow Chirst in his life,
cannot be enlightened with the true light of
the Gospel.1
While Arndt believed that there is an aspect of faith which
by its actual nature and properties is hidden from human
observation because it is related to the inner man, he also
believed that it must produce praxis pietatis.
clared,

"When the Lord says:

Arndt d e

'By their fruits ye shall

know them1 (Matt. 7:20), does he not signify the fruits of

1Ibid., p. 134.

-164a good and holy life as the proper marks whereby true and
false Christians may be discerned ?"1

Thus Arndt Insisted

that the results of faith be seen in the life of one who is

restored to new life by faith.
and Christ must live in us.

..2

"In a word, Adam must die

Nor is faith truly produc

tive, in Arndt's opinion, of its results, if it only in

volves acquiring an intellectual understanding of the Word
of God.

"If thou contentest thyself with the bare hearing

thereof thou must know that this will never yield eternal
salvation, and that thou deceivest thyself in a matter of
O

infinite importance."

The prime question for Arndt is

whether the life and spirit of the professing Christian is

being transformed by the Word of God.

One should not con

fuse true faith with a mere hearing of the Word of God.

True faith, declared Arndt, will convert the Word of God
into living actions.

"As a medicine gives no relief to the

patient who hears of, or looks upon it, but at the same time
refuses to take it; so the Word, though a remedy for our
diseased nature, can yet cure no man, or restore him from

^Ibid., p. 136 .

2 Ibid., p.xxxiv.
3 Ibld., p. 176 .

-165death to life, whilst he refuses to take what the Word p r e

scribes."1

There is no place in Arndt's system of thought

for those who claim that going to church and listening to

sermons on the passion of Christ's life is all that need
concern the Christian.

For faith to be productive there

must be a real total personal participation in its redemp

tive activity:
The birth of the Savior is of no advantage
to a man whose aim it is not to be born with
him; nor shall his death avail for any, who are
not disposed to die to sin, and to mortify the
deeds of the flesh.
(Rom. 6:11).
So, the r e s
urrection of Christ will benefit none who will
not rise from sin, and live unto righteousness,*
nor will his ascension prove a blessing to any
who refuse to ascend with him, and to have their
conversation in heaven.
Arndt wrote that even faith in Christ as the only
means whereby a man is declared righteous is not properly
apprehended if there is no conscious fellowship with Christ
at the personal level.

"You must lay hold on him inwardly

by faith, and make him, both as to his Person and office,

your o w n . I n

Arndt's estimation, the fruition of faith

1Ib i d ., p. 179.
2Ibid.
3Ibid., p . 380 .

-166in the Christian must be more than passive assent to its

content.

It must result in a conscious fellowship with

Christ who motivates man with a desire to live according

to the ethic of the New Testament.1

In expanding this idea,

Arndt also stressed what he believed to be the specific

fruits of faith in the life of the pious man:
Now when faith waits for the blessings
which are promised to it, the offspring of this
faith is h o p e . For what else is hope but a
constant persevering expectation, in faith, of
the blessings which are promised? But when
faith communicates to a neighbor the blessings
which it has itself received, love is the off
spring of such faith, imparting to the neighbor
that which it has itself received from God; and
when faith endures the trial of the cross, and
submits to the will of God, it brings forth
patience. But when it sighs under the burden
of the cross, or offers thanks to God for mercies
which it has received it gives birth to prayer.
When it compares the power of God, on the one
hand, with the misery of man on the other, and
submits unresistingly to the will of God, humility
is the fruit.
And when this faith diligently labors
that it may not lose the grace of God, or as St.
Paul says:
'worketh out salvation with fear and
trembling1 (Phil. 2:12), then the fear of God is
the result.
Thus thou seest that all the Christian
virtues are the offspring of faith, proceed from
faith, and cannot be separated from faith, their
common source, if they are indeed genuine, living,
and Christian virtues, proceeding ultimately from
God, from Christ, and from the Holy Spirit.

1Ibid., p . x x xix .
^Ibid., p. xli.

-167Arndt In describing the results of faith in the Christian's

life at the practical level makes it absolutely clear that
all the sanctifying works of the Christian are not to be
confused with one's ultimate justification before God.
take great care, my reader," he writes,

"But

"that thou do not

connect thy works, the virtues which thou hast commenced to

practice or the gifts of the new life with thy justification
before God.

For in this matter man's works, merits, gifts,

and virtue, however lovely these may appear to be, have no

efficacy; our justification depends solely on the exalted
and perfect merit of Jesus Christ, apprehended by faith."1
In further developing the idea that the result of
faith in the Christian must manifest the Word of God at the
level of daily life Arndt is true to the tradition of the
Reformation.

He taught man's obedience to the demands of

faith is a result of regeneration by which God brings faith

to fruition in man.

It is not man's effort that creates the

good works of faith, but God's work in man.

do any good at all," Arndt declared,
ascribed to God alone."2

1Ibid.
2Ibid., pp. 182-83.

"If we are to

"it is altogether to be

In this insistence regarding the

- 168result of faith it is obvious that Arndt was against any

teaching or tendency toward synergism.1

The result of faith

in man's role as a Christian must not be understood as man

cooperating with the Spirit of God in his conversion.

Arndt

makes it absolutely clear that any synergistic understanding

of his idea of living faith is to be rejected when he writes:
0 man, consider therefore, what thou art,
and what thou canst do. What hast thou been
able to contribute to thy restoration and the
renovation of thy depraved nature? . . . Thou
canst indeed lose, corrupt, and destroy thy
self; but to renew, to restore, to heal, to
justify, and to quicken thyself is a work
entirely beyond thy strength . . . There is
nothing therefore that thou canst arrogate
to thyself, or ascribe to thy own ability.
Indeed, the more man attributes to his own
will, strength, and ability, the more effectu
ally does he obstruct divine grace, and the
renewal of his corrupted nature.
Arndt also states in his introduction to his first
volume of True Christianity that he does not wish to be
understood as espousing either the Roman Catholic or

^The Synergistic controversy relating to the question

whether man could cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the work
of his conversion, began in 1555* the year in which Arndt was
born.
Arndt definitely disassociated his ideas concerning
faith from synergism.
C f . Arndt, Wahren Christenthum
(Mentz), p. 812 .
2A m d t ,

True Christianity (Sch), p. 183 .

-169Majorlstic1 doctrines of good works in his emphasis on

sanctification as a result of living faith.
it is his desire rather,

He writes that

. . t o teach us to put no trust

in ourselves or our ability; to take away everything from

ourselves, and to ascribe all to Christ."
the same section of the introduction,

He continues in

"All this has been

plainly and abundantly explained in many passages of this

Book, and at the same time the doctrines of the Papists,
Synergists, and Majorists have been expressly refuted and
rejected.

Summary of Arndt *s Emphasis on a_

Living and Operative Faith
Arndt believed that genuine faith must be living and

1The Majoristlc controversy, respecting Justification

and its relation to Sanctification, began in 1549, and closed
only when Arndt was already a student.
The controversy ori
ginated in the public declaration made by George Major, that
"good works are necessary to salvation." Those who opposed
Major were alarmed by his unguarded expressions and feared
that the Gospel doctrine of Justification b y faith in Christ
alone without human works or merit would be endangered, u n
less they silenced him.
Arndt, fearing that his emphasis on
the result of faith as praxis pietatis might be misconstrued
as a restatement of the Majoristic idea of faith, stated open
ly in the introduction to his first book of True Christianity
that he rejected all ideas of faith except those which are set
forth in the Lutheran Symbolical Books.
Cf. Arndt, True
Christianity (Sch), pp. xvii-xx.
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xlii.
3I b l d .

-170opera tlve in the Christian.

He taught that such faith-was

essential to the whole Christian life because it releases

man from the power of sin and death by bringing him into
union with God through Christ.

When this takes place faith

is understood as living and operative in that it restores

the will, understanding and effections so that the Christian
seeks to follow the example of Christ in daily life.

Arndt

emphasized this concept of faith because he believed that

true Christianity consisted in the proving of true living,
operative faith through genuine holy living.
Arndt chose to emphasize the meaning of faith not
as assensus but as fiducia.

In this emphasis, Arndt declared

that fiducia is the primary part of faith.

While Arndt

fully understood the need for assensus he felt that in his

age it had been overemphasized to the point where personal
piety through a living and operative faith was not considered
necessary as an expression of the Christian life.

Arndt

believed that the emphasis on personal piety as the result

of faith in the daily life of the Christian had been replaced
with the demand of the theologians that the Christian cor
rectly verbalize his faith according to the orthodox confes
sions.

This latter emphasis, in Arndt's opinion, resulted in

a Christianity that sought merely to intellectualize its

-171faith.

The search for correct expressions of faith had

become an all-consuming task on the part of the theologians

of the church, while the urgent need to make faith relevant
to the total life of the Christian was generally neglected.
It was for this reason that Arndt insisted on emphasizing
faith as fiducia.

He felt that unless faith was understood

in terms of an experiential knowledge of total reliance on

God through union with Christ in the inner m an there could
be no meaningful association of faith with Christian conduct.
Thus in regard to the total meaning of faith for the Chris
tian at the personal level Arndt believed that right confes
sion of faith and the practice of piety as a living relation
ship with God and man were inseparable.
In Arndt's estimation the result of living, operative
faith at the practical level was right Christian conduct.
The Christian must manifest the Word of God in daily life.
All the Christian virtues, Arndt believed, stem from a right
faith relationship to God.

In Arndt's opinion this involved

a living union with Christ w ho transforms the life and spirit

of the Christian into conformity with the will of God.

CHAPTER VIII
THE DOCTRINE OF RENEWAL

The Emphasis On Spiritual Renewal

Spiritual renewal (Erneuerung), is inextricably bound
up with Arndt's concept of personal piety.

In his emphasis

on the need for spiritual renewal Arndt uses several differ

ent expressions.

It is important therefore in order to

understand Arndt's concept of spiritual renewal to begin

with his own expanded definition of this term.

In his

essay on the German Theology Arndt defined renewal as "union

with God, the marriage with Jesus Christ our heavenly bride
groom, living faith, the new birth, Christ's indwelling in
us, the holy Spirit's fruit in us, the enlightenment and
sanctification of the kingdom of God in us."1

It is obvious

from this expanded definition that Arndt's emphasis on

spiritual renewal is essential to his whole idea of true

1Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 826.

-172-

-173Christianity.
As a Lutheran, Arndt understood man's spiritual renew
al as a result of the grace of God.

"No sooner does man by

the assistance of the Holy Ghost, withdraw from sin, than

the grace of God begins to operate in him, and to endow him
with new gifts.

Without this, he is not sufficient to think

any good thought of himself, much less do any good work."1

Arndt does not put emphasis on the once-for-allness of Christ's
redemptive suffering in stressing the concept of spiritual
renewal although he understood this to be essential.

"Thou

hast now once accepted, dear Father, of this perfect satis

faction for my sins, thou wilt not therefore require it any
more of me."

Rather in his emphasis on spiritual renewal

as essential to personal piety, Arndt stressed the saving

work of God within the individual.

In Arndt's estimation

spiritual renewal begins with the "inner man" and then pro
duces externally in the conduct of the Christian the fruits
of praxis pietatis.

This is accomplished through the Word

^Arndt,

True Christianity (Sch), p. 113.

^Arndt,

Garden of Paradise (London, 1716),

^Arndt,

True Christianity (Sch), p. 176.

p. 166.

-174and Spirit of Christ producing true faith in the individual.

Included in Arndt's emphasis on the need for spiritual
renewal is the idea of "unfeigned" repentance.

"To this

unfeigned repentance, this true and inward conversion from

the world unto God, hath our blessed Lord called us."
is also an essential component of spiritual renewal.

Faith
In his

emphasis on renewal, Arndt understood faith as absolute

trust in Christ and commitment to him.

Arndt believed that

in the process of spiritual renewal faith becomes a commit

ment to a person rather than a trust in a historic act.

"By

this cordial and unshaken faith, man wholly dedicates his

heart to the Almighty . . .

He partakes of all things that

are of God and of Christ, and is made one spirit with the
Lord."^

Arndt frequently referred to the initiation and

development of spiritual renewal as the "new birth.

Whatever term Arndt used to stress the necessity of spiritual
renewal, his intent was always consistent.

He constantly

sought to emphasize the idea that in spiritual renewal God

acts to transform the whole life of the Christian into holy
living.

1Ibid., pp. 384-85.

2Ibid., p. 13.

3ibld., pp. 14-16.

^Ibld., p. 14.

5lbld., p. 15.

-175Signiflcantly Arndt did not usually refer to baptism

when writing on the regenerative processes of spiritual
renewal as did the orthodox Lutherans of his age.

In this

particular aspect of his proto-Pietism, Arndt can be linked

with many of the later Lutheran Pietists who viewed the
doctrine of baptismal regeneration as popularly conceived,
in an unfavorable light.1

Arndt, like them, thought of

baptism as a once-for-all cleansing which is done by God and

thus becomes both the objective condition of and the inspiration for a holy life.

Yet it would not be correct to accuse

Arndt of departing from the historic Lutheran view of baptism

in his doctrine on spiritual renewal.

In a sermon on the

sacrament of holy baptism, Arndt declared,

"Where the Spirit

of God is, there is also the Spirit's power, salvation,

regeneration, renewal; all this is

the work of

Spirit.

are born again through

Therefore we know that we

baptism . . . and cleansed from our sins."^

the holy

Thus while Arndt

^toeffler, 0. c i t ., "This
was done
by
Arndt and
other Pietists in reaction against
the popular
Lutheran con
ception which treated the perfection resulting from b a p
tismal regeneration as if it precluded the necessity of
living a holy life.", p. 208.
2Ibid.
^Arndt, Catechismus Predigten (Stuttgart:
bey Johann Christoph Betulius, 1771)j p. 563.

zu finden

-176upheld the view that man is declared perfect before God in

baptism, he insisted in his doctrine of spiritual renewal
that baptism brings with it the responsibility to live a life
of true piety before God.

"But, 0 Lord Jesus Christ, because

I died with thee, and was burled with thee in Baptism,"

Arndt wrote in one of his prayers,

"do thou enable me, that

whilst I live in the flesh, I may never live after it."1

The emphasis on spiritual renewal therefore in Arndt's
estimation was essential to his whole concept of personal
piety.

His intent was that of declaring the necessity of a

radical transformation from a state of spiritual death to

one of spiritual life by a creative act of God.

The Nature of Renewal

The term which is most frequently used by Arndt in
designating the general process of spiritual renewal is
"new birth" (neue Geburt) .

Arndt declared that the new

birth is the renewal of a man dead in sin into a man alive

in Christ.

This radical transformation produced by the new

birth is the work of the Holy Spirit.

^rndt,

"The New Birth is

Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. 151.

2Stoeffler, o. c i t ., p. 208.

-177a work of the Holy Ghost, by which man, a sinner, is made

righteous; and from being a child of damnation and wrath, is
made a child of grace and salvation."1

Furthermore Arndt

believed that it is the nature of the new birth to accomplish

its transforming work "through faith, the Word of God, and
O
the Sacraments."

Thus while Arndt insisted that salvation

is an individual matter in his understanding of spiritual

renewal he never divorced it from the religious community.
While faith may be considered a personal trust, the preach
ing of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacra
ments as a function of the church are also an essential part
of the general process of renewal.

Arndt never conceived

of his proto-Pietistic emphasis as a rejection of the church

but rather as a reforming activity within the church.
Arndt linked together justification and sanctifica
tion in his understanding of the nature of renewal.
new birth comprehends two chief blessings, namely,
cation and sanctification, or the renewal of man."^

"The
justifi
He

believed that in justification, the Spirit of Christ in the

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 78 .

2Ibld., p. 8.
3ibid., pp. 7-8.

-178new birth process becomes in man the power which produces a

new life of sanctification.

"Henceforth we must live in the

new birth, and the new birth in us; we must be in Christ and
the spirit of Christ in us."1

Thus as in his emphasis on

living faith, so in his emphasis on the doctrine of renewal

he taught the idea of union with Christ.

At one point in

writing on the subject of man's renewal in Christ, he contrast

ed the "new birth of Christ" in man with man's first birth.
"For as the old birth of Adam is in man by nature, even so
must the new birth of Christ be in him by g r a c e . I n
further commenting on the nature of renewal Arndt declared it
to be available to man through faith as a result of the r e
deeming work of Christ.

In this sense it is said to proceed

from Christ:
It is evident, therefore, that from the
passion and death of Christ, proceed both the
satisfaction made for our sins, and the renew
ing of our nature by faith; and that they both
are necessary to the restoration of fallen man.
. . . Thus the new birth in us proceeds from
Christ.3
Koepp, in commenting on this aspect of renewal in John Arndt's

1Ibid., pp. 9 -10.

2Ibid., p. 8 .
3Ibid., pp. 10-11 .

-179True Christianity, writes that he does not follow so much

the dogmatic orthodoxy of the day, but rather the mystical
speculative thoughts of Eckart and Tauler when declaring
renewal to be the actual work of the indwelling Christ.1
However in the light of Arndt's Biblical emphasis2 it would
appear more accurate to assess his concept of renewal, in
regard to the work of the indwelling Christ, as a combina
tion of Pauline and Johannine thought.
Arndt also taught that faith is inextricably bound
up with renewal.
ica,that

He declared in his "Repetitlo Apologet-

the new birth takes place through faith which

proceeds from Christ and transforms the whole life of the

Christian.^

In asserting that faith is essential in

^Wilhelm Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 39.

2supra., pp. 9^-117.
The passages in Arndt's wr i t
ings that treat the subject of renewal are supported in
most cases by either texts from the Gospel of John or the
writings of Paul.
^This work written as a defense and review of his
teaching in Wahren Christenthum is supplemental to its first
four books.
It constitutes Book VI, Part I.
^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), "Dadurch haben
dieselbe auch eln ander neues Herz bekommen, ein glaublges
Herz fur das unglaubige, ein gehorsames Herz fur das ungehorsame, ein bekehrtes Herz zu Gott, fur das abgekehrte
Herz von Gott, eln kindliches Herz fur das furchtsame
knechtische H e r z . Und also slnd sie wieder neu geboren
durch den Glauben, das Wort der Gnaden und durch den heiligen Geist. Das heist eigentllch die neue Geburt, . T57,
p. 760.

- 180relation to the new birth Arndt is careful to state that it

proceeds from Christ by means of the Word of God.

It is in

this sense that he speaks of faith in relation to spiritual

renewal as a product of the Word of God.

"The Word of God

produces faith; and faith again apprehends the word of God,

and in that word embraces Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost,
by whose spiritual efficacy and virtue man is regenerated or
born anew."1
Arndt thus understood spiritual renewal as God's
creation in the life of man.

He generally referred to this

divine creation in man as the new birth.

Especially impor

tant in Arndt's concept of the nature of spiritual renewal

in his Christocentric position.

All proceeds from Christ

who renovates the will and emotions of man so that he is

born anew.

The Renewed Man

In analyzing Arndt's emphasis on the renewed man as
a product of the new birth, Winter writes that it basically
sets forth the principle that those who do not actively
follow Christ, stand in need of spiritual renewal.

It is

only through the realization of Christ in the inner man as

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 8.

-181the uniting principle between God and man that man reaches
completeness and finis totlus t h e o l o g l a e Arndt frequently
referred to the renewed man as one who has been "renewed in
his heart."

He defines this expression as follows:

Hence, as often as God calls for the heart

of man, we are to understand the whole man, both
as to body and soul, and the powers, faculties,
and operations of both.
In this sense, the word
'hea r t 1 is frequently taken in Scripture; so that
under it are comprehended all the powers of the
soul, as the understanding, will, and memory, to
gether with all the desires and affections attend
ant on them.
So when God demands a man's soul, he,
under that name, requires not a part, but the whole
of man.
He must, in all his powers, be conformed
to God, and renewed in Christ Jesus; and thus man,
having put off the old nature, and being renewed
in the spirit of his mind, must also walk in n e w
ness of life, and in the spirit b y which he was
begotten again.2
Arndt further understood the renewed man to be one
who undergoes two births.

Through the second birth man is

thrown into tension with his first birth.

The tension is

that which takes place between the evil impulses of the

first birth acquired in the fall of the "first Adam," and
the holy impulses awakened by the presence of the "second
Adam," or the redeeming Christ dwelling through the new
birth in the heart of man.

Arndt described this dual

1Julius Winter, o. c i t ., p. 20.

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 144-45.

-182aspect of the renewed man in the following passage:

The birth of every real Christian is two
fold.
The first is 'after the flesh,' the
second, 'after the spirit;' the first is
earthly, but the second is heavenly.
The one
is carnal, sinful and accursed, as descending
from the first Adam by the seed of the ser
pent, after the similitude and image of the
Devil; and by this, the earthly and carnal
nature is propagated.
The other, on the con
trary, is spiritual, holy, and blessed of the
Son of God; and by this is propagated the heaven
ly and spiritual man, the seed and image of God.
Arndt addressed much of what he had to say about the
renewed man to the condition of the will.

When man is r e

newed in Christ, Arndt believed from an observation of his

own life and that of other Christians, the struggle to live
the Christian life takes place primarily in the will.
new life within man, battles constantly
keep

The

with the will to

it from returning to the captivity of sin. In this

struggle Arndt declared that victory is possible only through

%

the help of Christ.

The will to be a Christian is not man's

doing but Christ's sanctifying work in the renewed man.

Arndt wrote:
Our own will is nothing else but a defec
tion or apostasy from God.
Defection verily
is easy, smooth, and pleasant; but the recov
ery from it is bitter, troublesome, and diffi
cult; yea even beyond all the power of the

^-Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 8.

-183creature.
For man, by his own strength, can
neither return, nor in any wise help himself,
whether in will or deed.
Man's will is cap
tive, and his works are dead.
Christ alone
is able to help, in the beginning, the pro
gress, and the end.1
Thus Arndt taught that the renewed man is one who has been
liberated from an enslaved human "will" which is in opposi
tion to God.

This liberation is accomplished in the new

birth wherein Christ transforms man's resisting will into

an obedient will causing him to wholly resign himself to
Christ.2
prayed,

"Let me conquer my own Will by thy Will," Arndt

"and strengthen me to bring my Will into an entire

Subjection to thine only good and holy Will . . . that thy

Will being become my Will, there may be in us but one Will,
one Spirit, and one Heart."3
Arndt sometimes referred to the conflict involved in
the spiritual renewal of man by using the Pauline idea of a
struggle between the flesh and the Spirit.
moreover, demonstrates the same.

"Experience,

Hither may also be referred

that striving and struggling of the flesh and Spirit, from

1Ibid_., p. 183.
2Ibid., p. 184.

^Amdt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. 221.

-184which even the saints are not free."1

Arndt offered consola

tion to those who are troubled by this conflict by declaring

that as long as this conflict is felt in man sin cannot be
said to rule in him.

Furthermore a daily struggle against

one's sinful nature is indicative of true Christianity.

"This daily strife with the old man, is an encouraging evi
dence of the existence of the new man;

. . . the warfare of

the spirit indicates the real Christian.

Arndt also taught that the image of God is constantly
renewed in the renewed man.

"For the whole life of a Chris

tian upon earth, is properly nothing else than a continual

renewing of the image of God in his soul; so that he may
constantly live in the new birth, and dally mortify that
which is old and corrupt till the body of sin be eventually
destroyed.

n4

Thus while Arndt believed man to have been

stripped of the divine image in the fall, which resulted in

a loss of hereditary righteousness, and a right understand
ing of the will of God, he also believed that the new birth

^ r n d t , True Christianity (Sch), p. 185 .

2Ibid., p. 49.

3ibid.
4I b i d ., p. 143.

-185restored all that was lost through the grace of God.

Thus

he w r o t e :
From all this (i.e. the work of renewal),
thou canst easily understand, 0 man, that thou
art never to rely on thine own strength; but
entirely to cleave to the grace of God, which
alone is able to work all this in thy soul.
From him thou art to receive divine knowledge
and wisdom against thy own blindness; his right
eousness, against all thy unrighteousness, his
holiness against all thy impurity; a full re
demption, power, and victory, against death,
hell, and the devil.1
The fact that Arndt taught the restoration of the
image of God as a result of the new birth to be a continu
ing process throughout the whole life of the renewed man,
added force to his demand for praxis pietatis.

In Arndt's

estimation the constant renewing of the image of God in the

renewed man must result at the practical level in a life of
holiness, Christ-like love, charity, meekness, and patience.2
In addition he believed this concept involved not only the
practice of true Christian conduct before men, but also a
careful self-examination to determine whether one is living
in accord with the image of God received in the new birth.
It is with this thought in mind that Arndt insisted:

1Ibid., p. 153.
2Ibid., pp. 212-13.

-186What art thou, then, 0 man, unless Christ

by his spirit regenerate thee, make thee a new
creature, and transform thee Into the image of
God? This new creation necessary as it is, is
however, only begun in this life, and must
struggle under the weight of many infirmaties.
. . . All this urges us incessantly to pray,
sigh, and seek, till the Divine Spirit be b e
stowed upon us, in order to destroy the image
of Satan daily, andto restore the image of God
to u s . 1
Arndt thus understood the renewed life of the Chris
tian from two points of view.

In one sense the renewed life

is a return to a position that man held before the fall.

All

the blessings that rightly belong to man are said to be re

stored by the granting of a second birth through a creative
act of God.

Thus the blessings of forgiveness, restoration

to favor, and a renewed heart are once-for-all granted in

conversion.

In another sense they are an essential part of

the Christian's experience of spiritual growth.

It is in

this second sense that Arndt viewed the renewed man as on a

lifelong journey of spiritual development.

He was not con

tent with a Christianity that begins and ends with a formal

acknowledgment of belief in Christ.

Thus he declared,

"I

desire to show that we bear the name of Christians, not

only

because we ought to believe in Christ, but also because

the name implies that we

1Ib i d ., p. 153.

live in Christ, and that He lives

-187in us."1

To live in Christ means to enter into a whole new

way of life that grows steadily in conformity with Christ's

example and his Gospel.

The renewed man in Arndt's estima

tion is not a man who says,

"I have been renewed and there

fore I will spend the rest of my days giving assent to

theological formulas without any concern for my Christian
conduct."

Rather the renewed man in Arndt's estimation must

encounter life at every point with such an intense love for

Christ that he totally dedicates himself to an imitation of
the life of Christ in all his actions.

"Although we cannot,

in our present weakness, perfectly imitate the holy and

exalted life of Christ,

. . . nevertheless, we ought to

live it, and long to imitate it more fully; for thus we live
in Christ and Christ lives in u s ."^

Thus the love of Christ

compelling the renewed man to live according to his example,

in Arndt's estimation, motivates him to live in accordance
with his new birth.

However to participate totally in the

new birth, man must undergo constant spiritual development.

In stressing this point, Arndt declared that there are three

^Ibid., p. xxxix.

2Ibid.
3 Ibid., pp. xxxix-xl.

- 188levels of "age and maturity" in the spiritual maturation of

the renewed man:
As there are different degrees of age and
maturity in the natural life; so are there also
in the spiritual.
This life has its first
foundation in sincere repentance, by which a
man sets himself heartily to amend his life.
This is succeeded by an increase of light, when
by contemplation, prayer, and bearing the cross,
a man is daily improving in grace, and growing
up to perfection.
The last and most perfect
state is that which consists in firm union, which
is founded in, and cemented by, pure love.
This
is the state which St. Paul calls the 'perfect
man,' and 'the measure of the stature of the ful
ness of Christ.'1
Such a "measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ," Arndt stated, can be attained only through the r e
generating powers of Christ's Spirit who leads the Christian
into a lifelong struggle with his own infirmities.

Here,

too, the renewed man must work consciously at his salvation

through self-examination and perseverance in faith as long
as he lives in order to reach spiritual maturity.
If thou dost but look into thyself, even
after thou art become a new creature through
the Holy Ghost, it will plainly appear that
the image of God is but slightly delineated,
and as it were, shadowed out in thee . . .
Whence it follows, that to the very last
moment of our lives, we must, by the Spirit

1Ibld., p. 375.

-189of God, continually wrestle with the old

Adam, and with the image of Satan.1
Thus Arndt defined the renewed man as one who is constantly
developing in the new birth.

There is no place for a static

Christian life in this concept.

All that takes place in

spiritual renewal must work itself out in an ever-maturing

response of holy devotion to God through Christ and praxis
pietatis before men.

The Influence of Arn d t 1s Doctrine of Renewal

Above all it was Arndt's doctrine of renewal stress
ing the necessity of the new birth leading to a conscious
experience of piety in the Christian that influenced the de
velopment of Lutheran Pietism.

The reason for this is that

all his theological insights are inextricably bound up with

his emphasis on the new life.
essence of Pietism.

This emphasis is the very

All of the men who followed in the Arndtian school of

thought likewise stressed the necessity of the new birth
leading to a conscious experience of piety in the Christian.

1Ibid., pp. 152-53.

2Stoeffler,

ojd .

c l t ., p. 209.

3stoeffler, ojd. c l t ., cf. his section on "Pietism

Within the Reform Party,11 p p . 217-27 pass i m .

- 190Henry Muller1 best summarized their thinking on this point

when he wrote,

"You may bring knowledge into the brain but

the heart will still remain quite empty, cold, and dead.
How few there are who give room for a loving entry of God
into their hearts .1,2
Half a century later, Philip Jacob Spener acknow
ledged the influence of Arndt's doctrine of renewal on his
own thinking when he wrote:
Whether someone has more powerfully ex
plained the foundation of the new birth than
the blessed Arndt, is not only not known to
me but it is somewhat difficult to comprehend,
since I hold in high esteem such a precious
man as an instrument of God, who so fully under
stood the essential parts of the divine counsel
concerning our salvation, to which the new birth
also belongs, and was also able to instruct
others in this matter.

^Henry Muller (1631-1675) became the prime mover of

the reform group within Lutheranism. He gained considerable
notoriety for opposing what he called the four dumb idols
of Lutheranism, namely, the baptismal font, the pulpit, the
confessional chair, and the altar.
His deepest concern had
to do with the personal piety of individual Christians.
All
the reforms in the life of the Church which he advocated
were directed toward this end.
C f . The New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, VIII, 40.

2A m o l d Schleiff, Selbst Kritlk der luthe rise hen

Kirchen im 17.. Jahrhundert (Berlin: Junker und Dunnhaupt,
1937), PP. 16-17.
3philip Jakob Spener, Theologisches Bedencken
(4 Theile: Halle:
In Verlegung des Waysen-Hauses, 17121715), III, 186 .

-191The Influence of Arndt's doctrine of renewal on Spener is

also evident in his sermons which for the most part treat
the theme of rebirth.1
Arndt's doctrine of renewal as a living experience
was also taken up by August Hermann Prancke after his moving
experience of conversion.

It was Prancke's insistence on the

necessity for rebirth to show itself in outward conduct

that was mainly responsible for his expulsion from the
University of Leipsic.

From here he went to Halle, where

his teaching likewise centered about the Arndtian conception of rebirth and total commitment to Christ.

Thus one

can find again in rich measure the Arndtian emphasis on the

new life through rebirth in the theology of Francke who was
familiar with its concept as set forth in True Christianity.3

Summary of Arn d t 's Doctrine of Renewal

What is implicit in the foregoing discussion should
now be stated explicitly in summary fashion.

^eigelt,

Arndt empha-

ojd. c i t ., p. 71 *

2Priedrich Kantzenbach, Orthodoxie und Pietlsmus

(Gutersloh:
Gutersloher Verlagshaus, 1966), p. 50.
^Weigelt, o. c i t ., p. 48.

-192sized the doctrine of spiritual renewal in his writings

because he believed its teaching to be absolutely essential
to true Christianity.

He taught that there could be no true

Christianity where a new creature is not formed.

He believed

that all genuine piety is a result of God's saving work in

the individual.

Thus he taught that all true piety must

originate from the transforming work of Christ in the

"heart."

By the term "heart," Arndt meant the whole m a n .

In this sense Arndt looked on the renewed man as the total

ity of the creation of the person.

To express this radical

transformation, Arndt frequently used the term "new birth."

By this term Arndt meant that the renewed man is one in whom
there has taken place the miracle of new life in the spiritual
aspect of his being.

Because of this, Arndt taught that man

is renewed "from the inside out" by Christ who through his

Word and Spirit works true faith in the individual.
Arndt declared that the renewed man, as a consequence
of the new birth, lives in two dimensions.
man of "two births."

He is called a

The first birth is "natural and com

pletely subject to sin;"

the second,

blessed of the Son of God."

"spiritual, holy, and

The "second birth," or "new

birth" restores the image of God which according to Arndt's

teaching, was lost in the fall of man.

Although the image

-193of God is restored in the new birth, it must constantly be

renewed.

This is accomplished by daily resigning the whole

self to Christ through the practice of repentance and prayer

in total commitment to the person of Christ.

Thus the

renewed man is said to be engaged in a lifelong conflict

with sin that attacks the new life through the nature that
he has acquired in the first birth.

The focal point of this

attack is declared by Arndt to be primarily the "natural

will."

It is only when this will is sacrificed to Christ

that the power of sin to reign in the total person is broken

and the renewed man is able to continue in a life of piety.
Thus Arndt's concept of the total process of renewal is
that of a continual growth even though there is a lifelong
conflict with sin at the personal level.

The final result

of this continual growth, Arndt declared, is an obtainment

of the stature of a perfect man in Christ.

Arndt therefore

taught that the new life implies, on the one hand, a daily
dying to the allurements of the world and a daily dying to
the natural self.

On the other hand, it implies love for God

who has revealed himself to man in Christ.

Once a Christian

has freed himself from the allurements of the world, has

died to the natural desires of the self, and is wholly com
mitted to God in his total person, a life of piety which

-194expresses the Christian ethic follows.

It is this life that

Arndt constantly emphasized as the ideal.

This insight into

the nature of the new life as a consequence of the new birth

formed the basis of most of Arndt's major work, True Chris
tianity.

It was also this understanding of the new life as

taught by Arndt which became the very essence of later

Lutheran Pietism which followed in the Arndtian tradition
and climaxed in Spener and Francke.
Arndt's emphasis on the doctrine of renewal can also
be viewed as an explicit criticism of those who believed that
the major work of the church was to develop and maintain
pure Lutheran doctrine.

In his insistence that the general

process of the new birth is an experience that is orientated

toward the whole Christian life, Arndt was of a different
spirit than that of the orthodox party within the Lutheran
Church of his period.

Arndt believed that orthodoxy in its

noble desire to maintain purity of Lutheran doctrine by

insisting on a rigid confessionalizing of Lutheranism had
unwittingly created notional Christianity.

Arndt, on the

other hand, was unwilling that anything but the vital fruitbearing knowledge of God through Christ in the "heart," should
be called true Christianity.
In the third part of this dissertation an attempt

-195will be made to study and analyze Arndt's understanding of

the basic features of the Christian life.

Particular atten

tion will be given to the place of man's response in the

practice of personal piety.

PART III

THE BASIC FEATURES OF ARNDT'S UNDERSTANDING

OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

CHAPTER IX
THE DAILY PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE

The Need for Daily Repentance

The place of daily repentance is so important in
Arndt's religious thought that it must he considered a
dominant feature of the Christian life.

In his teaching of

repentance one sees an element of Pietistic religious life

in Germany as early as 1600 which emphasizes holiness and
sanctification marked by an undogmatic inwardness.

Refer

ring to this aspect of Arndt's devotional teaching Friedmann

asserts

"In this new piety the doctrine of justification by

faith, the pivot of Luther's teaching, was replaced b y a

Protestant mysticism connected with a certain idea of holi
ness."^

So essential is repentance to Arndt's piety that

Kantzenbach notes that, for Arndt, repentance is actually

the beginning of Christian life; from initial repentance the
Christian grows into more and more inward enlightenment with

^Robert Friedmann, Mennonlte Piety Through the

Centuries (Goshen:
The Mennonite Historical Society,
pp. 23-4.

19^9),

-198the increase of God's gifts.1

Ritschl also indicates that

Arndt sees repentance as necessary to the practice of Chris

tian living, as it brings about the death of the old man and
the revival of the new.

Maier, in the foreword to Arndt's

Passions und Oster-Predigten, implies in a footnote that

Arndt developed this idea from Luther's greater Catechism
where he states that there must be a daily dying and raising
to new life in the Christian.
A working definition of repentance is given in
Chapter IV, Book I of True Christianity:
Repentance, or true conversion, is the work
of the Holy Spirit, under the influence of which
man, through the law, acknowledges his sin, and
the wrath of God provoked against it; and
earnestly mourns over his offences; and then,
understanding, through the Gospel, the grace of
God, by faith in Christ Jesus, he obtains the
remission of his sins. By this repentance, the
mortification or crucifying of the flesh, and
of all carnal lusts and pleasures, is carried on;
together with the quickening of the spirit, or
the resurrection of the new man in Christ.
Under
the exercise of repentance, therefore, the old
Adam, with his corruptions, dies within us; and

1Friedrich W. Kantzenbach, Orthodoxle und Pletismus

(Gutersloh, Gutersloher Verlagshaus, 1966 ), p. 71.
2Albrecht Ritschl, o p . cit., II, 44-5.
3Johann Arnds, Gekreusslgter und Wieder auferstandener
Christus Das 1 s t : Passions und Oster-Predigten e t c . (Nordlingen: bey Georg Gottfr. Mundbach, 1740), p. 13.

-199Christ lives in us by faith . . .^

John Arndt was under no illusion about how much his
writings might accomplish.

He was not out to change the

world as such, but to call Christians to return to the prac

tice of the Christian life through repentance.

He believed

that salvation was already present in the Lutheran Church

through the preaching of the Word and the administering of
the Sacraments.

So he taught that individual lives could be

transformed into the best possible Christian lives by the

practice of repentance.

This outlook also explains his pre

occupation with the living presence of Christ in the hearts

and wills of Individual men.

In the preface to the second

book of True Christianity, he declares the place and neces

sity of repentance for the Christian:
But, even as the fruits of righteousness and
of the Spirit are to grow up in us and wax strong,
so must the fruits of the flesh, in proportion,
decay and decrease.
And this is the daily, effec
tual, and unfeigned repentance, wherein a Christian
ought constantly to be employed, if ever the flesh
be mortified, and the Spirit be restored to
dominion.
This idea of repentance leading to daily personal encounter
with Christ, and the rejection of worldly living on the part

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 11.

2Ibid., p. 157 .

-200of the Christian, are later stressed in the adiaphoric con

troversies over Lutheran Pietism.1

Dlllenberger and Welch

comment on this twofold aspect of Pietism:

Thus, Pietism was both personal and impersonal.
It was personal in the sense of awakening each man
to the unique and direct way in which the Spirit
of Christ can transform human life.
It was imper
sonal in that excessive emphasis upon the new life
made many impatient of professions of piety which
still exhibited marks of worldliness.
To be in
Christ meant to reject that which was not of
Christ, and to have no traffic with it.
It was
inevitable that those not in sympathy with this
outlook felt judged rather than exhorted, and
^
suspected a bit of unintended self-righteousness.
In the preface to the first book of True Christianity
Arndt stressed the need for repentance among the Lutheran
Christians of his day:
That the holy Gospel is subjected, in our
age, to a great and shameful abuse, is fully
proved by the ungodly and impenitent life of those
who loudly boast of Christ and of his word, while
their unchristian life resembles that of persons
who dwell in a land of heathens and not of Chris
tians.
Such an ungodly course of conduct furnished
me with an occasion for writing this Treatise; it
was my object to show to plain readers wherein
true Christianity consists, namely, in the exhibi
tion of a true, living, and active faith, which

^Allman K. Swihart, Luther and the Lutheran Church

1483-1960 (New York:
Philosophical Library^ i960 ), pp. 187-

88.
2John Dlllenberger and Claude Welch, Protestant
Christianity Interpreted Through its Development (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955)7 p. 125.

-201manifests itself in genuine godliness and the

fruits of righteousness.1
Further in the same preface Arndt presented the importance
of sincerity in repenting (Herzens-B u s s e ) that Shows forth
in the conduct of one's life.

In the Bronner edition of Wahren Chrlstenthum, pub

lished in 1768, there is a long foreword by Arndt in which
he writes of the necessity of repentance in order to ex
perience the righteous fruits of the forgiveness of sins,
the grace of God, eternal life and the blessings of the
Sacraments.3
Repentance in Arndt's estimation, is also necessary
on the part of the Christian if he is to daily continue in
true union with God.

In the sixth chapter of Book V of

Wahren Christenthum, Arndt wrote,

"Wholesome repentance

brings spiritual marriage and union again with him (God)."^

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xxxix.

2Ibid., p. x l i i .
3John Arndt, Sgmtllche Bucher vom Wahren Christenthum (Frankfurt am Mayn:
Heinrich Ludwig Bronner, 1768),
p. 4.
^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz). "Die hellsame
Busse aber brlngt die geistllche Verehellchung und Verelnigung wlederum mit sich." pp. 719-20.

-202Further, if the Christian does not return to the practice

of daily repentance he is said to be in spiritual darkness
and loses all warmth and joy in his heart.1

Finally, Arndt

taught that repentance is a necessary part of daily piety

because it is linked up with the struggle against original
sin and the renewal of the image of God in the Christian:
The whole Christian life can dare be nothing
other than a spiritual struggle against original
sin, and cleansing of the same through the Holy
Spirit and through true repentance.
The more you
suppress original sin, the more you will daily
renew the image of God. Then follows the fruits
of repentance, namely renewal in Christ, daily
crucifying and mortification of the flesh, the
denial of its self, the despising of the world,
the exercise of love.2
Following this statement Arndt referred his readers to Book
I, Chapters 4l and 42 of his True Christianity.^

He also

taught that the blood and death of Christ will be of no

help to those who do not repent:**

". . . it is absolutely

impossible that those should be enlightened by the Spirit,

Ijohn Arndt, Sechs Geistreiche Bucher vom Wahren

Christenthum (Schaffhausen:
Emanuel Hurter, 1737), P* 1135.
2Arndt, Wahren Chrlstenthum (Mentz), p. 912.

3lbid.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 22.

-203and the light of eternal truth, who live in darkness and

impenitence.

The Essential Qualities of Repentance

The essential qualities of repentance as Arndt pr e
sents them in True Christianity involve an understanding of
the nature of man and a daily self-examination and selfcriticism to see whether one is truly Christ's disciple or
whether one has succumbed to worldliness.
In order to understand the nature of repentance, one
must be aware of the distinction between the old and the new
man in every Christian.

Arndt contrasts the two as follows:

In every Christian there is found a twofold

man, opposed, like their fruits, to one another.
This will more fully appear from the following
statement:
Adam,
Old man,
Outward man,
Old birth,
Flesh,
Nature,
Reason,
Darkness,
Tree of death,
Evil fruit,
Sin,
Damnation,
Death,
Old Jerusalem,

1Ibid., p. 122.

Christ.
New man.
Inward man.
New birth.
Spirit.
Grace.
Faith.
Light.
Tree of life.
Good fruit.
Righteousness.
Salvation.
Life.
New Jerusalem.

-204Kingdom of the devil,

Seed of the serpent,
Natural man,
Image of the earthly,

Kingdom of God.
Seed of God.
Spiritual man.
1
Image of the heavenly.

Arndt maintains that much of Scripture turns on the dual

nature of man, and that the knowledge of this dual nature
gives rise to true repentance.

This repentance, of course,

is inseparable from the life of Christ dwelling in the

inward man and creating all that is necessary to establish
the new life:
Out of the same fountain issue true repentance
or the death of Adam, and the life of Christ . . . .
But if . . . Christ live in any one, then verily
there live and reign with him the new and inward
man, the new birth, the Spirit, the grace, faith,
light, the tree of life, good fruits, righteous
ness, life, happiness, the seed of God, the spir
itual man, the heavenly image, the new Jerusalem,
and the kingdom of God.
Here is a matter of impor
tance, namely, so to order one's life and conduct,
that Christ the new or second Adam, and not the old
Adam, may live and reign in us.3
For those who already profess to be Christians but who lack
the power to be disciples in the full sense of the word,
Arndt calls repentance the key by which the Christian
translates the theological concepts of "new birth," "grace,"

1Ibid., p. 184.
2Ibid., p. 185
3 Ibid.

-205"righteousness," "faith," and "the spiritual man" into modes

of experiential living that structure the life of true piety.
Repentance is therefore, the Christian's method of trans
lating theology into life.

This aspect of Arndt's thought

is reasserted by later German Lutheran Pietism as an answer

to the arid Christianity that plagued the Lutheran Church
of the seventeenth century.

Tired of the theological specu

lations of the Protestant scholastics, later Lutheran

Pietists would point to the need of a practical and penetrat
ing power of the Gospel that would affect the wills and
hearts of men.

Without repentance leading to the new birth,

all theological disputes were irrelevant, even detrimental,

as they could lead only to a loss of Christian vitality.
Seen in perspective, for both Arndt and the later Pietists,
doctrinal differences were not to be stressed.

What really

mattered was the practice of daily self-examination leading

to repentance as a result of one's union with Christ.
In the tenth chapter of Book II of True Christianity.
Arndt gives four essential qualities of true repentance.
First, the practice of self-denial:

the true Christian is

to think of himself as the most inconsiderable of all men

and creatures.

"In this manner for a man to despise himself

Is truly to deny himself.1,1

In the practice of repentance

the Christian is to hate himself:

"He Is to crucify the

flesh with its affections and lusts, and to abhor in himself

its whole offspring, as the work of the devil himself, tend
ing only to increase and nourish the perverse seed of
original depravity."3

In this attitude of self-abasement

he is to take up the cross and follow the Lord.

"If the

heart of a Christian be brought to a sense of this vileness

(i.e., that he is unworthy of God's blessings), then it is
truly contrite and humble, and fit to be made a living
sacrifice unto the Lord.

,.4

repentance Arndt declared:

In stating another quality of

"A second property of true

repentance, is t grieve at nothing so much as at the

offences offered to God himself.

A third essential qual

ity of repentance is the deep awareness of one's fallings:

"That is a heart truly penitent, which is deeply sensible of
its own weakness."

The three essential qualities involving

complete self-denouncement lead to the fourth quality,

1Ibid_., pp. 201-202.

3Ibid.,

p. 202.

5lbid., p. 203.

2I b i d ., p. 201.
4I b l d .
6Ibid., p. 204.

-207which is more positive:

the state of union with God."1

The

first three qualities are reminiscent of the "Way of Purga

tion" of medieval mysticism leading to the desired experience
of union.

Arndt, however, states that the union of which he

writes is true conversion.

"As by sin a man is divorced

from God, so by true conversion, he is again united to him."

Kantzenbach holds that Arndt's tone here follows that of The
Theology of the Cross of Christ, attributed to Angela de
Foligno, a nun of the thirteenth century.

Repentance Increases True Piety

In Arndt's estimation, repentance is essential to
faith and helps to translate it into pious living.

He is

convinced that faith is completely misunderstood when it is

considered only as a guarantee of salvation without any
desire for the renunciation of sin.

If the Christian is to

acquire the benefits that stem from the merits of Christ in

faith, he must practice repentance.

He must have genuine

1Ibid., p. 205 .
2Ibld., p . 206.
^Friedrich Kantzenbach, ojd . c i t . "Auch die, Theologie
des Kreuzes Jesu Christ!, aus der Feder einer Nonne des 1 3 .
Jahrhunderts, Angela de Foligno, hat Arnd im Zweiten Buch
. . . benutzt.1' P. 42.

-208sorrow for sins, which leads to a dying of sin.1

"if Christ,

by his most precious blood, is to become our medicine it

cannot be doubted that we must be in a diseased state, and
that we must, for ourselves, feel that we are so."

Arndt

avers that it is false to lay claim to the merits of Christ

through faith without repentance:
But certain and obvious as these truths are in
themselves, there are many that call themselves
Christians who never repented, and who yet presume
to lay claim to a share in the merits of Christ,
and in the remission of sins which he has pur
chased.
They have not ceased to indulge their
accustomed wrath, covetousness, pride, malice,
envy, hypocrisy, and unrighteousness, but have
rather become more and more enslaved by them . . .
they expect forgiveness of sin, and presumptuously
apply to themselves the merits of Christ as a defence
against the impending judgment of Almighty God.
And
though this is one of the grossest and most palpable
of errors, yet they do not hesitate to bestow upon
it the specious name of faith by which they hope for
salvation.'
In Arndt's estimation, to boast that one has faith
without the practice of daily repentance is thus selfflattery and leads only to a speculative knowledge of the
gospel.

"This alas, is not faith, but fancy; and thou art

an unhappy, and a most awfully infatuated false Christian

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p.22.

2Ibid.

3ibid., p. 24.

-209if thou canst suffer thyself to be deluded in this manner.

Never did the Word of God teach such a doctrine."1

According

to Arndt, there can be no genuine living faith without the

Christian daily struggling against his sinful nature through
repentance.
Loscher,

Thus, contrary to the later estimation of

piety and faith do involve the struggle of repent-

ance (Busskampf) as a true mark of Arndt's Pietism.

For

Arndt, faith is intimately bound up with the daily struggle

of repentance in order to desist from one's sins:
This faith is a very active principle in the
soul.
It daily strives against the old man; it
tames the flesh, and subjects it to the Spirit;
it converts the whole man; it subdues and van
quishes sin; it purifies the heart.
He is a
true believer who turns from the world, from sin
and the devil, to God, and seeks rest and comfort
wholly and entirely in the blood, death, and
merit of Christ . . . . Whoever, therefore,
imagines that his sins may be pardoned, although
he does not desist from them, is most miserably
deluded.

1Ibid.
2Valentine Ernest Loscher (1709-1747 )> superintendant
at Dresden, championed the teaching of orthodox Lutheran
doctrine, against the Pietists at Halle.
His Vollstandiger
Timotheus Verinus, published in 1718-1721, is considered the
most important anti-Pietistic work of the time.
^Hans-Martin Rotermund, Orthodoxie Und Pietismus
(Berlin:
Evangelische Verlagsenstalt, 1959).
'Diesen 'char
acter 1 des Pietismus 1st, wie wlr sahen, von Iffscher nicht in
der besonderen Auspragung von, Busskampf und Bekehrunsstunde
. . . . p. 114.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 112.

-210True piety is thus increased in the practice of

repentance.

When man becomes aware of the need of daily

forgiveness of sins, he also sees the legitimate place of

repentance.

Associated with repentance and the increase

of piety is also the work of the Holy Spirit.

Arndt affirms

that faith associated with repentance leading to true piety

is not a human work, but a divine work effected and inspired
in the heart by the Holy Spirit.1

Man must ascribe to God

all that begins with and arises out of the practice of

repentance.^
Arndt further maintains that self-hatred, denial,
and mortification are not initially the result of a man's
own will and innate ability, but the work of God and the
3
result of his divine power.

The work of the Holy Spirit

awakens man to a knowledge of his sins through the law,

and at the same time makes him aware of God's wrath.
answer to this predicament,

In

the gospel justifies the practice

of repentance leading to the forgiveness of sins in Christ.

1Ibid., p. 168 .
2Ibid., pp. 182-83.
3Ibid., p. 168 .
^Arndt, Wahren Chrlstenthum (Mentz), p. 906 .

-211Fur the r, repentance channels the work of grace so as to

create a new heart in man.'* Man is sick and in need of heal
ing; through repentance he receives the necessary medication
of grace to restore him to right spiritual living.
turn results in all the pious fruits of faith.

This in

One may conclude that Arndt seeks to draw the Chris

tian religion from the locus of a mere formal and concep
tual framework and place it in the area of experiential
living by advocating daily repentance.

He is very careful

not to make repentance merely an exercise for man, but

attempts to show that it is essential to the whole meaning
of true Christianity in co-operation with the divine will.
The practice of daily repentance is the one way in which
a true Christian can assure himself that he is practicing
the self-criticism so essential to the humble and gracious
quality of Christian living.

Thus in Arndt's understanding

of the Christian life, repentance not only as a first step

in conversion, but as a continuing daily practice is essen
tial to the practice of valid Christian living.

1Ibid., p. 907.
2Ibid.
3I b i d ., p. 908.

CHAPTER X
THE PRACTICE OF TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVE

Arndt's Motivation To Emphasize Love

The proto-Pietlstic emphasis on the practice of true
Christian love found throughout Arndt's writings emerged
from the situation of Arndt's own life and the environment
of his age.

John Arndt suffered considerable unpleasantness

during most of his life.

At the very start of his ministry,

he was forced to leave his native territory by Duke Johann

George because he refused to do away with the practice of
exorcism in the service of Lutheran baptism.'*

^-Exorcism was a term applied to the practice of expel

ling evil spirits during baptism.
The early church practiced
the rite on its catechumens.
It was later put into the for
mula used with baptism of infants.
Exorcism conformed to
Luther's formula of baptism of 1523.
This included the exsufflatio, a thrice-breathing in the child's face to drive
out unclean spirits.
In 1526 Luther omitted it from his for
mula, but remnants of it could be found in most Lutheran
service-books.
Debate over exorcism arose, the Calvinist
position being that It was not a valid part of the service.
C f . The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Know
ledge, e d . Samuel M. Jackson (12 v o l s .; Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1949), IV, 250.
-212-

-213When he found a new pastorate at Quedlinburg, he soon

fell under the vindictiveness of a cantankerous faction b e
cause of his Pietistic preaching against the moral failings
of the people.

Moving to Braunschweig in 1599 > he became

involved in a power struggle between the city and Duke

Julius;

the result was a long siege against the city and

considerable moral decay.

It was in this trying period of

his life that he wrote True Christianity.

Professor John Plscator he wrote:

In a letter to

"Through this disintegra

tion of true Christianity I was moved to write of love,

under which circumstance the thoughts occurred to me, out
of which my books came."1
At the end of the sixteenth century the three main
European religious parties, Roman Catholic, Reformed and
Lutheran, had their beliefs safely set down in standards of
faith, with each party believing that it had the only true
faith.

By the beginning of the seventeenth century these

differences had risen to bitter strife often accompanied by

coarse personal attack.

One authority says of this conten

tion:
Never before had religious differences
asserted themselves with so embittered a

^Winter, o p . clt., p. 31.

-214vehemence, as if pen and speech in their innumer

able smitings of the adversary were striving to
anticipate the decision of the sword.
The need for emphasis on the practice of Christian love was
paramount.

What had begun in the sixteenth century as a

movement to purify the doctrine and reform the practices

of the Roman Catholic Church had divided Christendom into a
number of hostile and apparently irreconcilable confessions.
In commenting on the internal strife of post-Reformation
Christendom, another historical study of the time declares:
If questions of church government and eccles
iastical organization played a very important role,
so did doctrinal issues . . . which were hotly
debated by intellectuals and simple folk alike,
while the more tangible sources of immediate con
flict in family, town, and court were often more
provided by their ethical and political implica
tions .
It is therefore in light of these conditions of strife
and conflict which surrounded Arndt that he enunciates as
an essential part of Christian piety the need for the prac
tice of Christian love at every level of life.

^Cambridge Modern History (New York:

Publishing Co., 1903), IV, 5*

Macmillan

2Charles Blitzer and Carl J. Friedrich, The Age of

Power (New York:
Cornell University Press, 1965), p. 40.

-215Essentlal Properties of True Christian Love

According to Arndt, the source of Christian love Is
union with God.

In Introducing this idea Arndt wrote:

"Love

unites him who loves with the person loved, and transforms
into the same nature."1

Further, it is this love in union

with God that causes man to surpass his own nature.

Accord

ing to Arndt, the characteristic marks of this love are four:

1. Love submits itself to the will of the
beloved.
2. True love abandons all friendship
which is contrary to its beloved.
3. One friend
reveals his heart unto the
ther.
4. A true
lover endeavors to be made comformable to his
beloved, in his manners and in all his life.
Arndt applied these four characteristics to the work
of Jesus Christ in the Christian.

When once the Christian

becomes aware of these, he is to apply them in his life as

essential properties in his own Christian experience.

in this way becomes noble virtue, power, soundness and

purity.

It is also as a result of this loving union with

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 478.

2Ibid.
3Ibid., p . 248.
^Ibid.
5lbid., p. 245.

Love

-216Chrlst that man becomes aware of God as the supreme beauty,1

the Infinite omnipotence,

the highest righteousness and

holiness,J and the eternal wisdom.

In setting forth one of the characteristics of love

as resignation, Arndt wrote:
The most certain token of love to God . . .
is this that we receive all the adversities which
God shall think fit to lay upon us, without any
impatience in thought, word, or actions.
If we
do this, without doubt we truly love God; if not,
it is certain that we do not love him sincerely,
but prefer ourselves and our own things to him;
though nothing can be properly said to be a
man's own but sin; everything else is God's.
Arndt in further commenting on the essential proper
ties of love stated that it is the summary of all the
commandments, that love of God requires a heart empty of
worldly affections; that love must rise from a good conscience and out of a sincere faith.

Concerning love as the

agent of true faith Arndt wrote:

Faith should work all things in a Christian
through love; and love should be the agent of
faith, as the body is the agent of the soul.
The
soul sees and hears, speaks and acts, through the
body, to which she is united; so, 0 man, should

1Ibid., p. 262.

2Ibi d ., p. 263.

3Ibid.. p. 264.

^Ibid., p. 266.

5lbid., p. 406.

6Ibid., pp. 77-82.

-217the love of God, springing from faith, do all

things in and through thee.1
In this aspect of A r n d t s religion there is evidence
of Bernardian influence, especially in the idea that true
Christian love draws its validity from union with God.

One can also see the Augustlnian influence in Arndt's

religious thought when he equates will with love.

Arndt

maintained that man's will must be resigned to and dependent

upon the will of God, which is the very essence of love of
God.^

In setting forth the essential properties of love,

however, Arndt relied, for the most part, upon the Pauline
concept of love as presented in the New Testament.
Finally, an essential property of Christian love
according to Arndt is that of sharing not only in the love
that God supplies, but also in the love of all who have been
truly renewed in Christ:
If I love God, then I share in the love of
all the inhabitants of the city of God, a love
that far surpasses the highest degree of worldly

^Ibid., p. 79*
^Bernard, o p . c l t ., pp. 48-54.
3Roy W. Battenhouse, ed., A_ Companion to the Study
of St_. Augustine (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1947).
^ h a t else is love (caritas) except will, asks Augustine."
p. 304.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 405.

-218affection.
And as all the heavenly host have
the highest love of God, and rejoice in his
honor, so is their joy proportionably great at
every step of our conversion, and their happiness
is enhanced by every advance which we make in the
love of G o d .

The Need to Avoid Self-Love

If the practice of Christian love rises from a devo
tional life grounded in faith and resulting in a loving union
with God, then there must be a distinction between this love
of God and self-love.

Arndt was very much aware that a con

fusion between self-love and Christian love occurs easily

in the practice of religion.

He believed self-love to be

the cause of the jealous and slandering spirit among many

of the clergymen of his day which frequently led to open
controversy in the church.

In his proto-Pietistic emphasis

on Christian love he stressed that true Christian behavior

must avoid all self-love in its practice:
It is the property of true love, to respect
God alone in everything, and not self. It refers
all to God; it does not love or honor self; it is
not intent upon personal glory or interest; but
it undertakes everything with a free and disinter
ested regard to God and man. He who Is endued
with Christian love, loves God and his neighbor
with pure affection, because God is the sovereign

1Ibid., p. 403-

-219Good, to which we ought to adhere.1

Thus, because of Arndt's personal trials and the con
troversies which raged within the Lutheran Church, Arndt
advocated the need for intense self-examination in regard
to the practice of love.

He believed that without daily

self-contempt for one's self-love, and a sincere practice of

true Christian love, man was still subject to the power of
original sin, and fit for damnation:
Self-love biases the judgment, blinds the
understanding, disturbs the reason, seduces the
will, corrupts the conscience, closes the gates
of life, and acknowledges neither God nor neigh
bor.
It banishes virtue; seeks after honors,
riches and pleasures; and, in a word, prefers
earth to Heaven . . . . Self-love is the root of
impenitence, and the cause of damnation.
They
who are controlled by self-love and self-honor
are destitute of humility and a knowledge of sin;
consequently, they never can obtain the remission
of sin, though they seek it with tears; their
tears not being shed because they have offended
God, but merely on account of the personal loss
which they have sustained.
Arndt felt that a major factor contributing to the
loss of Christian piety in his generation was the confusion
of self-love with Christian love.

He believed self-love to

be the source of active evil in man:

^rndt,

"In short, the whole

True Christianity (Sch), pp. 113-14.

2Ibid., p. 44.

-220life of the children of this generation consists of the love

of the world, self-love, self-honor and self-seeking."^
Arndt begins the tenth chapter of his first book of True
Christianity with a long harangue against the evils of selflove.

He calls his generation "wholly unchristian, totally

repugnant . . . made up of insatiable avarice, sordid and

self-seeking manners, worldly cares, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life."

Motivated by

the hostility shown him in his ministry, Arndt wrote:

"Add

to these the jealousies, the revenge, the secret feuds, and

calumnies, the lies and perjuries, together with all the
impurity and unrighteousness with which the world so exceedO
ingly abounds.
In the fourth book of True Christianity, Arndt once
more refers to self-love as the source of all evil.

But

for the sake of those who desire to practice Christian love,

he draws a comparison between self-love and the love of God:
Thus self-love, when it rules and is uppermost
in men, makes them enemies to God, fills them with
all iniquity, and brings them into subjection to
the creatures.
As the love of God dilates and
enlarges the soul, so the love of ourselves contracts

1Ibid., p. 27.

2Ibid.

3lbid.

^Ibld., p. 481.

-221and straitens it, making it unjust, corrupt,

proud, and covetous.
As the love of God makes
us quiet, easy, peaceable, and benevolent; so
the love of ourselves makes us unquiet, turbu
lent, and ill-natured.
As the love of God reinstates
us in the liberty of the sons of God; so self-love
makes us slaves to the creatures.
The one gives us
firmness and constancy of mind and will; the other
makes us inconstant and changeable.
The one makes
a man courteous, courageous, generous and obliging;
the other makes him sour, timorous, mean, and an
enemy to everybody but himself.1
According to Arndt, self-love is arrogance on the part
of man, an attempt to set oneself up in God's stead.

It

destroys the creature-Creator relationship in its proper

form and leads one to rebel against God:
As God is the beginning and end of all things,
so the first and chief love of man is due to him.
And whosoever transfers it to any other object,
really and truly makes that his god; which is the
greatest affront that can be offered to his divine
Majesty.
For as it is the nature of love to unite
the lover with the thing beloved, so the fixing of
our love upon any creature separates and alienates
us from the Creator. Whosoever principally loves
himself, certainly loves everything else solely
for his own sake; which he ought to love purely
for the sake of God; and so all his love is founded
in and upon himself, which ought to be fixed entire
ly upon G o d .2
While Arndt devoted much thought to the problem of
self-love, he also suggested a remedy for it.

1Ibid.
2lbid., p. 480.

He believed

-222self-love to be definitely linked with the fallen nature

of man; as such it can be cured only through the redeeming
work of Christ in the spirit of man.

It is the merit of

Christ that purges the faithful believer

of the evil of

self-

love :
The remedy by which a thorough cure may be
wrought in fallen man, is wholly to be sought in
the precious merit of Christ apprehended by faith.
By this we are renewed in Christ, and the flesh
is crucified, with its sinful desires.
Then we
love ourselves no more, but on the contrary we
hate ourselves . . . . We do not honor or extol,
but deny and mortify ourselves. We no more seek
our own glory and interest; but, denying all we
have, we withdraw our pleasure and trust from
everything whatsoever it be . . . and manfully
fight with our own flesh and blood. Whosoever
refuses to comply with these terms, can in no
case be a disciple of Christ; since this is the
only means by which the natural degeneracy of
our heart is to be subdued, and a sound conver
sion is to be effected.1
True Christian discipleship, therefore in Arndt's understand
ing involves the overcoming of self-love through the practice
of self-criticism by means of the grace of God offered to
man in Christ.

Implicit in Arndt's words on self-love is

an indictment against all those who would engage in vicious

polemics against others for the sake of mere doctrine or
the desire for reputation.

1Ibid., p. 104.

Thus the need to avoid self-love

-223and its results in Arndt's opinion, is an essential part of

the practice of true Christian love.

Love as the Motive of praxis pietatis

The fact that Arndt's Pietism tended

to be irenical

can in part be traced back to his idea of love as the motive

of praxis pietatis.

In his emphasis on love Arndt stressed

the need for a deeper devotional life rather than correctness

of theological interpretation or liturgical form.

Arndt

believed that the proper love toward one's neighbor was a

direct

outgrowth of the proper love of G o d :

But as man is obliged to love Godabove all

things, so he is thereby bound to unite his will
and love with the will and love of God, and to
love all mankind as created in the image of God,
as freely and sincerely as God himself loves
them. And he that saith he loves God, and loves
not his brother, created in the image of God, is
a liar, and the truth is not in him; for every
one that truly loveth God, will love his brother
also.1
It is not surprising, therefore, that Spener, in setting forth
the need to awaken fervent love among Christians, refers his

2
readers to John Arndt's True Christianity.
Arndt declared the practice of Christian love toward

1Ibid., p. 474.
2Philip J. Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert), p. 96 .

-224one's neighbor to be the offspring of living faith.

"But

when faith communicates to a neighbor the blessings which

it has itself received,

love is the offspring of such faith,

imparting to the neighbor that which it has itself received

from God . . .

Arndt also insisted that Christian love

originating in faith should motivate all the acts of the

Christian;

"for that which proceeds from Christian love, is,

2

at the same time, the fruit of faith."

Arndt further emphasized a devotional self-examination
as essential to motivating the Christian to the practice of
true Christian love.

Arndt declared that it is by daily

confessing one's failure to truly love God that the Christian

is directed, to the genuine practice of love.

At one point

in his second sermon on the First Commandment, Arndt indi

cated his own pious practice of self-examination with the
expression,

"0 dear God, how my heart is sorry that I have

not reverenced you above all things . . . .

I have not loved

you with all my heart as I ought . . . and I have sought the

desires of my flesh rather than love you."^

For the most

^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. xli.

2Ibid., p. xlii.
^Arndt, Per gantze Psalter Davids (Gorlin, 1686),
Part II, p. 234.

-225part this sermon was devoted to the idea that the movement
of the loving heart towards God glorified God and purified
the soul.

Here love is stated by Arndt to be the highest

and noblest virtue.

It is the summary of all the Command

ments; it relates directly to fellowship with God and must

arise from a pure heart, a good conscience, and genuine faith
if it is to reach out to one's neighbor.

The same idea is

stated in the Ikonographia; in the foreword Arndt says that

love of God is the source of the practice of true love to
one's neighbor.1

It is with moving significance that Arndt

ends the Ikonographia with the affirmation that love super

cedes all, saying that he will no longer engage in polemics
concerning holy images, but will rather insist that whatever
the Christian does should be motivated by love.

Love as

the motive of all Christian conduct is constantly stressed

in Arndt's sermonic material and in True Christianity in
connection with praxis pietatis.

Furthermore, Arndt links

the practice of love with an intimate knowledge of Christ:

"Christ is the eternal love of the Father, and God is love
itself; how then can you really know God and Christ, if you

^Arndt, Ikonographia (Koten, 1596), p. 2 verso.

2Ibid., p. 49 verso.

226

at no time have tasted love in your heart."1

Arndt also teaches that the practice of Christian love
toward one's neighbor is evidence that one is really a child
of God, a member and disciple of the fellowship of Christ,
an instrument of the Holy Spirit and a member of the Christlan church.

Furthermore, Arndt taught that the exercise

of love to one's neighbor must always be viewed as an

expression of God's love in the Christian.

"Thereupon it

follows that the love of neighbor must be pure, without

deceit or hypocrisy; otherwise it is not God's love in us,
O
for there is no falsehood in God's love."
Finally, Arndt
points out that love as the motive of praxis pietatis pr o
duces a state of daily assurance in the mind of the Chris
tian:

"...

God's love gives peace and joy, and is most

ij.

gracious and living."

Thus,

like practice of daily repentance, Arndt also

declared, the practice of true Christian love to be a basic

component of the Christian life.

In Arndt's estimation,

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 826.

2Ibld., p. 770.
3Ibid.
^Ibid., p. 771.

-227its essential properties are an outgrowth of faith which

brings the Christian into union with God.

It is in this

faith-union with God that love becomes the prime motive of

all Christian practice as a basic feature of the Christian
life.

CHAPTER XI
THE PRACTICE OP PRAYER

The Importance of Prayer for Personal Piety

On the title page of his Garden of Paradise, Arndt
states the importance of prayer for personal piety in the
following way:
The Garden of Paradise or Holy Prayers and
Exercises whereby the Christian Graces and Vi r
tues may be planted and improved in Man, the
divine Image renew'd, true Christianity pr o
moted, the Kingdom of God established, and a
heavenly Life raised up in the Spirit.1
Arndt taught that meaningful prayer, in terms of
personal piety, is a meditation of the believing heart with
God, and an ascending of the soul, with all its powers, into
the presence of God.

In this twofold sense, the pious man

through prayer seeks and finds union with God.

The influ

ence of medieval mysticism on Arndt's thought is most

^rndt,

Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), title page.

2Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 895.

-

228-

-229obvious in his teaching on the necessity of prayer in holy

contemplations:
Since the living knowledge of God and of
Christ crucified, is not to be attained, unless
we keep our eye constantly fixed upon the inno
cent and holy life of Jesus Christ our Lord; and
since we cannot arrive at this elevation of mind,
but by devout, humble, believing and earnest
prayer; it, therefore, is highly necessary to
make some further inquiry into the nature of
prayer.
It consists not so much in an utterance
of words, as in a meditation or intercourse of
the believing heart with God, and in a lifting
up the soul, and all her faculties and powers to
our Heavenly Father.1
The ultimate goal of prayer, then, is to bring the soul
consciously into union with the living God.

When this is

accomplished the Christian is strengthened in his life so

that he can continue to practice personal piety.

It Is in

this sense that Arndt teaches the practice of prayer is

important for personal piety.

Arndt also teaches that

prayer is important for piety because it unites the believer

with the Holy Spirit.

"Whence it appears, that devout sighs

and prayers are the truest sign or indication of the Holy

^rndt,

True Christianity (Sch), p. 234.

2Ibid., p. 235 .
3lbid., p. 285.

-230Spirit in the heart of man."^

Prayer in the Arndtian sense,

furthermore, gives comfort to the afflicted and anguished

soul and renews it:
Thus when we are afflicted and sorrowful, and
can lay hold on Jesus Christ by the prayer of
faith, we immediately find, as it were, new life
and vigor flowing into our souls from that inex
haustible fountain of divine grace.
This may be
attested by the experience of many languishing
and afflicted souls.
Thus in Arndt's estimation prayer is important to
Christian piety because it inspires such observable qual
ities as increased virtue, power over vices and weaknesses,
increased faith, a path of righteousness and holiness,
increased devotion, humility, patience, obedience, quiet
ness, a life of mutual good will, and the earnest desire for
everlasting salvation.^

All this, according to Arndt,

indicates the ideally pious man.

Contrastingly, he points

out, there are certain evils consequent to neglecting prayer:

He that neglects prayer enters into a state
of carnal security, and every kind of iniquity.
Such a man is not sensible how deeply he is e n
gaged in sin; but rushes into all the avenues
of destruction which lie open to receive him.

1Ibid.
2lbid., p. 287.
3Ibid., p. 290.

-231The good things of this world which God has

given him, such as health and riches, he regards
as things that come by chance, or are secured by
his own labor; and upon that account he has no
gratitude to his Creator and Benefactor.^Prayer is important to personal piety in that it
causes the Christian to rest more securely in the confiO
dence that God is true.

"Prayer is the life of faith,

causing it to flourish and prosper like a tree by the river

side, and faith is the root of all that is good in us."
Prayer is also the means by which the Christian maintains
his ability to resist impiety.

"By prayer, we shake off

carnal security, resist sin, and, by vanquishing flesh and

blood,

fight the good fight, and hold faith and a good

conscience.

In his preface to the Garden of Paradise

Arndt summarizes the importance of prayer for personal

piety as follows:
Here I would have every one know, in the
first place, that no Man can obtain any spiri
tual Grace or Virtue without praying for it;
and that all other virtues he pretends to possess,
are rather some dead Images of Virtues, than
true Christian Graces proceeding from an opera
tion of the divine Spirit.
In the next place he
ought to consider, that all the Seeds of the most
abominable Vices are lurking in his Heart, though

^Ib l d ., p. 271.

2Ibid., p. 272.

3lbld.

^Ibid.

-232they do not always appear in open Rebellion

against him, or attempt to hurry him away
into visible Vices and Enormities: However,
as long as they live in a Man, and are not
refrained by divine Grace obtained by Prayer,
any one of them may start up in one Hour's^
Time, and ruin a Man in Soul and in Body.

Prayer as a_ Holy Exercise

Arndt teaches that all men should practice prayer
because it is a response to G o d s holy love.2

He further

points out that the practice of prayer as a holy exercise,

like repentance, does not arise from the Christian's own
power, but is rather the whole work of the Holy Spirit
which he calls the spirit of grace and prayer.

In this

sense the Holy Spirit influences the true believing Chris

tian, and empowers him to pray as a child of God and of
the Spirit of Christ.^
Arndt maintained that prayer as a holy exercise
develops virtue in a man's heart:

"Moreover, I would not

^Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. xxii.

2Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 895 .
3Ibld.
^Ibid. "1st demnach das Gebet ein Kennzeichen eines
wahren glaublgen Christen, ein kraftlges lebendiges Zeugness
des heillgen Geistes, ein Kennzeichen der wahren Kinder
Gottes, und des kind lichen Geistes ChristiT11 p 7 703.

-233have any Body suppose, as if a Christian Virtue could ever

enter into a Man's Heart without a fervent Prayer preceding
it."^

Arndt further declared prayer to be "a sort of Homage

we pay to God as to our Lord and Sovereign, and thereby do

own our entire Dependance on him."

Arndt stated that

prayer as a holy exercise also brings release from the guilt

of sin and restores the image of God within man.
Arndt taught that oral prayer is the first step to
the higher form of Internal prayer leading to union with God:
Oral prayer is a humble address to God, and
an external exercise, which conducts the soul
to the internal duty of prayer, and leads man
into the interior recesses of his own heart;
especially if the words uttered be digested
in faith, and if, by attentive application,
they be well pondered and considered.
This
often proves a means of elevating the spirit
and soul so near unto God, as to enjoy with
faith a truly filial^intercourse with Him,
our heavenly Father.
In this declaration of the holy exercise of internal
prayer Arndt reveals the influence of Tauler.

After stating

that such prayer is to be offered up without intermission,

^Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London,

1716), p. xviii.

^Ibld., p . x i x .
3ibid., pp. xvii-xviii.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 234-35.

-234in faith, spirit and mind,1 Arndt speaks of the mystical

aspect of prayer by which man is absorbed into God, affirm
ing that through this supernatural prayer the soul by true
faith is replenished by divine love.

Thus the soul, con

templating nothing else but God, becomes silent before him.

Arndt holds that supernatural prayer "is -unspeakably more
excellent than that which is chiefly e x t e r n a l . P r a y e r
also is a mark of the new birth and the new life, as Arndt
states in the preface to his Garden of Paradise:
I have composed this Book of Prayers; to
convince thereby my Fellow-Christians, that
Prayer is in no wise a Performance of the
old Man, but of that new Creature, in which
the Image of God is (at least in some Degree)
revived and set up again.
In the same preface Arndt emphasizes the idea that the holy
exercise of prayer is best accomplished in praxis pietatis:
"These people do not consider, that a holy life is itself
the best and most powerful Prayer; or that it is a living
and practical Prayer, whereby a Man approaches the Lord,

1Ibid., p. 235 .
2I b i d .
3Ibid. Also, for a more thorough study of the
mystic's use of supernatural prayer, cf. Evelyn Underhill,
Mysticism, twelfth edition (London: Methuen, 1962), pp.
328-57 passim.
^Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. x.

-235-

not with Words only, but in Truth and Reality."1

Here

there is a proto-Pietistic emphasis that is seen in later

Lutheran Pietism:

that the internal spiritual life of the

Christian must be evidenced in external deeds as a valid

part of true prayer.

Spener, in presenting some corrections

to the errors of his time, declares the same ideas concerning prayer as here developed by Arndt.

Spener also declares

that Arndt in his teachings on prayer is a disciple of

Luther.3

Certainly Arndt is in agreement with Luther's defi

nition of prayer as the exercise of faith, sufficient to

exercise the whole life of man in faith, and to include the
whole range of exercise for the soul.^

Thus in Arndt's

teaching on the practice of prayer as a holy exercise there

is a combination of the medieval German mystics and the
teaching of Luther.

1Ibid.
2Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert), pp. 117-18.
3Ibid.
^D. Martin Luther's Werke (Kritische Gesammtzusgabe,
Weimar: Herman Bohlaus, Nachtfolger, 1883). " . . . war
kein ander gut werck gebotten were, were nit das beten alein
gnugsam, das gantz leben des menschen ym glauben zu eben?1'
VI, 234.

-236The Inspirational Element of Prayer

The inspirational aspect of prayer according to
Arndt, gives to the Christian consolation in facing the
problems of life.

In regard to the ultimate problem of

death Arndt w r o t e :
The fourth consolation against the fear of
death, is prayer . . . . Indeed, the prayers
of dying people are strong and earnest; they
proceed from the bottom of the heart, ascend
through the clouds, and reach the ears of the
Almighty.
Prayer as inspiration in the pious life is also a
means of obtaining consolation in affliction.

In writing

on the various means of overcoming affliction, Arndt calls

prayer "a refreshment to an afflicted soul", a comforting
conversation with God.

The third section of the Garden

of Paradise contains prayers to console afflictions and

ward off evils.3

In this section are prayers for gaining

contempt of the world,

for self-denial, for self-knowledge,

for the imitation of Christ, for repentance,

for the remis

sion of sin, for joy in the Holy Ghost, for desire after
eternal life, for a happy departure out of this life, against

-^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. 370-71.

2Ibid., p. 335.
3Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. 214.

-237the temptations of Satan, against any affliction or distress,

and for spiritual comfort in this life.^
According to Arndt the inspirational element of
prayer brings the Christian into a powerful sense of the
presence of God.

It further increases love of God in the

heart of the pious Christian.^

Prayer as inspiration brings

joy to the troubled heart and leads to victory over the

enemies of the Christian.^

Prayer also strengthens faith

and unites the Christian with God.^

In the first part of

Book V of Wahren Christenthum, Arndt asserted:

Likewise also the sick apply to themselves
the power of Christ through prayer, which heals
them.
Also all draw the power to Christ, who
pray in spirit and in truth and unite with them.
For faith, love, hope and prayer are divine
spiritual bonds which unite us with God.
Arndt holds that Christ sets the pattern for prayer.

^Ibid ., pp. 214-96.

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), p. 897.

3lbid.

^Ibid.
5lbid.
^Ibid. "Glelchwle nun die Kranken die Kraft Chrlstl
durch das Gebet an sich gezogen, welche sie heilete; also
zieht die- Kraft UHristi alleT so lm Gelst~Hnd~Ih der Wahrheit beten, an sich, und verelniget sich mlt ihnen. Penn
Glaube Liebe, Hoffnung und Gebet sind gdttliche geistliche
Bande, die uns mlt Gott verelnigen.
P. 705.

-238He speaks of Christ's life as "our mirror of prayer and

proper prayerbook since his whole life has been nothing
other than a steady prayer and groaning to do the will of
God."1
It is clear that Arndt with his emphasis on the
inspirational aspect of prayer understands it as essential
to the practice of Christian faith.

In his teaching on

prayer he avoids the pitfall of the mystics:

that of

neglecting Scripture as the channel chosen by God for the

Spirit's primary working.

Arndt constantly reminds his

readers of the primacy of the Word in the practice of

prayer.

In all his passages treating prayer there is con

stant use of Scripture as the means and proof of prayer's

efficacy.

This is especially true in the Garden of

Paradise.
To Arndt prayer is actually the focal point of in
spired contemplation for the interior life of the Christian.
The practice of prayer is essential to the pious life
because no one can ever arrive at a blessed contemplation

^Ibld. "Das Exemple Jesu Christl, welche unser B e t spiegel und rechtes Betbuchleln 1st, als dessen ganzes Leben
nichts anders gewesen, als ein stetiges Gebet und Seufzen,
den Willen Gottes zu thu n ." p. 897.
Also cf. II, ch. 20,
283-84.

-239of God without prayer.'*'

The thirty-fourth chapter of Book

II of True Christianity, which seems to be the work of

another author added to his own thoughts on the matter of
prayer, is divided into twelve sections which teach how the
interior man is enlightened with wisdom from God by prayer,
and "how the heart is to be moved unto prayer, and brought
into a quiet Sabbath, so that prayer may be wrought in us
by the Lord."2

The terminology of this chapter seems to

be that of Tauler.^

In the following chapters Arndt empha

sizes prayer as the sign of a true Christian and as an aid

for overcoming spiritual infirmities.

He writes of the

great efficacy of prayer as praise offered to God, and the

reasons why God most certainly hears the prayers of the
renewed man in Christ.

Furthermore, the inspiration of

prayer helps the Christian in such spiritual plights as

"melancholy thoughts, terrors of soul and stings of
conscience."

Thus Arndt enlarges the receptivity and con

fidence of faith as taught by Luther by emphasizing the

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 283 .

2Ib i d ., p . 269
3August Langen, o. clt., pp. 399-^00.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 355.

-240experiential aspect of prayer.1

Once more Arndt has turned

away from the strict formalistic teaching of Lutheran ortho

doxy by insisting on the practice of prayer as necessary to
inspire pragmatic results of holy living in the life of the
believer.

^Strohl, ojd . c i t . "L'humillte est done toujours dans

la f o i . Mais c'est par 1 1intermedialre de la foi que s *epanouit une vie nouvelle . . . . Il_ faut subir la volonte de
Dieu, s 1ouvrlr a_ 1 1action de son Esprit, et ensuite cooperer
avec l u l . La regeneration est un fait d'experience. P. 79.

CHAPTER XII
THE PERFECTIONISTIC EMPHASIS

Arndt1s Religious Idealism

There is a tendency toward perfectionism in Arndt's
religious writings.

In True Christianity one sees a tension

between what is actual in true Christian living and what is

ideal in praxis pietatis.

Arndt is never satisfied with

the status quo; there must be a continual improvement if

one is to develop in Christian experience.
there is a certain eschatologlcal hope.

In this desire

For the attainment

of perfection in God's sight is the content of all eschatological hope.1

Tied in with all this is the doctrine of

sin and the need of repentance.

For as in all true Christian

perfectionism, the human achievement of religious and moral

perfection belongs to the future rather than to the present.

Ijohn T. McNeill, "Perfection, Perfectionism", Ency

clopedia of Religion, ed. V. Ferm (Paterson:
Littlefield,
Adams Co., 1959)7 p. 574.

-241-

-242Thus Arndt sees the Christian caught in a tension not unlike

that espoused by Paul in Romans, Chapter 7> in regard to his
own life, or similar ideas expressed in St. Augustine's
Confessions.
Arndt's religious idealism anticipates the perfection
ism of Lutheran Pietism.

Stoeffler writes of perfectionism

as basic to historic Pietism:

This was often expressed through words such
as 'whole', perfect', or'entire '. Continental
Pietists spoke much of being ein ganzer Christ,
while Pletistic Puritans made a habitual d is
tinction between 'professors' and 'believers'
the former being less than entirely Christian.
While it is historically true that Calvinism launched
greater protest against accommodation to the status quo than
did Lutheranism, one cannot ignore Arndt's tremendous pro
test against the lack of pious living on the part of many
Lutheran Christians in his time.

Arndt developed his per-

fectionistic tendencies out of what he saw as the basic

need of the Christian:
image in man.

the need to restore and develop God's

This Idea he considered essential to the

development of the Christian life.^

God's image is defined

^Ernest Stoeffler, o. cl t ., p. 16.

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 142.
3lbid., p. 185.

-243as related to man's soul:

An immortal spirit, endowed by God with
excellent faculties; as the understanding, will,
memory, and other powers and affections . . . .
As God is a truly good and holy Being; so also
were the substance of the soul, and its true
nature and essence, originally good and holy.
And as in God there is nothing of evil; even so
was the soul of man, in he beginning, free
from all manner of evil.
Arndt also sees the restoration of the image of God through
faith in Christ as essential to the nature of the Chris
tian's salvation;

"All that we have lost in Adam we recover

fully and completely in Christ."

Christian Self-Criticism and Arndtian Perfectionism

In Arndt's religion self-criticism was meant to make
true Christians out of nominal ones, to make faith living
and active by developing the true nature of Christianity as
a way of life at the personal level.

Arndt was convinced

that in his time there had been enough stress on doctrinal

definition; that what was now needed was a translation of
doctrine into active modes of Christian living.

It is with

this goal in mind that Arndt's perfectionlstic tendencies

1Ibld., p. 180.
2Ibld., p. 185.

-244in True Christianity must be seen as addressed to those

who are already Christians:
I have written, not for heathens, but for
Christians; who have, it is true, adopted the
Christian faith, but whose life does not accord
with it, and who deny, or will not understand,
the
power of faith . . . . I have written, notj
for
thosewho are yet to be justified, but for
those who are already justified . . . . Let no
one, by any means, suppose that anything is here
ascribed to our carnal free will or to good works;
our sole object is to persuade you, as you are a
Christian, and are annointed with the spirit of
God, to let Christ live in you, and rule you, and
let the Holy Spirit govern you, in order that
your Christianity may not be hypocrisy.
Self-criticism on the part of the Christian in Arndt's
opinion, involved a mourning of one's inner condition.

This

resulted, according to Arndt, in dying unto self and living

to Christ.2

Thus Arndt's idea of self-criticism is negative

in its primary emphasis in regard to man's nature.

It

involves a denial of will and an acknowledgment of one's

own vileness.3
is most of all

"He who is most conscious of his own misery,

acceptable to God."^

"The lower the soul

sinks in its own esteem, the higher it rises In

of G o d . A r n d t

the sight

taught that the degree of one's perfection

1Ibid., pp. 448-49.

2Ibl d ., p. 34.

3Ibid., p. 377.

4 Ibid., p. 57-

5Ibid., p. 394.

-245is determined by the development of his self-criticism

leading to self-abnegation:
We must crucify the flesh and its desires by
serious contrition and repentance. We die daily
to the world . . . and this life is a cross and
an affliction.
These are divinely fed with the
heavenly manna, and drink the wine of the joy of
paradise.
To Arndt the self is an evil which must be constantly
and critically observed.

Love of self is to be avoided when

it influences one to be wholly concerned about himself

without regard to the Supreme Being as the great author
of life, for such love of self is idolatry.

In order to overcome the danger of such idolatry,

one must continually examine himself to see whether he is
in the proper spirit of humility.

Arndt gives six steps

by which one may arrive at the perfection of spiritual joy

and peace through self-examination:
The first step is, that a man reckon himself
as inferior to all men, and have no desire for
the honor and esteem of men.
The second is, to
despise and judge no man, but have a constant
eye upon himself.
The third is, to refuse and
avoid honors that are offered; and if they cannot
be avoided to receive them with regret.
The fourth,
to bear reproaches with joy. The fifth, to con
verse willingly with men of inferior condition, and

^Ibid., p. 116.
2Ibid., p. 41.

-246be so far from thinking ourselves better than

they, as rather to think ourselves the most
miserable of all men, and the chief of sinners.
The sixth is, to submit readily and cheerfully,
not only to our superiors, but even to the least
and meanest . . . . So when we have ascended the
six steps, we shall find the heavenly Prince of
Peace true peace of heart.
There is no coming
to the exalted felicity of the kingdom of God,
but by the low valley of humility and selfdenial .1
According to Arndt the proper attitude of self-criticism is
to hate oneself.

"In order that man may hate himself, he

must, in the first place, cease to love himself; secondly,

he must daily die to sin; and, thirdly, maintain a continual
warfare with his corrupt nature, or the flesh."

Thus Arndt

taught that it is the constant combat with the corrupt pr o

pensities of the flesh that leads one on the way to the
kingdom of heaven .3
In accordance with Arndt's perfectionism, fifteen
rules for leading a holy life are presented in the fortieth
chapter of Book I of True Christianity.

They advocate self-

criticism designed to lead one to pious living.

Each begins

in propositional form summarizing remaining context:

1Ibid., p. 390.
2Ibid., p. 41.
3Ibid., p. 118.

-247-

I.

II.
III.

IV.
V.

VI.
VII.
VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

If thou even canst not live up to that

degree of holiness which the word of God
requires, and which thou thyself desirest,
yet thou must never cease ardently to wish
for it . . .
In all that thou thinkest and doest, be care
ful to preserve the purity of thy hea r t .
Study continually to maintain the Christian
liberty of thy soul, and do not suffer thyself
to be enslaved, or brought into bondage, by
any inordinate love of the creature, or of the
things of this world, whose lord and master
thou oughtest to be.
Beware of the care and sorrow of this world,
because it worketh death.
If thou canst not bear thy cross with joy and
cheerfulness, yet take it at least with p at
ience and humility, and acquiesce calmly in
the divine will and providence.
Whenever the Lord visits thy soul with heavenly
joy, accept the same with gratitude and humility.
Make an offering to God of all that thou hast,
and undertakest.
If thy sins and manifold frailties (as they
should do) make thee sad, yet let them not
lead thee to despair.
Let not injuries, reproaches, and revilings,
provoke thee at any time to wrath, indignation,
or revenge; but rather take them as so many
trials of thy heart, and of the Inward state
of thy soul.
Study to overcome and pacify thine enemies,
by bestowing upon them tokens of love and
kindness.
When thou observest that God has adorned thy
neighbor with gifts above thee, take heed not
to envy him on that account; but rather rejoice
and give thanks to God for the same.
Consider all men as being frail and imperfect,
but none as more frail and imperfect than thy
self; for before God, all men stand equally
guilty, and there is no difference.
As for love and hatred in relation to thy neigh
bor, make the following distinction.
It is but
fit that thou shouldst hate his vices and crimes
as the very works of the devil; but then, beware

-248-

XIV.
XV.

of hating the person while thou abhorrest his

sin.
True illumination is always accompanied with
a contempt of the things of the world.
Remember, that by the name of a Christian
written in heaven, is intimated that solid,
practical knowledge of Christ which is
grounded in faith, and by which we are trans
planted into Christ .1

Allied with Arndt's perfectionism wrought out of a

desire to span the gulf between the actual and the ideal,
is the proto-Pietistic teaching of the "narrow way."

One

must persevere in the "narrow way" in order to arrive"at

that intimate fellowship with Christ that leads to the
obtaining of everlasting life.

Arndt contrasted the "narrow

way" with the "wordly way" as follows:

Here we plainly see two paths, set before us:
the one is the w a y of the world, in which many
walk, because they continue in Adam, and refuse
Christ; the other is the way of God, in which few
walk, because they prefer the broad way in Adam.
Many are the difficulties which attend both these
paths.
If you conform yourself to the world, you
will meet many troubles and vexations; and, not
being established in the truth of God, your lot
finally is eternal damnation. But if you enter
into the way of God through Christ, and persevere
from the opposition of this evil world:
but, at
the same time, your heart shall be constantly
filled with the refreshing consolations of the
Spirit of truth, and in the end, you shall obtain
everlasting life.

^Ibid., pp. 137-42.

2Ibid., p. 273.

-249However, it must be pointed out that Arndt's empha

sis on perfection does not follow the radical ideas or
perfectionism as held by such groups as the Catharists,
Familists, Ranters, or Brethren of Free Spirit, who all in
some fashion believed that sinless perfection is obtainable
in this li f e .1

Arndt's tendency is more liberal in his

advocacy of perfectionism; he does not enjoin a sinless or

absolutely perfect obedience, but rather that which consists
in a sincere love and habit of piety, excluding all habit
of sin and all deliberate and enormous transgressions.

Thus

in treating the problem of the inner man's expression of

outward piety, Arndt accommodates his statements to man's
sinful nature:

. . . even the greatest saints are still

sensible of their infirmities; of which the book of Psalms

and the Lord's Prayer fully convince us."
Arndt further declared:

In addition

"Here again we, do not assert that

perfection can be found in this present world, but only

require that a Christian should walk in newness of life,
and approve himself by such works as are cleared from guile
and hypocrisy."

^Knox, ojd. c i t ., pp. 103, 171-73, passim.

2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 172.

3Ibid., p. 173.

-250It is this Arndtian idea of perfectionism that passed

down through Lutheran Pietism to Spener and Francke.

What

Arndt set forth was the idea that all true Christianity is
bound to acknowledge that man is a sinner before God and
knows that he constantly needs the intervention of Christ
and the application of Christ's saving work through his
spiritual presence.

Through his use of Scripture, Arndt

declared that the spiritual course of the Christian in this

world is a repetition of dying and rising to new life.

It

is a continued turning to God, a constant renewal of con

fession, repentance and faith, and dying unto sin, and a
daily rising into a pattern of righteousness.

Arndt sees

this as true of all saints, patriarchs, prophets, and

apostles of whose inward experience the Bible gives account .1
Arndt's perfectlonistic tendency therefore arose out
of a desire to express the evangelical ideal of life.

He

wanted faith to be expressed as a live option which despised

the world and self and sought to express itself in deeds of
love to one's neighbor.

In this desire he was not far out

1Arndt, Per gantze Psalter David (Gorlin, 1686).

Cf. intro, by John Gerhard, pp. 12-13.

-251of line with the evangelical ideals of Luther .1

This same

evangelical ideal can also be found in Gerhard's writings

on faith and the tension between the status quo and the
ideal .2
Arndt's advocacy of perfectionism through selfcriticism and his particular brand of evangelical idealism
was important in the development of Lutheran Pietism.

His

teaching on these matters implied that even the doctrine

of the authority of the Word of God and its acknowledgement
is not of decisive significance, but that the important
thing is self-examination arising out of a desire for the
ideal Christian life which seeks progressively to partici
pate in the truth of Scripture at the personal level.

Lohse

writes in regard to this idea in Pietism:

The mere knowledge of Scripture, and the
external acknowledgement of its authority, is not
sufficient, for these do not bring one beyond a
dead, historical faith . . . the truth of the
scriptural assertions (must) be personally exper
ienced.
Man must feel in his own life the power
of sin and the saving power of grace.
For that
reason the problem of the total content of the

^Seeberg, o. c i t ., "The State of Perfection (Status

Perfectionis) is to be (possessed) of a living faith, a
despiser of death, of life, of glory, and of the whole
world, a servant of all in fervent love . . . "
II, 275.
2Scharlemann, o. c i t ., pp. 246-47.

-252faith is less important than constant selfexamination as to whether or not one really
believes .1

The Influence and Results of Arn d t 1s Perfectionism

On Lutheran Pietism
One finds the Arndtian tendency to bridge the gap
between real and ideal in Spener when he writes the follow
ing:

"Meanwhile, even if we shall never in this life achieve

such a degree of perfection that nothing could or should be

added, we are nevertheless under obligation to achieve some
p

degree of perfection."

In regard to perfection and those

who are members in the church, Spener w r o t e :

We do not understand the perfection which we
demand of the church in such a way that not a
single hypocrite is any longer to be found in
it, for we know that there is no field or grain
in which there are no weeds. What we mean is
that the church should be free of manifest
offenses, that nobody who is afflicted with such
failings should be allowed to remain in the church
without fitting reproof and ultimately exclusion,
and that the true members of the church should
be rightly filled with many fruits of their faith.
Thus the weeds will no longer cover the grain
and make it unsightly, as is unfortunately often

^Bernhard Lohse, A_ Short History of Christian Do c

trine, trans. by F. Ernest Stoeffler (Philadelphia:
Fortress
Press, 1966), pp. 223-25.

2Spener, Pla Desideria (Tappert), p. 10.

Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 31.

Cf. also

-253the case now, but the weeds will be covered

by the grain and made inconspicuous.
In its perfectlonlstic leanings this idea of Spener's
can be compared with that of Arndt's in regard to church
life and discipline.

In 1618 he prepared at the command of

Duke Christian of Luneburg a new and extended church con

stitution and discipline which was published at Celle in

1619 .

It contained many rules which reveal a latent per

fectionism in regard to Arndt's ideal view of the Lutheran

Church.

It provided, for example, for the excommunication

of those who offend either by gross transgression or by

neglect of public worship or of the Sacraments, if they do
not repent and amend their conduct after private admonition
by the preacher, warning by the consistorium, public mention
of their names from the pulpit, or exclusion from the

3
Sacraments.
It was the disciples of Spener, especially A. H.
Francke, who carried these perfectlonlstic tendencies of
Arndt to extremes under the program at Halle.

Mosheim

1Ibid., p. 81.
2Friedrich Arndt, Johann Arndt: Ein Biographischer
Versuch (Berlin:
In Commission bei L. OehmigkeJ 1838),
pp. 145-56.
^Morris, o p . c i t ., p. l62f.

-254takes note of such Pietistic extremes:

The second step they took, in order to
give efficacy to their plans of reformation,
was to form new rules of life and manners,
much more rigorous and austere than those which
had been formerly practiced, and to place in
the class of sinful and unlawful gratifications
several kinds of pleasure and amusement, which
had hitherto been looked upon as innocent in
themselves, and which could only become good or
evil, in consequence of the respective characters
of those who used them with prudence, or abused
them with intemperance.
Thus, dancing, public
sports, pantomimes, theatrical diversions, the
reading of humorous and comical books, with
several other kinds of pleasure and entertainment,
were prohibited by the Pietists, as unlawful and
unseemly, and therefore, by no means of an
indifferent nature.1
Out of these perfectlonlstic tendencies there later arose an
adiaphoric controversy within Pietism.

The chaotic period of the Thirty Y e a r s ' War and its

aftermath, an era of dry dogmatism within Lutheranism and
moral failure at the level of daily Christian life, was a
fitting time for the development of the A m d t i a n idea of
Christian perfection, or the desire to bring the real in
true Christianity in line with the actual.^

However, while

^John Mosheim, o. c i t ., I, 245.

2Ibid., pp. 245-47.
3Paul Gabrlelsen, "The Problem of Self-Acceptance in
Lutheran Pietism and Depth Psychology as Seen in John Arndt
and Fritz Kunkel." Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of
Chicago Divinity School, i 960, passim.

-255Arndt stayed within the creeds and confession of the Lutheran

Church, he did Insert a strand of Christian mysticism into
his perfectionism.

He was concerned about the fact that

orthodoxy had left no room for "heart-felt" experience in

its teaching concerning the real place of faith in the life
of the Christian.

One cannot blame Arndt for the radical

misuse of his perfectionism which took place under the later

adherents of the Halle school of Pietism any more than one
can blame Luther for the extreme orthodox interpretations
that were placed on his teachings.
When one considers the Arndtian influence in German
Lutheran Pietism on the basis of its perfectionism, it
definitely does not appear to be of the iron consistency
found in Calvinism; rather it is of the more liberal type
latent in the teachings of Luther.1

Greater room is allowed

for the experiential, due to Arndt's mystical inclinations.

But this tendency is always kept within the evangelical
sphere of his Biblicism and the general structures of the
Lutheran Church.

"^Seeberg, o. c i t ., II, 276-77.

-256A Life Long Struggle of Earnest Effort

Arndt is aware that perfection in any complete sense
for the individual Christian is impossible in this life.
In his writings there is never a suggestion that the Kingdom
of God in the eschatological sense can be fully equated with
the contemporary church.

Absolute perfection is to be found

only in the fulfilled life in Christ in the new age, prior

to this eternity it cannot be attained, though one must
continually work for it.

Arndt certainly in this sense

cannot be called purely a disciple of Plato's ideal republic

when he asserts his perfectionism.

What he teaches, rather,

is that a measure of perfection is obtainable when the

individual Christian puts forth the proper effort.

In this

sense there is a certain existential quality about his teach

ing in regard to union with God through union with Christ.
For in this unlo mystlca, eternity invades time, creating
an eschatological reality as the love of God triumphs over
the rebellious Adam within man.

Arndt holds that man lives

under the power of the old Adam so long as he has no inner

sense of God and is unwilling to obey the will of God.

The

power of the new man or inner man is activated only when one
earnestly desires and seeks the age to come when man shall
be fully restored to his rightful place through his complete

-257conformity with the character of Christ.

That complete

restoration has its beginning here in time when the

individual through obedience and faith unites with Christ:
Because the affections of our hearts; and all
our faculties, were in contrariety to God . . .
the Son of God, who is love itself, became man,
that he might plant therein the love of God, and
sincere humility and meekness; that he might take
from us the old carnal heart, and unite himself
with us, that so we might be made of one heart,
mind, and spirit with him; all which are the
fruits of his most holy incarnation wrought in
us . . . . Thus the corrupt image of God in man,
is renewed by the substantial image of God, which
is Christ.1
Arndt quotes numerous Biblical passages as evidence
of the validity of a demand for earnest struggle after
perfection in the Christian sense of daily dying and daily
rising to a new life in union with Christ.

Further, his

idea of perfection, based as it is on the Individual's

struggle to live the true Christian life, can find a certain
amount of support in Luther's doctrine of the priesthood of
all believers.

Arndt was not attempting to take the line of

Radical Pietism which sought to develop its perfectlonlstic

tendencies outside the framework of the Lutheran Church;
he desired to stay within Lutheran structures.

His aim

1Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), p. 269 .

2Ibid_., cf. Bk. II, Chapt. 10, sect. 14; Bk. I;
Chapt. 12, sect. 8; Bk. I, Chapt. 13, sect. 1.

-258was to establish a disciplined community of life, the true

Christian way in the Christian church as he saw it.

He was

not simply seeking to improve the lives of individual Chris

tians; he had a genuine conscious desire to bring the whole
Lutheran Church of his time into a more practical applica
tion of the true spirit of Christianity.

He saw Christian

perfection as possible only from the standpoint of more and

more growth in Christian grace, and this only within the
fellowship of believers faithful to Christ and responsive to
his demands upon them.

While Arndt does not develop this

idea of perfection at length in True Christianity, it is

implicit in all that he w r i t e s .

His concept of perfection,

taking into account man's real limitations of finitude,

ignorance and changeability, is to be applied to the Chris
tian community as well as to the individual.
It -is the Arndtian idea of perfectionism implying a
life long struggle of earnest effort that is traceable down
through the Arndtian Pietists in the Lutheran Church to the
time of Spener and Francke.

"Godly striving" for genuine

Christianity became a dominant concept in Lutheranism after

Arndt.1

The idea of an earnest struggle after perfection

^Stoeffler, op. c i t ., pp. 212-27, passim.

Cf. also
Allen Deeter, "An Historical and Theological introduction
to Philipp Jakob Spener's Pia Desiderla:
A Study in Early
German Pietism," unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton Univer
sity, 1963, pp. 176-204, passim. Cf. also Weigelt, op. c i t .,
pp. 46-63, passim.

-259is the Christian's response to God's pure gift of salvation,

which is in no way earned or added to by human effort.

For

Arndt, salvation and justification are attained purely by

grace, the Christian must respond to these gifts with a life
long struggle to obtain the ideal Christian life.

CHAPTER XIII
THE OPPOSITIVE INFLUENCE OF ARNDT'S PROTO-PIETISM

Arndt's Reaction to Rigid Confessionallzlng

The Pietism which developed within Lutheranism was in
many respects a reaction to a one-sided controversial theo
logy whose main concern was the preservation of the pure
doctrine of the Lutheran Church.

Basic to this preservation

of doctrine was the development of a strong theological

defense and a rigid adherence to the Symbolical Books of the
Lutheran Church.

The structure of Arndt's religion was not

in disagreement with this motivation; rather, in addition to

it, he insisted that attention be given to the place of an
awakened Christian life in daily practice.

It was Arndt's

primary desire to call Lutheran Christians into an active

life of Christian piety.

Out of this desire came the dis

tinctive spirit of later Lutheran Pietism .1

This involved

1Cf. Spener's proposal on this point in Pla Deslderia

(Tappert), pp. 92-97.
-260-

-261the formation of collegia pietatis, the practical applica

tion of the idea of the priesthood of all believers the
emphasis on Christian liberty, the need for more scriptural
exposition in the teaching of personal piety, and the asser
tion of the real power and unity of the Symbolical Books
through praxis pietatls.

Loscher in raising critical

questions about the developing role of Pietism suggested

that it placed a different emphasis on the doctrine of
justification by faith and stressed faith as an actual mode
of living in relationship to justification .1

He further

stated that the emphasis of Pietism within the Lutheran

Church of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was on
fulfillment in Christ through renewal.

He believed that

Pietism was renovating the ideas of the German mystics.

In so doing, Loscher declared, it became engaged in affirm
ing the Platonism of the early church fathers and their
conception of the divine part of man which must constantly
be developed in order to achieve true spiritual experience.
In this criticism of loscher there is evidence that the
growth of Pietism out of Arndt's writings was attempting to

^Rotermund, o p . c it., p. 7.
2Ibid., p. 8.

-262do what Arndt ardently desired:

life.

to translate theology into

There awoke then with the writings of Arndt a devel

oping stream of reaction within the Lutheran camp.

One could easily overstate the rigidity which Arndt
saw in orthodoxy; for there was among the orthodox Lutherans
a degree of flexibility in their doctrinal formulations
which reminds one of the early controversies of the church
in regard to its creedal affirmations.

But because strict

ness of doctrinal confession became the whole substance of

Lutheranism at the time, Arndt's writings in reaction to
this confessionalizing stressed the need for praxis pietatis.
This reactionary emphasis was to reach its culmination in
the reform program of Spener's Pia Desideria, as well as the
work of A. H. Francke at Halle.

The Protest Against Religious Formalism

Later orthodox Lutheranism viewed Arndt's emphasis on
pious practice over doctrinal purity either as complete
indifference to Lutheran theology or as a downright rejection
of the hard-won gains of the Reformation.

Loyalty to Luther

and his teachings as understood by orthodox Lutherans could

not permit such easy indifference to the principles of sola

-263scrlptura, sola gratia, sola fide .1

The orthodox party

within the Lutheran Church held to Luther's soli deo gloria

as an absolute acceptance of the revealed standards of
belief contained In the Symbolical Books and the doctrinal

interpretations of the orthodox Lutheran theologians.

Arndt represented the tradition of self-criticism

within Lutheranism in the trying times of the Thirty Yea r s '
War.

His writings were increasingly accepted by the dis

illusioned as the seventeenth century went on.

Arndt had

succinctly summed up the basic problem of the time, as

Pietism saw it:

"For what is doctrine without life?

without f r u i t . I t

A tree

is significant that Arnold Schleiff

began his study of self-criticism within the Lutheran Church

by dealing with it as a protest against orthodox formalism
and by dwelling at length on the "auseinderfalen11, the
"falling away" or division between orthodox doctrinal con
cern and the practice of true piety.

While this division

was partly a result of the Thirty Y e a r s 1 War, there was

^Watson,

ojd .

c i t ., pp. 59 ff.

2Ibld.
^Arnold Schleiff, Selbstkrltlk der lutherischen
Kirchen im 1 7 . Jahrhundert (Berlin:
Junker und Dunnhaupt,
1937)/ P. 17.

-264also the failure within the Church to make Lutheran Chris

tianity practical and relevant to the people.^"

Arndt was

all too realistically aware that many Lutheran pastors

believed that their role was administering the sacramental
forms and defending pure doctrine.

All this he believed

resulted in a lack of pastoral concern for the daily spirit

ual needs of congregants.

In a historical novel written in

1699 by Christoph von Grimmelshausen, one can capture the

feeling of disillusionment over the religious superficiality
of the times when he writes:
Many there are, indeed the majority in this
world, who shame the holy example of Christ's
humility and lowliness . . . . These Christians
want to have instead an exalted, pompous, rich
Christianity conformed to the world; but no one
wants to have the poor, tender-hearted, humble,
despised, lowly Christianity, nor to profess it,
nor follow it.
The mood of this passage is reminiscent of Arndt's preface
3
to Book I of True Christianity.

The same ideas are also

expressed in the opening lines of the preface to the Garden

^Ib i d ., pp. 13 ff. and 27f.

2

Christoph von Grimmelshausen, Slmpllcissimus the

Vagabond, trans. by A. T. S. Goodrick (New York:
Dutton,
1912), pp. 219 ff.
^Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), pp. xxxix-xliii.

-2651
of Paradise.

Later Pletistic writers followed Arndt's

lead and took up the protest against the formalism of ortho

doxy because it did not satisfy the religious hunger of the
people.

Longing for a vital expression of religion,

those

who followed Arndt in the Lutheran Church participated in a

great religious revival spreading in many sectors across
Europe.

This rising protest against formalism in Germany

primarily began with Arndt's proto-Pietism, which sought to

reform the religious superficiality of the times by emphasizing the Christian life in terms of practical' piety.

Because of the desperate need for ethical sensitivity at the

level of the personal life Arndt and his followers sought to
develop the inner experience of a true piety.^
The followers of Arndt saw themselves as the p ur
veyors of a new reform movement within the Church.

They

contended that theology had lost its vitality and was no

longer an adequate representation of the faith.

While the

mainstream of Arndtian Pietism within the Lutheran camp

asserted the need for men to be justified, it also equally

^Arndt, Garden of Paradise (London, 1716), p. ix.

p

^Altman K. Swihart, o. c i t ., p. 186.

3
Robert Friedmann, o. c i t ., p. 11.

-266asserted the need of sanctification, or the new life in

Christ.

The miracle and mystery of faith did not occupy

their writings, but rather the availability of faith to all

who would make the decision.

Those therefore who could

assert that they had experienced Christ cultivated his

presence as if he could not and would not be absent from
consciousness even for a moment.
The major Intention of those who followed Arndt's
proto-Pietistic thought was to overcome the weakness of
formalism by revitalizing Lutheranism without changing any
of its basic religious conceptions or organizational struc
tures.

What Arndt and his followers failed to realize was

that their own distinctive emphasis was often at variance

with fundamental tenets of orthodox Lutheranism.

This vari

ant spirit was strongly sensed by the orthodox churchmen,

who were thus led into frequent opposition to the Pietistic
movement.

Yet despite this opposition, most of those

influenced by Arndtian piety remained within the Lutheran

Church.

Only occasionally did they show separatist tenden

cies; usually, they thought of themselves as the leaven in

the dough.

It was in this spirit that Arndt wanted to

challenge the state-supported Lutheranism of his time.

In

answer to those who believed in the sufficiency of official

-267orthodoxy, Arndt emphasized the role of personal piety.

Schleiff in treating the historical development of selfcriticism in early Lutheranism quotes from Wahren Christenthum as follows:

"For with the appearance of doctrinal

purity false Christians cover themselves, as with a sheep's

clothing, whereas in their hearts they are anything but true
Christians.

A number of writers who continued Arndt's attack on

decadent Lutheran formalism kept that attack alive through

the seventeenth century.

Some of the more important:

Friedrich Dame (1567-1635)> author of 0 the Old and the

New Man; Paulus Egardus (d. after 1643), whose Exposition
of the Book of Job pressed for holiness and righteousness

in daily life; Josua Stegmann (1588-1632), whose Renewed

Sighs of the Heart underlined the aims of True Christianity;
and Joachim Emden (1595-1650), whose Main Cause and Aim of
True Christianity stressed the real motives of true Christian
piety found in Arndt's works.

These writers are not to be confused with those who

stressed an erotic sort of Pietism which accented pleasant
i*

Schleiff, o. c i t ., p. 17 .
o

Stoeffler, 0. c i t .
these men, see pp. 212- 17 .

For more thorough treatment of

-268feellng rather than the need of reformed living .1

It was

rather out of the Arndtian spirit expressed in True Chris

tianity that traditional Lutheran Pietism as a protest
against rigid formalism reached its climax in men like Spener
and Francke.
A Recall to Education in Christian Virtues
Arndt was ardent in his protest against the neglect
of training in Christian virtues.

One of his first official

acts after becoming general superintendant at Celle was to

select all those passages from the church fathers which
would serve to strengthen Christian faith and inspire
pious Christian living.

He developed these into a small

work of four chapters:

"Of God and of Communion with Him";

"Of Humility in Pride";

"Of Reformation and Sanctification";

"Of Love".^

All of these themes are further developed in

True Christianity; the purpose of this short work in four

chapters was to present the essential ideas of praxis
pietatis to all the people in the schools of the day.

Arndt also encouraged his Postillen on the Gospels

and Epistles issued in 1615 to be read not only in the

1Ibid.
2Morris, o. c i t ., p. 152.
3lbid.

-269churches, but also by the school masters in the villages

in the absence of the minister .1

Winter writes that in the

Ikonographia Arndt first attempted to develop a rudimentary

plan for a recall to education in Christian virtues in
reaction against the moral laxity of the times.

He felt

that all the schools of Christendom should be schools of

virtue, not only schools of culture.

He further believed

and advocated that clergymen should bring to their ministries

the moral standards learned at these schools.

If students

do not learn the Christian virtues, then they have in fact

learned nothing except how to be constantly embroiled in
Latin disputations.

Koepp also notes that the Ikonographia

lays a basis for the establishment of schools of virtue.

He

further states that Arndt protested against the lack of

Christian education in the churches and sought to develop a
program of training designed to teach the practical meaning
of Christianity.

This program was to be carried out in the

practice of confirmation, which Arndt sought to re-establish

at the time of his work as general superintendant at Celle;

1Ibid.
2Julius Winter, 0. ci t ., pp. 16-17.
^Wilhelm Koepp, o. cit., pp. 25, 71.

-270in addition, in 1619 he published an improved set of regula

tions to be used by the churches in his territory to produce
clearer understanding of true Christianity in both minister
and congregation .1

There is also an implicit protest against

the type of theological education given to students and

ministers in one of Arn d t s professed purposes for writing
True Christianity:

"In the first place, I wish to withdraw

the minds of students and preachers from an Inordinate con

troversial and polemic theology, which has well nigh assumed
the form of an earlier scholastic theology."

A r n d t s pro

test against the neglect of training in Christian virtues

in church and school, influenced others to espouse the idea
of Christian training on the state as well as on the school
level.

John Valentine Andrea

pays tribute to Arndt's ideas

of education in his Republiea Christianipolitana, in which

1Ibid., p. 72 .
2Arndt, True Christianity (Sch), cf. introduction,
p . xxxi.
^Johann Valentin Andrea (1576-1654) was a German
Lutheran pastor and author who began his work at Wurttemberg
(l6l4-l620).
There he wrote against formalism and mysticism.
He attacked the decadent morality of his age and insisted
that public pressure be used to regulate private morals.
The
major motivation of his ministry was to destroy the "idols"
of the time and bring the minds of men back to Christ.
Cf.
atricle, New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, I, 170-71.

-271-

he declared that his conceptions of the model Christian state

go back to Arndt.^
Arndt believed that the main purpose of education from
the Christian point of view was not formal academic training,
valuable though he considered it to be, but rather training
in Christian virtues in order to lead a pious life.

He

felt that in this emphasis a great step could be taken to

cure the moral ills of society.
It was left to Spener, however, to develop Arndt's
educative ideas to their fullest.

In the third section of

Pia Desideria Spener proclaimed that "it_ is_ b no means

enough to have knowledge of the Christian faith, for Christianity consists rather of practice."
idea he uses Arndt's True Christianity.

In supporting this
It is in the fifth

of his "Proposals to correct conditions", however, that the

influence of Arndt's protest against theological training
that is irrelevant to spiritual needs, becomes evident.
Stoeffler's summary of this proposal is as follows:
Candidates for the ministry should above all
else 'be themselves true Christians', for such

^Winter, ojp. cit., p. 65 .

2Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert), pp. 95-96.

3lbid.

-272men will be more helpful to a congregation than

a vain, double-doctored fool of the world, who
may be crammed full with ability,
but has not
been taught by G o d 1. The curriculum, too, must
not consist solely of material for theological
disputes but should include such books as the
German Theology, the sermons of Tauler, Arndt's
True Christianity, and Thomas a Kempis 1 Imita
tion of Christ. Furthermore, there should be
collegia at the academic centers which put the
emphasis upon Christian devotion and the Chris
tian life, for theology is not mere science but
a habitus practicus.
The influence of Reformed and Puritan thinkers on the
educational thought of Spener cannot be denied.

It would

be unscholarly, however, to overlook the major influence of

Arndt's proto-Pietistic reaction against sterile theology
on the thought and development of Spener.

In the translation

of the Pia Desideria by Tappert there are at least twenty

two pages showing direct evidence of Arndtian ideas.

's

It is

also significant that in Spener's first sermon, which was

preached on Romans 1:16, he called upon Arndt for Lutheran
theological support to stress the necessity of the Word of
God as a living reality within each of us.^

^Stoeffler, o p . c i t ., p. 234.
2Paul Grunberg, Phillip Jakob Spener (3 v o l s .; Gotlngen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1893)* I * 136.
^Spener, Pia Desideria (Tappert), cf. pp. 8 , 15-17*
27* 31* 33* 66 , 96 , 100, 111, 117, 119* 121 .
^Grunberg,

ojd.

c i t ., I, 162.

-273Arndt's concept of inward experience leading to a

life of piety also had a major influence on the spirit of
education that developed at Halle under August-Hermann
Francke (1663-1727).

While Spener founded the University of

Halle, it was under Francke that it became an important

center of Lutheran Pietism, spreading its teachings through
out Germany and into Switzerland and Scandinavia;'1'

"More

than 6,000 theologians from all parts of Germany had down to

Francke's death received their theological training in Halle,
and carried the leaven of his spirit into as many churches

2
and schools."
Like Spener, Francke had been influenced by Arndt1s
True C h r i s t i a n i t y .3

Erhard Peschke says that one should

look to Arndt rather than Luther to achieve a full understanding of Francke's life and thought.

Troeltsch says

1E. Royston Pike, "Pietists," Encyclopedia of Reli

gion

and Religions

(New York:

Meridian Books, 1958), p. 300.

^Professor Kurtz, Church History (2nd ed.), Ill, 104.

^Weigelt, o. c i t . "Hlngegen gewann seine Lieblingsschwester Anna, die fftnf Jahre alter war, besonders grossen
Einfluss auf ihren Bruder, als dieser elf oder zwfllf Jahre
alt war, Sie h a t , 'ihn zur Lesung Heiliger Schrift, Johann
Arnds Wahren Christenthums und anderer guten BUcher, angefuhr e t .1 Das lebendige Vorbild seiner Schwester verstgrkte den
Einfluss J. Arnds und ftlhrte ihn zu einer ausgesprochen asketlschen Lebenshaltung." P. 48.
^E. Peschke, "Zur Struktur der Theologie A. H. Franckes,"
Theologlsche Literatur Zeitung, 86 (1961), p. 894.

-274-

this of Arndt's Influence on later Pietism:

"Arndt's ideas

met with a good deal of opposition, but the current of

thought which he had set in motion continued to develop,
and Pietism in particular was greatly influenced by it."1

The Influence of Arndt's Mood Concerning

Theological Controversy
Arndt was well acquainted with the stinging polemics
of the orthodox Lutherans.

The orthodox party opposed

True Christianity, maintaining that Arndt was not sufficp

iently churchly.

Though Arndt held to all the Symbolical

Books and had assented to the Lutheran faith to its fullest

extent, the orthodox party charged him with teaching and
defending principles which were directly opposed to Lutheran
theology.

Morris mentioned some of the specific charges:

They accused him of ascribing too much value

to the good works of men, and of even attributing
salvation to them, whereas it is by faith alone
that we are justified, and that he depreciated the
importance of it. They also blamed him with
attaching too much prominence to following Christ,
and too little to faith, too much to our own
operations in the work of conversion, and too
little to divine grace. In short, they tried by
every mode to prove him a heretic, and he suffered

^Ernst Troeltsch, o. c i t ., II, 786 .

P
Morris, o. c i t ., p. 107.

-275unspeakably from this source .1

One of the arguments raised against Arndt was that he
was too synergistic.

In response, Arndt had declared that

he had never imputed to man before, in or after conversion,

the work that belonged to grace.

Instead he distinctly

taught that the grace of God through Christ does everything

in our salvation.

Further, he solemnly called God to witness

that he had never written anything contrary to the Augsburg

Confession or the Formula of Concord ; nor did he defend any
doctrine that did not perfectly harmonize with the Symbolical
O

Books.

Charges were also launched against Arndt because

of the mystical expressions and style of his writing.

Morris

says that this attack came about because the enthusiasts and
mystics of his day elevated Arndt out of all measure and
designated him as the third Elijah, and the restorer of godliness.
From 1618 to 1620 a violent controversy broke out at
Danzig over the scriptural value of Arndt's True Christianity.

1Ibld., p. 108.
2Ibid., p. 119.
3Ibid., p. 134.

-276Corvinus,1

a vehement adversary of Arndt's teachings,claimed

that these

books were not Scriptural, nor were they true to

the teachings of Christianity.

In opposition to Corvinus,

Daniel Dilger wrote Arn d t 's Richtige und in Gottes wort

wohlgegrundete Lehre in den 4 Biichern vom Wahren Christenthum,
defending the orthodoxy of Arndt's teachings.

The book

appeared in 1620, giving proof that Arndt's writings were

true and irrefutably based in the Scriptures.

Arndt did not engage in polemics

to defend his

position, but simply stated that he had

no intent to

against the accepted Lutheran teachings

of his day:

go

Be they well assured that from my earliest

youth to gray old age, for by God's grace I am
over 65 , I have never maintained any doctrine
that was contrary to the Augsburg Confession,
the Form of Concord, or the holy Scriptures,
and that I was exiled from my native province,
the principality of Anhalt, because I would not
agree
with those who were opposed to us in doc
trine.
Just as I have already testified in my
True Christianity, now I testify again, that I
do not wish to have my book to be understood in
any other sense than that which harmonizes with
God's word, faith in Christ, and justification

-*-A. Tholuck, "Johann Arndt," Real-Encyclopedie fur

Protestantische Theologle und Kirche (Leipzig:
J. H. Hinrichs, 1896-1913 ) t
11 1 . Corvinus was so disturbed by
Arndt's writings that he is said to have accused him of being
in the pay of the devil.
^Morris, og_. c i t ., pp. 171 ff.

-277by grace through faith.1

The same nonpoleinical emphasis is evident in Arndt's
reply to the Prince of Stettin concerning Doctor Cramer,
pastor of St. Mary's Church in Stettin, who had questioned
the validity of his works in regard to Lutheran doctrine.
Once more Arndt gave his reasons for writing True Christian
ity in nonpolemical terms:
. . . but this otherwise learned man has not
rightly comprehended the object of my books, which
is, first to lead Christians away from a dead faith
and conduct them to a living faith.
Secondly, to
draw away the minds of students and ministers from
a mere controversial theology; thirdly, to wean
to the real practice of faith and godliness; and,
fourthly, to explain the nature of true Christian
life, and to teach them the meaning of the apostle,
when he says, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me.'
To illustrate all which demands more than
the bare example of Christ.
It wasn't then, the
design of my book, as Doctor Cramer dreams, to
represent Christ as an example only, as the monks
do, but to show that faith in Christ must grow
and bear fruit, so that in the day of judgment we
be not found unfruitful trees. Neither has this
learned man understood the beautiful language of
Bernard, 'We will sooner apprehend Christ by follow
ing him than by reading h i m . ' I fear, gracious
prince and Master, I fear that many great theolo
gians have less of Christ than we think they have.
It is clear therefore that Arndt set a pattern that
would be followed by later Lutheran Pietists in regard to

J-Ibld., p. 178.
2Ibid., p. 180-81.

-278controversy.

He chose not to become embroiled in erudite

theological debates with his opponents, but to state again

and again in answer to his critics the need for a recall of
the Lutheran Church to a deep inward piety that must prove
itself in daily life.

While he reaffirmed his allegiance

tc the basic teachings of Luther, he also chose to accent

the ethical connotations of Christian faith.
Especially noteworthy among those who carried on
this Arndtian spirit were Lutkemann, Muller, and Scriver.
These men, choosing to ignore the attacks of the orthodox
on their writings, constantly stressed the need for a deeper
inward piety on the part of Lutheran Christians.

Joachim Lutkemann (1608-1655) was born at Demmin in

Wolfenbuttel, Pomerania.

He was introduced to Arndtian

piety while he was at the University of Rostock.

He became

the center of a controversy on the humanity of Christ.

He

was charged with teaching that in death, because the unity

of soul and body was broken, Christ was not true man, and
that to say this was to destroy the reality and the saving
power of his death.

Lutkemann, in the spirit of Arndt,

chose not to engage in controversy with his antagonists,

^Professor Kurtz, o. c i t ., III, 40.

-279-

but rather to stress in his writings the need for genuine

Christian piety.

In his major work, Foretaste of Divine

Goodness, first published in 1643, he reasserted the protoPietistic themes of True Christianity.

As Stoeffler

indicates, Liitkemann's preachings followed Arndt's:

His greatest concern was the kind of piety
which expresses itself in a Biblically based
personal morality, repentance, conversion, n e w
ness of life, dying to self, denial of the world,
striving so as to be able to enter through the
narrow gate, a holy life.1

Henry Muller (1631-1675) also followed the Arndtian

spirit of ignoring the theological controversies of his
day.

He concentrated also in his writings on the need for

greater personal piety.

Even his ideas on reform in the

Lutheran Church were directed to this end.

He taught that

the essence of Christianity, according to personal exper

ience, was divine love.

In his famous Pietistic work,

Heavenly Kiss of Love, he emphasized that God's love was

the basic principle of all Christian theology.2
Christian Scriver (1629-1693) was one of the main
Arndtian anticipators of the school of Spener.3

^Stoeffler,

ojd .

c i t ., pp. 220-21.

2Ibld., p. 221.
3Professor Kurtz, o. c i t ., III, 44.

His

-280Treasure of the Soul Is noted as one of the most outstanding

Lutheran edificatory works of his time.1

This work also

ignores theological controversy and underlines the need for

inward piety.

Stoeffler says of Scriver that he had a major

influence on Lutheran Piety.

Philipp Jakob Spener was the subject of more contro

versy than any of the preceding men.

Many of the attacks

on him centered around his Pia Desideria.

In 1695 > when

fifteen different works appeared attacking his Pietism, he

wrote:

"Now all sides are against me, and it appears among

certain people to engage in a sporting match.

But the Lord

gives to me an unusual joy moreso than I have ever had

before.The

dominant tone of Spener's answers to his

critics always stressed the Arndtian idea of a need for

reform leading to pious living.

One cannot read the Pia

Desideria without becoming aware of his desire to arouse

Lutheran Christians from a mere formal knowledge of faith
to a deepening of inward faith expressed in conduct, as well
as his desire for the limitation of theological strife and

^Stoeffler, ojo. c i t ., p. 225.

2Ibld., p. 227.
3weigelt, o. c i t ., p. 43.

-281confessional polemic.^"
A. H. Francke also knew the bitter fruits of contro
versy over his work.

However,

the bulk of his labor was not

that of theological polemic, but rather the need of piety as

an outgrowth of conversion.

The Pietism represented by

Spener and Francke at Halle in its rejection of polemical

theology was by no means a rejection of all theology, but
only of that sort which the orthodox used to stir up controversy.

It was this nonpolemical spirit as carried on by

these men who stressed the needs and pleasures of experi

ential life that once again points to Arndt as the true
father of traditional Lutheran Pietism.

^I b i d ., p. 35.
2Ibid., p. 38.

CHAPTER XIV
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The first part of this study has attempted to treat

the historical influences on Arndt's life and thought.

There

was first the great stream of historical piety rising out of

the devotional literature of the fathers of the early church,
the combination of theology and Christologlcal mysticism in
Augustine's works, and the great emphasis on the un l o ; there
was medieval mysticism, particularly as presented by Tauler,
Thomas a Kempis, Bernard of Clairvaux,
logy.

and the German Theo

It has also been shown that these sources were con

sciously used by Arndt to enhance his doctrine of the

interior life out of which the structures of his protoPietism developed.

These sources were given considerable

attention because they are a major influence on Arndt's

religious thought in the development of his proto-Pietistic
emphasis.
That Arndt could use these sources in good conscience

-282-

-283as a Lutheran has been indicated by the fact that the mysti
cal elements in the writings of the young Luther, along with
his Christological teaching of the indwelling Christ and the
Melanchthonian influences in the Augsburg Confession and the
Formula of Concord stressing the need of sanctified living
as part of genuine faith, are all valid historical features
of early Lutheranism.

Post-Reformation Lutheranism for the

most part turned away from these early influences and became
engaged in confessional controversies.

This fact, together

with the rise of Caesaropapism within Lutheranism,

led to

an arid neglect of personal piety on the part of clergy and

laity.

It was therefore the failure of the church to empha

size heartfelt personal religion that Arndt sought to over

come by injecting his religious ideas concerning the practice
of personal piety into the Lutheran Church of the seventeenth
century.

He believed that an emphasis on the ideas of

personal piety as found in the teachings of the early church

fathers, the medieval mystics, and the early Luther was
necessary in order to counteract what he felt to be an unpro
ductive Christianity within the Lutheran Church.

Thus in

emphasizing the ideas of this pious tradition Arndt, through

the wide influence of his works, began a movement which was
to blossom forth into the full fruit of German Lutheran

-284Pletlsm.
The historical context of Arndt's religious thought
has been given considerable.space because the subject of
Arndt's indebtedness to earlier Christian sources and
traditions had not been sufficiently explored.1

It has there

fore been demonstrated in this section that Arndt's religious

thought is indebted, for the most part, to the ideas of
personal piety expressed by important individuals who exerted
considerable influence in the historical tradition of the
Christian church.

Because of the controversy revolving

around Arndt's use of these ideas in the development of his

proto-Pietism and the powerful influence of his religious
thought on later Lutheran Pietism, it was deemed necessary
to investigate his dominant theological emphases.
It has therefore been the effort of the second part
of this dissertation to discuss and analyze Arndt's basic
theological insights in regard to his proto-Pietistic
emphasis.

These were found to be expressed through his

Biblical emphasis, his Christocentrism, his concept of living

faith, and his doctrine of spiritual renewal.

Arndt hoped

to overcome the almost complete disregard for personal

^-Stoeffler, 0. c i t ., p. 204.

-285holiness as a necessary feature of the Christian life by

pointing to these theological insights as basic to true
Christianity.
It has also been shown in this section that while
Arndt held to the mystic's idea of a transformed interior
life, he kept it in balance with his belief that Scripture
is primary in understanding man's limitations while urging
him on to the highest good.

It was thus Arndt's Biblical

emphasis which kept him from a radical departure into m y s

ticism.

Arndt constantly applied the rule throughout his

whole proto-Pietistic emphasis that nothing should be in

contradiction to the Word of God.

In this sense, therefore,

Arndt could best be classified as a Pietistic evangelical

mystic, although to categorize his religion as mainly
mysticism in the medieval sense of the word does great
injustice to his religious thought.

There is also a sense

in which his mystical inclinations are akin to those found

in the Johannine and Pauline sections of the New Testament.
Arndt was fond of emphasizing the Johannine idea of the
indwelling Christ and the Pauline affirmation "I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave

-286himself for me."1

Further analysis of Arndt's basic theological insights
revealed that the heart of his religious thought resided in
his Christocentric emphasis.

This can best be described as

a form of "Christ-mysticism," since in Arndt's estimation

fellowship with Christ is more than an abstract idea.

He

insisted that the main outcome of true faith is actual con

scious union with Christ which results in a new life p a t
terned after the example of Christ.

Thus while Arndt

frequently declared the need for union with Christ he always

spoke of it in terms of the new life.

For this reason Arndt

ought not to be referred to as a medieval mystic since the

major purpose of his Christocentric emphasis was not the
unio, but the new life through union with Christ which
expresses itself in moral excellence.
Another basic theological insight of Arndt's was
that faith must be living and operative if it is to be
genuine.

In this idea Arndt differed from the orthodox

understanding of the basic meaning of faith.

Orthodoxy

defined faith primarily as a trust in a historic act rather

than commitment to a person.

Arndt, on the other hand,

^Arndt, Wahren Christenthum (Mentz), pp. 806-08.

-287defined faith primarily as an absolute trust in Christ and

living, active,

commitment to him.

What Arndt desired to

stress through his definition of faith was that justifica

tion is not meaningful to the person who needs salvation
unless it is personally received in fiducial commitment.
While Arndt never denied that justification involved a
forensic act on the part of God, he constantly insisted
that it must actively enter into the human experience.

This

he believed to be accomplished through the divine work of

the new birth, which in turn culminates in a conscious sense
of union with Christ, who gives rise to a constant striving
for sanctification.

Thus Arndt held that conceptual under

standing of Christianity is not enough to move the individual

or the community to piety and its resulting good works.
Good works must arise also from true inward piety which God
through Christ works in the Christian according to his Word.
It is in this sense that Arndt declared that faith must be
living and operative.

From the viewpoint of Lutheran ortho

doxy this was synergism; from that of Arndt and later Pietism,
it was sound Biblical Christianity.

Arndt believed, and with

good reason, that in his conception of faith with its con

comitant praxis pietatis, he was faithfully adhering to the
confessional standards of the Lutheran Church.

When Arndt's

-288opponents accused him of importing a strange doctrine into

the Lutheran Church he reminded them that he was not teach
ing anything that contradicted the Lutheran confessions.1
In the light of his interpretation of faith, Arndt further
demanded a recognition of the need for conscious fellowship
with Christ, while at the same time practically demonstrating
this fellowship in a daily life of Piety.
Arndt's particular interpretation of justification
by faith also flavored his religious thought with an irenic
spirit that led his critics to accuse him of being in league
with the enemies of Lutheranism.

Others have seen in this

irenic spirit a latent ecumenism that transcends external

religious structures designed to magnify differences rather
than similarities.

The doctrine of renewal through the new birth was

also one of Arndt's basic theological insights.

In this

doctrine, he emphasized the idea that true Christianity is

possible only where a new creature is formed through the

^The twentieth article of the Augsburg Confession

states:
"Moreover, ours teach that it is necessary to do
good works; not that we may trust that we deserve grace by
them, but because it is the will of God that we should do
them." Cf.
Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, III, 24.

% e e the discussion of this idea in Koepp's Johann

Arndt und sein Wahres Christenthum, pp. 27-29.

-289
miracle of the new birth.

In connection with this doctrine

Arndt insisted that all genuine piety is a result of God's

saving work in the individual.

He taught that in the new

birth Christ accomplishes his transforming work by renewing

the image of God in the Christian.

In this transformation

the will and effections no longer are engaged in selfish

works, but are inspired with the desire to bring the whole
life of the Christian into conformity with the will of God.
Arndt taught that all spiritual renewal begins with
the interior life and then produces externally in the life
of the Christian the fruits of praxis pietatis.

In associa

tion with this idea he insisted that the Word of God and the
Sacraments were essential to the cultivation of personal
piety.

By this assertion Arndt meant that while regenera

tion is an individual matter it must always be understood

as taking place through the ministry of the church.1

Thus

it can be concluded from this idea that Arndt never con-

C f . The Augsburg Confession, A r t . V, Of the Ministry

of the Church, "For by the Word and Sacraments, as by instru
ments, the Holy Spirit is given: who worketh faith, where
and when it pleaseth God, in those that hear the Gospel, to
wit, that God, not for our merit's sake, but for Christ's
sake, doth justify those who believe that they for Christ's
sake are received into favor.
They condemn the Anabaptists and others, who imagine
that the Holy Spirit is given to men without the outward word,
through their own preparations and works.
Cf. Schaff, Creeds
of Christendom, III, 10-11.

-290ceived of his emphasis on the need for spiritual renewal as

a rejection of the ministry of the church, but rather as a
summons to revive the spirit of vital, inward Christianity
within the church.

He desired through his doctrine of

renewal to awaken a spirit of personal piety in both clergy

and laity because he believed that only the renewed man
possesses the potential for true Christianity.
Arndt taught that the renewed man must cultivate the
new life.

While Arndt taught that the new life which gives

the potential for true Christianity was God's gift, he felt

that it is not given except to him who actively reaches for
it.

This being the case, it was necessary to investigate

Arndt's understanding of the Christian's role in cultivating

the new life.

Therefore, in the third part of this study

the basic features of Arndt's understanding of the Christian

life were discussed and analyzed.

The most important of

these found in Arndt's proto-Pietistic emphasis were,

l) The practice of daily repentance in the light of one's
weaknesses as a Christian.

2) The practice of daily prayer

as a stimulant to living faith.

love as the noblest ethic.

3) The practice of Christian

4) The life-long striving after

perfection as the ideal Christian life.

In stressing these basic features of the Christian

-291life Arndt had established a mood of protest against what he

believed to be the main causes of a decadent and notional
Christianity.

This oppositive element in his proto-Pietism

led him to seek reform not only at the level of personal life
but also in regard to the educational and institutional
structures of the church.

He advocated that candidates for

the ministry should be taught above all, the necessity of

personal piety if they were to be effective pastors and admin
istrators in the church.

These emphases in Arndt's writings

struck at the heart of orthodoxy through their implied crit

icism of the almost total emphasis in his day on rigid confessionalizing of Lutheranism,

(Verkonfessionalisierung) .

Therefore the opponents of Arndt charged him with doctrinal

laxity and importing foreign elements into Lutheranism.
Despite Arndt's insistence that he was loyal to the doctrines
of the Lutheran Church, his writings became the subject of
a great controversy.

However, even though he was attacked

viciously by his opponents, he refrained from theological

^Cf. W. Koepp, "Johann Arndt und sein 'Wahres Christenthum'", in Aufsatze und Vortrage zur Theologie und Re 11gionwissenschaft, p . 26.
Sjhile men like Lucas Oslander attacked him viciously
he was defended by the theologians John Hiilsemann, John
Dannhauer, John QuenstSdt, John Gerhard and others.
Cf.
Stoeffler, o p . c i t ., p. 210.

-292warfare.

Although Arndt believed deeply in his proto-

Pietistlc emphases, for which he was willing to suffer, he

believed it would be a contradiction of his whole system of
thought to fight back in the same fashion in which he was
slandered.

To use the same weapons of his opponents was

incompatible with his understanding of the basic features

of the Christian life.

Thus Arndt set a mood in his response

to theological controversy which was to influence the b e

havior of later leaders in Lutheran Pietism when faced with
similar charges.

Arndt's relation to Lutheran Pietism is

therefore to be found not only in the fact that he initiated

its basic theological structures, but also in the influence
he had on the spirit in which the movement was to develop.
The thesis of this dissertation has been that the
religious thought of John Arndt was the main dynamic force
that injected proto-Pietistic ideas into German Lutheranism.
These ideas were taken up and fully developed into Pietism
under Philipp Spener and A. H. Francke.

Thus it has been

maintained that Arndt and not Spener is the true father of

German Lutheran Pietism.
Of all Arndt's works, True Christianity was found to
be the most important source of his religious thought.

In

the first four volumes of this work, Arndt brings together

-293all his major religious concepts.

As preparation for under

standing the developing stream of Lutheran Pietism in the

seventeenth century, these important concepts have been
isolated and carefully examined.

They have proved Arndt not

only to be negative in his reaction to what he believed to

be false Christianity, but positive in that he set down
definite steps to be taken at the personal level in answer
to the problem of impiety that plagued his age.
The great influence that Arndt's piety had upon his
age and later generations cannot be underestimated.'1' Arndt
lived in the pious hearts of many Lutherans for a long
period of time after his death.

It is not surprising, there

fore, to find that Arndt's writings continued to be republished in large numbers throughout the western world.

This

fact points to Arndt's religious thought as a powerful factor

of Lutheranism, both from within and without.

Furthermore

^Schleiff, o j d . c i t ., declares that the rise of selfcriticism in the Lutheran churches during the seventeenth
century can be traced mainly to Arndt's influence,
p. 15 f.
Stoeffler, ojd . c i t ., points to the fact that Arndt was also
the initiator of a new type of ediflcatory literature in
Lutheranism, which continued to develop throughout the
seventeenth century,
p. 211.
2
A general discussion of the Influence of Arndt's
religious thought throughout Germany and beyond its borders
can be found in the introduction to the American edition of
True Christianity written by Charles Schaeffer.
C f . Arndt,
True Christianity (Sch), pp. xxxi-xxxiv.

-294the original impulse and character of that significant part

of the development of the Lutheran Pietist movement which
rests on (or is typified by) Arndt's concerns and viewpoint
was so well established during the period from 1700 to 1770
that many thought it to be the true essence and heart of
Lutheranism.1

Arndt's proto-Pietistic emphasis was timely

and persuasive in speaking concretely to men who felt as he

did that the church needed to be reawakened to its task to
be relevant to a troubled and decadent Christian society.
Many were weary of the theological hair-splitting and con
troversy that characterized the religious outlook of much of
western Christendom in the seventeenth century.

Arndt's

emphasis on personal integrity through personal piety as an

answer to the problem of hypocrisy that plagued the church,
was soon embraced by those who desired a meaningful Christi
anity for all of life.

They were all too painfully aware

of the fact that indifference to the Christian's spiritual

needs in the personal struggles of daily living soon pro
duces a decline in moral rectitude.
In investigating the religious thought of Arndt, the
following conclusions can be drawn in regard to his influence

^Koepp, o. c i t ., p. 19.

-295on the development of Lutheran Pietism.

First, Arndt was instrumental in persuading many
Christians of the real possibility of a renewal of the church
through the transformation in regenerate Christians who take
seriously the practice of personal piety.
Second, Arndt provided a needed re-emphasis and a
much fuller interpretation of the priesthood of all believers.
In his proto-Pietistic emphasis Arndt re-emphasized and
reformulated the participation, and significance of both lay
men and clergy.

Arndt carried this much further than Luther

was prepared to do, even in his earlier writings.

Arndt

understood the priesthood of all believers not only as a

personal ministry of the free Christian man to his own house
hold and neighbors, but also as a spiritual sharing of each
with all, both in the church and the world.
Third, Arndt constantly emphasized that k m w i n g and
believing must result in praxis pletatis in the ' xrit of
Christian love.

Thus, his primary emphasis was not that of

mystical union but rather the new life, an emphasis which is

the very essence of Pietism.
Fourth, Arndt taught that religious controversies
must be subservient to the primary witness of Christian love,
patience and humility.

Reconciliation and the apprehension

-296of Christian truth must always be the aims of any religious

controversy.

Any personal desire to defeat, humiliate, or

slander one's opponent or any desire for personal glory

should be completely avoided as contrary to the example of
Christ.
Fifth, freedom from deadening traditionalism, both
in church practices and doctrinal confessionalizing was
advocated by Arndt's personal attitude and teachings.

His

insistence on giving primary attention to the spiritual

needs and common concerns of Christians regardless of do c
trinal or ecclesiastical commitments pointed the way to
certain ecumenical efforts that were to arise in later
Lutheran Pietists.
Sixth, Arndt's personal effectiveness in emphasizing
and popularizing the ideas associated with his protoPietism as essential to the practice of true Chris tianity
set in motion a movement that was to have lasting effect
upon the development of Lutheran Pietism in the seventeenth
century.
Thus, Arndt believed he was helping to advance the
cause of the Reformation by his proto-Pietistic emphasis.
He felt that the intent of the reformers was always to for
mulate doctrine in terms of the Christian life.

Whether or

-297not one agrees that he did succeed in advancing the cause of

the reformers depends on what one believes the essential
implications of their reforming principles were for the life
of the church.

It cannot be expected that all scholars, as

well as Christian laymen will agree on the validity of Arndt's

proto-Pietistic emphases as an answer to ineffectual Chris
tianity, but it must be noted that much of what he taught
greatly influenced the life of the seventeenth century
Lutheran Church.

Like other great figures in history, Arndt

was a complex personality.

As he was himself shaped by many

forces, the influence he had on his contemporaries and on

later generations was many sided and cannot easily be com
prehended in a single formula.

However, the main directions

of the program of reform which he advocated in his writings

are clear.

The force of their challenge resides in his

talent for mediating between tradition and contemporary need,

and representing in his own person and work the reconcilia
tion between the ideal and the possible.
Finally it should be added that there are still
possibilities for research in the historic significance of
Arndt's proto-Pietism.

There is need for a study of the

influence of Arndt's religious ideas on early American

-298Lutheranism.1

One might also investigate the contribution

of Arndt to the thought and life of the early American

German Brethren movements.

Also there is need for further

research in the relationship between Arndt's proto-Pietism

and the teachings of Anabaptism.

While there are some

articles and sections of books which treat this subject

with regard to Pietism in general, there is a paucity of
material on the A m d t i a n influence.

Furthermore, it would

seem worthy of effort to produce a study of Arndt's method

of preaching and its influence on the development of
homiletics in sixteenth,
Lutheranism.

seventeenth and eighteenth century

A study tracing the origins and methods of

education in Christian virtues as set forth by Arndt would

also be a valid contribution to understanding the influence
of Pietism on the developing stream of Christian history.
Finally, as an aid to further understanding the development
of Lutheran Pietism, a compend of Arndt's theology should
be produced within the near future.

^Henry Muhlenberg, German Lutheran pioneer, said his

ministry was based on the Bible, the Lutheran Symbolical
Books, and the "writings of such highly enlightened fathers
. . . as the blessed Luther, Arndt, Spener and others.
Cf.
Henry Muhlenberg, The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg,
trans. Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein (3 v o l s .;
Philadelphia:
The Muhlenberg Press, 19^6), I, 182.

-299It is hoped that this dissertation will help to

further the knowledge and understanding of John Arndt as
a spiritual reformer and as the main link between Luther
and Spener in the development of Lutheran Pietism.

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Arndt, John.
A Sacramental Sermon on Maundy-Thursday
From Matthew 26, 26-29. Translated from the German
by Philip Henkel.
New-Market:
Printed in S.
Henkel's office, 1834.
. Catechlsmus Predigten in Fragen und Antworten.
Desgleichen die Haustafel in besondern Predigten
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. . . Herr Joh. Christian Storrens. Stuttgart:
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Lateinischen herausgegeben . . . Stuttgart:
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. Gecreusslgter und Wieder auferstandener Christus.
Das 1st:
Passions und Oster-Predigten oder Betrachtung uber die gantze Passions und Auferstehungs
Historie nach der Ordnung des aus^den IV Evangelisten
zusammen getragenen Tex t s . Auch uber auserlesene
besondere Passions und Oster-Text, darinnen vornemllch
die Weissagungen und Vorbilder des Alten Testaments,
welche auf Christum zielen, erbaulich erklaret
werden.
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in des H. R. Stadt Nordlingen.
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-301-

-302Ikonographia. Gruntllcher und Christlicher Bericht von Blldern, ihrem Urspring, rechtem Gebrauch
un miszbrauch im alten und neuen Testament:
ob der
miszbrauch die Bilder gar aufthebe: was dieselbe fur
ein gezeugnusz in der Natur haben, in Geistlichen
und WeItlichen Sachen:
von Ceremonia Oder Zeichen
des Creutzes: Auch von der eusserlichen Reverentz
und Ehrerbietung gegen dem hochgelobten Namen Jesus
Christl, unseres einigen Erlosers und Ehrenkonigs.
Halberstadt:
Gedruckt . . . bey Georg Koten, 1596.
Paradiesgartleln, voller Christlichen Tugenden
wie solche zur Uebung des wahren Christenthums
durch geistreiche Gebete in die Seelen zu Pflanzen;
dem beygefuget vierzehn Wundergeschichten welche
sich mit diesem Buch begeben; ingleichen Morgan
und Abensegen auf alle Tage in der Wache, wie auch
ein dreyfaches Register, so den Nutzen und Gebrauch
dieses Buches weiset.
Philadelphia:
Herausgegeben
von Georg W. Mentz und Sohn, Buchhandler, 1832.
Postilla und Anhang: Der Ganze Catechlsmus in
60 Predigten. Der Dritte Theil, Evangelium am
Sontage; Der Vierdte Theil, Christliche Auszlegung
U. Erklarung der Evangelischen Texte, so auff der
Apostle U. anderer Heiligen Tag nebst etlichen
Predigten so auf die hohen U. vornehmsten Pestage.
Gestellet durch Johannem Arndten . . . Jena:
Tobiam
Steinmann, 1616.
Samtlicher Bucher vom Wahren Christenthum. Welche
handel von Jieilsamer Busse, herzlicher Reue und Leid
uber die Sunde und Wahren Glauben, auch heiligen
Leben und Wandel der rephten Wahren Christen, auch
Wie ein Wahrer Christ Sunde, Tod, Teufel, hOlle,
weit, Creutz und alle Trubsal durch den Glauben,
Gebet, Gedult, Gottes Wort und himmlischen Trbst
uberwinden soil, und dasselbe alles in Christo Jesu:
Anjetzo aufs neue mit 63 Kupfern, auch accuraten
Summarien jeden Capitels, besonders brauchbaren
Sonn-und-Fest-Tags-Register. Auch einer Catechetischen Einleitung von 288 Fragen.
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G'drtleln . . . Frankfurt am Mayn:
zufinden bey
Heinrich Ludwig Bronner, 1768 .

-303

Samtliche Sechs geistreiche Bucher vom Wahren

Christenthum. Das ist von heilsamer Busse hertz licher Reue und Leyd Uber die Sunde, wahren Glauben,
auch heil.
Leben und Wandel der rechten Wahren
Christen:
Neuverbessert Auflage in Grossem Druck,
versehen mit richtlgen Anmerckungen, Krafftigen
GebUttern uber alle Capitel, und einem Sechsfachen
Register.
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Emanuel Hurter, 1737.
Sechs Bucher vom Wahren Christenthum. Welche
handeln von heilsamer Busse, herzlicher Reue und
Leid uber die Sunde, und wahren Glauben, auch heiligem Leben und Wandel der rechtem wahren Christen.
Mit beygefUgtem Lebenslauf des sel Autors . . .
Philadelphia:
Herausgegeben von Georg W. Mentz und
Sohn Buchhandler, 1832.
"Senschreiben an Erasmum Wolffartum, von dem
grossen Geheimnus der Menschwerdung des ewigen
Worts."
Christian Hoburgen, Predigern, Theologia
Mystica, etc. Sultzbach:
verlegts Johann Andreas
von Creutz, und Druckts Christian Holst, 1730.
Pp. 1-16.
The Garden of Paradise, or Holy Prayers and
Exercises; whereby the Christian Graces and Virtues
may be planted and Improved in Man, the divine Image
renew'd, true Christianity promoted, the Kingdom
of God established, and a heavenly Life raised up
in the Spirit . . . . Now done into English from
the German Original.
London:
Printed and Sold by
F. Dowing in Bartholomew Close near West Smithfield,

1716.
True Christianity. A treatise on Sincere Repen
tance, True Faith, the Holy Walk of the True Christian.
A New American Edition, revised, corrected, and fur
nished with additional matter from the original
German.
General Introduction by Charles F. Schaeffer.
Philadelphia:
The United Lutheran Publication
Office.
1868.
(This edition includes the first
four books of True Christianity.)

-304"Vorrede." Die Deutsche Theologie. Besorgt von

Johann Andreas Detzer.
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Pp. iv-xvi.
Zehen Lehr und geistreiche Predigten Uber die
Zehen Egyptischen Plagen. (Neue AusgabeTJ
Stuttgart:
zufinden bey Johann Christoph Betulius, 1771*

Miscellaneous Works
Arnold, Gottfried.
Unpartheyische-Kirchen und KetzerHistorie. Vom Angang des Neuen Testaments biss
auf das Jahre Christ! 1688.
3 Bande.
Schaffhausen:
Emanuel und Benedict Hurter, 1740-41.
Augustine, St.
The City of G o d . Translated by Marcus Dods,
with introduction by Thomas Merton.
New York:
Random House, 1950.
Bernard, St.
On the Song of S o n g s . Sermones In Cantica
Cantorum.
Translated and edited by a Religious of
C.S.M.V., with introduction and notes.
London:
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Evans, Charles.
American Bibliography. Chicago:
Blakely
Press, MDCCCV.
Contains works by John Arndt printed
in America before 1801.
These are available in the
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Hoburgen, Christian.
Predigern Theologia Mystlca oder
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abgefasset, als I Von dem Wege der Busse zu Gott.
II Von dem Wege der Erleuchtung einer bussfertigen
Seelen.
Ill Von dem Weg der Vereinigung mit Gott.
Auf H. Schrifft, und den Altvatern mit eigener Erfahrung gezeiget. Sambt elnem Auszug, aus dem Buch,
genandt himmliche Academie, zu Londen in England
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Arnds, as Erasmum Wolffartum, von dem grossen Geheimnus der Menschwerdung des ewigen Worts.
Sultzbach:
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-305Luther, Martin.
A Commentary on S t . Paul*s Epistle to the
Galatians. Translated by Theodore Graebner.
Grand
Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.
. Luther1s Primary W o r k s . Together with his Shorter
and Larger Catechisms.
Translated and edited by
Henry Wace and C. A. Buchheim.
London:
Hodder and
Stoughton, 27 Paternoster Row, 1896 .
.

Werke, Weimarer Ausgabe, 1883 (90 vols).

. Luthers Werke fuer das Christliche H a u s . 8 B a n d .

Braunschweig:
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VIII, 63 .
. The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther.
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11 vols.
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XXI, and one unnumbered vol.)
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in All Lands Co. or Luther Press, 1903-10, XXIV, 39.
. Works of Martin Luther. Translated by H. E. Jacobs
et_ a l . 6 vols.
Philadelphia:
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1915-32, Vol. VI.
Melanchthon, Philip.
Melanchthon on Christian Doctrine.
Loci Communes 1555.
Translated and edited by Clyde L.
Manschreck.
Introduction by Hans Engelland.
New
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The Journals of Henry Melchior
MUhlenberg. Translated by Theodore G. Tappert and
John W. Doberstein.
3 vols.
Philadelphia:
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Pla Desideria. Translated and edited
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. Predigten uber des seellgen Johann Arnds Bucher
vom Wahren Christenthum. Franckfurt am M a y n : von
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1711.

-306. Theologlsches Bedencken und andere Brleffllche

Antworten auf geistliche, sonderlich zur erbauung
gerichte materien, zu unter-schiedenen zeiten aufgesetzet . . . zum dritten mal herausgegeben.
4
vols.
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In Verlegung des Waysenhauses, I
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Theologia Germanlca. Edited with an introduction by Thomas S .
Kepler.
Cleveland:
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Wesley, John.
The Works of John W e s l e y . Vol. I.
Journal
from October 14, 1735, to November 29, 1745.
Grand
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Forschungen zur Evangelischen Gebetsllteratur.
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Johann Arndt: Ein Blographischer Versuch.
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Christus Victor. Translated by A. G. Hebert.
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