SPENER, PHILIPP JAKOB (1635-1705), German the ologian, was born on Jan. 13, 1635, at Rappoltsweiler in Upper Alsace. He won his degree of master at Strasbourg (1653) by a disputation against the philosophy of Hobbes. In 1666, he was chief pastor in the Lutheran Church at Frankfort-on-Main. Here he published his two chief works, Pia desideria (1675) and Allgemeine Gottesgelehrtheit (168o), and began that form of pastoral work which resulted in the movement called Pietism. In 1686 he accepted the invitation to the first court chaplaincy at Dresden. But the elector John George III. was offended by his chaplain's candour. Spener refused to resign his post, and the Saxon government hesitated to dismiss him. The difficulty was solved by his promotion (1691) to the rectorship of St. Nicholas in Berlin with the title of "Konsistorialrat." The university of Halle was founded under his influence in 1694. Spener was ex posed to the abuse of orthodox Lutheran theologians. In 1695 the
theological faculty of Wittenberg formally laid to his charge 264 errors. He died on Feb. 5, 1705. His last important work was Theologische Bedenken (4 vols., 1700-02), to which was added after his death Letzte theologische Bedenken, with a biography of Spener by C. H. von Canstein (I7I 1). Though "the father of Pietism," the extravagances of the movement cannot be ascribed to him personally.
Spener was a voluminous writer. The list of his published works comprises 7 vols. folio, 63 quarto, 7 octavo, 46 duodecimo; a new edition of his chief writings was published by P. Griinberg in 1889. See W. Hossbach, Philipp Jakob Spener und seine Zeit (1828, 3rd ed., 1861) ; A. Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, ii. (1884) ; E. Sachsse, Ursprung und Wesen des Pietismus (1884) ; P. Griinberg, P. J. Spener (3 vols., 1893-1906).