British devotional literature and the rise of German Pietism: an investigation
Abstract
Was British devotional literature a major factor in the
rise of German Pietism? Beginning in the very first decade of
the seventeenth century, eighteen books by the Puritan William
Perkins were put into German for the benefit of Calvinist readers.
He has been called the "father of Pietism." Works by other Pietistic
Puritans were also translated into German at an early
date. Three books rapidly gained official access to the Lutheran
church. Edmund Bunny's Protestant version of Robert Parsons's
Booke of Resolvtion was put into German and published in 1612.
It was quickly adapted and expanded for Lutheran use, and it went
through at least forty-eight editions by 1750. Lewis Bayly's
Practice of Pietie, which had been translated into German and
published at Basel in 1628, was adapted for Lutheran use in 1631.
By 1750 it had gone through at least sixty-eight editions. Joseph
Hall's Arte of Divine Meditation, which was put into German
in 1631, went through at least sixty-one editions by 1750 as
the second part of The Practice of Pietie. Although Daniel Dyke's
Mystery of Selfe-Deceiuing did not gain official access to the Lutheran
church, it was widely disseminated in Lutheran areas and
went through at least twenty editions by 1728.
British writers enjoyed great popularity in Germany.
At least thirty-one works by Joseph Hall, thirty by Richard
Baxter, and nine by John Bunyan, for example, were put into German;
and some of them went through a number of editions. The
party for reform within Lutheran orthodoxy, Pietism's immediate
predecessor, was greatly influenced by British devotional books;
and some of its leaders introduced them to the Lutheran church.
In the course of time, they became thoroughly familiar with the
ideals proclaimed in these books and made them their own.
By 1750 more than 690 British religious works, most of
which were devotional in character, were translated into German.
Although the authors of some of them are not known, 301 or
more of them were written by known British writers. Collectively
these works involve approximately seventeen hundred
editions and impressions. As Pietism advanced, more and more
of them were translated into German and published by Lutherans.
Johann Hülsemann began a controversy over British
devotional literature in 1654 that lasted well into the first
decades of the eighteenth century. Much of the criticism that
was leveled against this body of writings is exactly the same
as the criticism that was directed against Pietism. The cumulative
effect of the available evidence creates the impression
that German translations of British devotional books
were a major and decisive factor in the rise and development
of the Pietistic movement in Germany.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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