Początki pietyzmu w Gdańsku
The Origins of Pietism in Gdańsk

Foreword by Samuel Schelwig to ‘Gründliches und wolgesetztes Bedencken, Von der Pietisterey’ (1693)

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an analysis of the foreword by Samuel Schelwig (1643–1715), pastor of the Holy Trinity Church and rector of the Academic Gymnasium in Gdańsk (Danzig), to the opinion issued by the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig on Pietism and its founder Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705). The opinion was published in 1693 under the title ‘Gründliches und wolgesetztes Bedencken, Von der Pietisterey’. The author of the foreword made an assessment of the religious condition of the new movement and also pointed out that its supporters misunderstood the essence of piety, comparing them to medieval and early modern heretics. In this way, he anticipated the subsequent harsh criticism of Pietism and initiated a religious dispute on this issue that continued in Gdańsk from 1692/1693 to 1703. At the same time, he contributed to the dissemination of a debate on religious fanaticism and attempts to modernise pastoral activities of Lutheran preachers. The analysis of the source text is part of broader research into the history of the Pietistic movement in Gdańsk, which has incorporated research methods in the fields of philology and history, as well as biblical hermeneutics. This approach has made it possible to determine the origin of the conflict on Pietism in Gdańsk, to identify the related phenomena, events and key doctrinal issues, and to interpret and evaluate the theological value of the investigated polemic.

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