CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY

Christianity and Communism­ An Ideological Comparison RALPH L. MOELLERING

Communism. and Religion in Russia and China WALTER W. OETTING

August Hermann Francke, 1663-1963 PHILIP J. SCHROEDER

Homiletics

Theological Observer Book Review

VOL. XXXIV November 1963 No. 11 August Hermann Francke, 1663 -1963 ...... By PHILIP J. SCHROEDER

hy remember August Hermann Es ist jetzt Stadt-bekannt der Nam der W Francke on the 300th anniversary Pietisten, Was ist ein Pietist? der Gottes Wort studiert, of his natal year? Und nach demselben auch ein heilig Leben Certainly association and identification fiihrt. Das ist ja wohlgetan! jawohl von jedem with Pietists and Pietism should not dis­ Christen; qualify him for a niche in the hall of Denn dieses mach!' s nicht aus, wenn man remembered saints. Though some still nach Rhetoristen Und Disputanten Art sich auf der Kanzel speak with caution and even opprobriously ziert, about Pietists and Pietism, the climate has Und nach der Lehre nicht lebt heilig, wie changed especially with reference to the gebiihrt. Die Pietaet die muss voraus im Benen earlier Pietists. Much of the suspicion, nisten. detraction, and obloquy which became at­ Die baut auch zehnmal mehr, als wohlgesetzte tached to the name and fame of Pietism Wort, Ja aUe Wissenschaft, siF. nutzt auch hier und stems frow ;alsely att'~;"'Ul~ng Inally ex­ dart. crescences and aberrations of later Pietism Drum weij der See!' ge war bei mancher to the early founders of the movement. schiinen Gabe Und nimmer miidem Fleiss ein guter Pietist, illustrative of the Pietist ethos as under­ So ist er nunmehr auch ein guter Quietist. stood by many is the following "eulogy" Die See!' ruht wahl in Gatt, der Leib auch wahl im Grabe. spoken at the funeral of one of the fol­ The simple and easy shibboleth so com­ lowers of Francke: mon and so unhistorical that "Pietism is The designation Pietist, now city-wide, a reaction against the 'dead' orthodoxy of is known. What is a Pietist? One who God's Word the Lutheran Church," has largely been doth know. relegated to the file of outdated hypotheses. Why, that is right for everyone, lawn; J. T. McNeill in his manual, Modern Chris­ For what avails if homiletic art is all the tian Movements, cites a tract which well preacher's treasure demonstrates an incorrect understanding And follows not the faith in fullest mea­ of a similar term: Puritan. sure? In the mouth of a drunkard, he is a Puri­ His heart must first the pious life contain tan which refuses his cups: in the mouth If he would build the church and piety of a swearer he which fears an oath; in maintain. the mouth of a libertine, he which makes Our gifted saint, a faithful Pietist, any scruple of common sin: in the mouth Is now in his demise also a Quietist: His soul now rests with God, pastor. J. G. Walch quotes it in the fifth chap­ The body 'neath the sod.1 ter of his Historische lind Theologische Einlei­ tung in die Religions-Streitigkeiten der Evan- 1 This is a free translation from the German gelisch Lutherischen Kirchen. . . . Part the first, of a carmen supposedly used by Prof. Joachim as published by Johann Meyers Witwe, Jena, Feller on the occasion of a funeral of a Pietist 1730. 664 AUGUST HERMANN FRANCKE, 1663-1963 665

of a rude soldier, he which wi sheth the to develop the skills necessary for a pro­ Scottish War to end without blood.2 found understanding of what the Sacred The same holds true of the epithet Oracle actually had to communicate to Pietist. The name has been and is to this man. He demanded not only piety, but he day often attached to anyone who is un­ also stressed proficiency in the Biblical sympathetic to dice, dance, and drama, or, languages, in the art of preaching, and in in fact, to any interest or pursuit of the techniques of pastoral theology as re­ a cultural or secular nature. quirements of the theological curriculum. August Hermann Francke also is re­ In addition to this general plan he in­ ceiving much more acclamation than def­ augurated a regimen of specialized study amation. (There is much more interest in for selected students in the collegium his Ruf than in his Verruf.) He deserves orientale theologicum. For a period of to be remembered for a number of reasons. four to six years those chosen for this He pioneered in elementary education and special training received free board and eleemosynary activity. He established new lodging in what we would today designate and faster methods to disseminate the a graduate seminary. They were required Word of God in print: not the least sig­ to read the Old and the New Testament nificant was the preparation of works in in the Grul~dspracheJZ, to write commen­ Tamil to aid the work of his missioners taries on all of the books of the Bible in India. This article, however, is restricted and to learn to use die orientalischen Hilfs­ to a review of his achievements in two sprachen for a more thorough understand­ areas: his contributions to theological ing of the Sacred Scriptures. But this training and the great mission endeavor. verrufener Pietist sought to accomplish One hundred years ago Heinrich Schmid, even more with his theological students. professor of theology at Erlangen, remem­ He let them know that bered Francke in a thorough and objective the crutches for translations so often used, study of him and the Pietist movement in such as lexica and concordances, are com­ his Geschichte des Pietismus, published by pletely inadequate. It is incorrect, on the Beck of Nordlingen in 1863. Here Francke one hand, to prefer the original text to appears not merely as das zweite Haupt the translations and, on the other hand, but as the dynamic follower of Philipp then to seek the meaning of the Greek Jakob Spener, who fairly outstripped his termini on the basis of seemingly despised translations. . . . even Bible concordances spiritual forebear in leadership. Francke which, to be sure, are indispensable as implemented what Spener had initiated. tools, cannot give the student a sure and What impressed Schmid particularly was satisfying understanding of the text. "The Francke's part in establishing and raising best concordance is painstaking reading standards of theological study at the U ni­ of a profusion of profane writers. This versity of Halle. He promoted erudition alone can provide a reliable approach to but not for erudition's sake. His aim was a language." 3

2 John T. McNeill, Modem Christian Move­ 3 This is a translation of the statement by ments (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, August Nebe, in "August Hermann Francke und 1954), p. 15. die Biber' in Zum Gedachtnis August Her- 666 AUGUST HERMANN FRANCKE, 1663-1963

In his constant concern for the proper he was maligned by enemies and cautioned understanding of Holy Writ Francke gave by friends. One of his opponents even evidence of keeping abreast of Biblical declared Francke had learned these Rath­ scholarship. He recognized, for example, sehlage in de". Schule Satans. that there was Unsieherheit uber das Alter He was also attacked for publishing his deT Akzente und Interpunktionszeiehe1~. studies on the text in German. The com­ He awaited with anticipation the hollan­ mon people, he was told, were not familiar disehe Forsehungen which had not yet with the Greek and were in danger of reached him.4 losing their trust in the "good faith" which Furthermore this Hallensian professor God had given to the beloved Dolmet­ was familiar with Bible translations in schung Lutheri. Francke's coworker, Cas­ other languages. He deplores that such per Schade, warned against publishing terms as "Amen" were merely transliterated suggested changes in the text um def in German and prefers the French version Schwachen willen. as much more meaningful when it trans­ When Francke was maligned in the lates the "Amen" with ainsi soit-il. pulpits and threatened with a summons His insistence on a thorough study of before the Consistory, he replied that he the Biblical larrn,~n-M (-and we ha"'" hore had merely acted according to his convic­ merely touched on the Hallensian method­ tions. We do well, therefore, to honor his ology) at times led to clashes with his memory for his unswerving devotion to contemporaries. When he showed that the cause of the best possible understand­ even Luther did not always do justice to ing of God's written communication to the original and in his Observationes bib­ man. He was in truth Germany's "marrow licae suggested some improvements in Lu­ man," a consecrated exegete and teacher ther's translation, the Halle professor was who had one concern: to tell his world subjected to severe censure. As a result what Christ told His world. Long after mann Franckes (Halle: Buchhandlung des many of his detractors are forgotten, the Waisenhauses, 1927), p.7. Christian world remembers Francke for his "Die bei dem Stadium so vie1 gebrauchten modesty and for his dedication to the Kriicken der Dbersetzungen, Lexika und Kon­ kordanzen sind vollig unzulanglich. Es ist eine cause of the Master's word and work. verkehrte Gepflogenheit, zwar grundsatzlich den But we do well to remember August Urtext der Dbersetzung vorzuziehen, aber die Hermann Francke for another reason be­ Bedeutung der griechischen Ausdriicke dann doch aus den schein bar verachteten Dbersetzun­ sides the high standards of theological gen zu schopfen . . . aber auch die Bibelkon­ competence which he himself displayed kordanzen, die allerdings fur die Erklarung and required of his students. He deserves unentbehrliche Hilfsmittel sind, konnen zu einer sicheren Texterfassung nicht fiihren. 'Die sorg­ to be honored for the part he played in faltige Lektiire mannigfaltiger Profanschrift­ carrying out the Lord's great commission steller ist die beste Konkordanz, ja die einzige, to make disciples of all nations. It began die uns Sicherheit tiber die Eigenart der Sprache geben kann!' " in Tranquebar, it spread to Siberia, its 4 Nebe, ibid. The reference probably is to influence was felt in America. the work done in the Low Countries by the two Already in 1715 Cotton Mather paid 'Buxtorfs and others, far in advance of anything produced in Germany up to that time. tribute to the impetus he gave to mission AUGUST HERMANN FRANCKE, 1663-1963 667 endeavors in his Nuncia bona e terra tools for the work was the accomplishment longinqua: of Halle, and Halle was Francke. Lehmann The world begins to feel a warmth from summarizes the importance of Francke in the fire of God which thus flames in the these words: heart of Germany and is beginning to Francke made the cause of Missions known extend into many regions; the whole in the church by means of the spoken and world will ere long be sensible of it.5 printed Word. The relation of church to The contemporary theologian and pro­ missionary endeavor as a legitimate theo­ fessor at the Martin-Luther Universitat logical problem was unknown to Francke. Halle-Wittenberg, Arno Lehmann, recalls He did not differentiate between the work at home and in the foreign field - all was Francke's vast and persistent efforts to motivated by the injunction of the Great establish the church in India, to give it Commission and was considered to be the functioning tools, and to provide it with commitment of every faithful pastor and spiritual sustenance. The story is told in Christian. It was an attack on the king­ Es begann in Tranquebar, published in dom of Satan . . . the entire faculty of 1956 by the Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Halle was involved in the Mission effort.7 Berlin. When the Royal Danish Mission In the work of Protestant and especially began its work at Tranquebar with the Lutheran missions Francke unquestionably help of two young Germans, one of them, deserves to be recognized and remembered Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, wrote a farewell as a pioneer, a pioneer in missionary spirit, letter to Francke, his Lehrer und geistlicher Vater. In fact, both missionaries affirmed missionary methods, and missionary organ­ their Pietist affiliation and their depend­ ization. In according him this honor and ence on spiritual guidance from Halle. lamenting the tendency to forget Francke's Gustav Warneck states that without achievements, Lehmann quotes W. R. Francke the newly-begun Danish mission Hogg's reference to that "provincialism would soon have collapsed.6 Francke him­ which assumed that everything important self selected all subsequent missionaries to happening in missions was British or India up to the time of his death, com­ American in origin." 8 It is a fact that missioning no less than ten. All had been 7 This is a free translation of an extract from his students, all had been coworkers at the Lehmann summary: Halle. Lehmann points out that it was "Francke ist es gewesen, der die Sache der Francke who brought mission orientation Mission in der Kirche heimisch machte durch Wort und Druck. Die Frage nach dem Ver­ to the church by means of the spoken and haltnis von Kirche und Mission hat er aIs written word. legitimes theoIogisches Problem nicht gekannt. But it was not only the stimulation and 1m Grunde war ihm die Arbeit in Indien nichts neues. Sie war genauso Gehorsamswerk wie de! encouragement from Halle which sustained kirchliche Dienst daheim, sie war nichts anderes the mission in India. The providing of als Seelenrettung, wie sie jedem treuen Pastor und Christen am Herzen liegen muss, sie war 5 McNeill, p.74. Einbruch in das Reich des Satans wie ueberall, 6 Gustav Warneck, Abriss einer Geschichte wo Gottes Geist wirkt." der protest. Missionen, 8th ed. (Berlin: 1905) 8 W. R. Hogg, Ecumenical Foundations p. 54, as quoted in Arno Lehmann, Es begann (New York: 1952), quoted by Lehmann, in Tt'anquebar, (2d ed.), p. 141. p.189. 668 AUGUST HERMANN FRANCKE, 1663-1963

the Franckean students opened the first members of various church bodies into an of the evangelical schools in India. The ecumenical work project that worked. But reports of December 28, 1707, tell of it is hardly correct to identify Francke a school for girls. Lehmann adds that in with any conscious effort to inaugurate Edinburgh (1910) hat man offenbar davon what we now call the ecumenical move­ nichts gewusst. ment. He indeed felt that it was the In conclusion it may be pointed out that Christian church's responsibility and com­ recently efforts have been made to remem­ mitment to bring the message of the ber August Hermann Francke also for Gospel to all people. He epitomized the initiating the ecumenical movement. In spirit of the 18th-century evangelical re­ the decade in which Lehmann's book ap­ surgence which held that "men are going peared, another German theologian de­ to hell all around us, and it is our obli­ voted two significant works to Francke. gation to do something about it." To be The one published in 1953, August Her­ sure, Pietism, and especially Halle, as it mann Francke und die Okumene, was became identified with foreign missions, followed in 1957 by August Hermann became more and more ecumenical in its Francke und die Antange der okumeni­ outlook. Yet it is hardly correct to con­ schen Bewegung. BOL~l -:ame from L~lC: pen sider Francke a i ')neer ecuc--'~~ in the of Erich Beyreuther. As both tides indi­ modern sense of the term. Perhaps Mc­ cate, he casts Francke in the role of pio­ Neill gets closer to a balanced appraisal neer ecumenist. From his extensive re­ when he sees in Francke a "convinced search, based on more than 1,000 letters and somewhat dogmatic champion of a and original documents, Beyreuther con­ new Lutheranism" and as being "narrow cludes that Francke was the first in the and angular in his theology." history of Protestantism to bring together St. Louis, Mo.