Concordia Theological Monthly

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 relegated to the file of outdated hypotheses.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.

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