Bringing the head into the heart: Transforming education at Halle
“Just because theology is a practical discipline and does not consist only of knowledge, study alone is not enough, nor is the mere accumulation and imparting of information.” –Spener, Pia Desideria
As true today as it was in the late 17th Century—theological study can easily devolve into mere information or abstraction, forgetful of practice. Amidst a culture of nominal Christianity, the German Pietists longed for Christians to truly practice faith, but found that the structures of Lutheran universities reinforced the status quo. Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) envisioned the possibility for universities to become like “workshops of the Holy Spirit,” distinct from the rest of culture, and ever mindful of practical application. The Institutes and University at Halle eventually answered this call. Under the direction of August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), Halle’s innovations in pedagogy nurtured dedicated clergy, missionaries and teachers.
Following the devastation of the Thirty Years War, princes throughout Germany had used the church as a means to rebuild society. The government had rebuilt universities and rectories and enforced church attendance and catechism. Such enforcement reduced Lutheran Christianity to rote nominalism, many complained. Furthermore, government involvement limited the laity’s trust in their ministers since they saw them more as an extension of the government than pastors. The climate of polemic preaching and dogmatism also lead to a stratified order of teachers, and religious intellectualism streamed from the high places of Lutheran theology (often lacking the more personal perspective of Luther himself).
Outside the walls of Lutheran universities, a movement for the reform of church and education was growing. Spener’s convictions about educational reform resulted from a pivotal encounter in 1677. During his visit to Spener’s catechism examinations, Merkierius von Helmont had reacted to the rote memorization style and inquired of Spener, “But how are we going to bring the head into the heart?” This question haunted Spener, and thus he began to craft an addendum to Luther’s Small Catechism in hopes to move from mere confession to practical application. The result was his 1677 Simple Explanation catechesis text, which consisted of 1,283 questions and answers for students to discuss with their instructor. It went through 20 editions. Soon neighboring clergy visited Spener to witness and discuss his innovations. The new catechism curriculum became a means of personal formation and practical application even for the very young.
Spener insisted that education go beyond mere information and instead inspire character development and practicality. To do this, he suggested concrete practices of self-examination and meditation, as well as actual experiences “in instructing the ignorant, in comforting the sick, and especially in preaching, where it should be pointed out to students that everything in their sermons should have edification as the goal.” The new educational environment was to reflect Pietist virtues: the centrality of the Word, dialogue, and attention to piety.
The established clergy leveled accusations of heresy against Spener and other Pietists in hopes that their grassroots influence might fade. Nevertheless, the practicality Spener advocated became a reality at Halle under the direction of his enthusiastic disciple, Francke. Spener’s three precepts of teaching the ignorant, comforting the sick and practical preaching became foundational to Francke’s innovative reform agenda.
In Prussia, Elector Friedrich III gave sanctuary to Spener and other Pietists. Friedrich III had actualized the government’s desire to balance the prevalent Reformed influence in Prussia by establishing a Lutheran university, and in 1691 the former military academy in Halle was rededicated for this purpose. Spener seized the opportunity for his educational vision, and played a significant role in the appointment of multiple fellow Pietists to the faculty, including Francke.
Francke’s gradual conversion in his pedagogy had begun while studying in Kiel. It was here that Francke had realized, “My theology I grasped in my head and not in my heart, and it was more a dead science than a living understanding.” Just as Francke experienced conviction and transformation manifest in pious living, he sought to transform education toward practical usefulness.
Among the innovations at Halle was the notion there must be interconnectedness, interdependence and fluidity between its many separate programs. Under Francke’s leadership, Halle developed four different schools for students ranging from 6 to 16 years of age. These were in addition to the University and Seminary. Halle came to also operate an enormous orphanage, homes for widows, a prolific printing press and an infirmary for the local population.
The Pietist reaction to the seemingly detached orthodoxy of Lutheranism resonates in Francke’s ideal that all things serve “God’s glory and neighbor’s good.” This ideal permeates Francke’s writings and sermons, and he measured all of Christian life by this mantra. This mentality guided Halle’s innovative pedagogy. Scholar Marcia Bunge notes that Francke believed “that the application of knowledge is the measure of its worth.”
Perhaps the most inspiring of the Halle programs was the orphanage. This was Francke’s earliest undertaking in response to the poverty in Halle/Glaucha, and had started in modest homes, and the influx of orphans necessitated the construction of a new building. In contrast to the state’s solution, to use orphans for cheap labor and to house them with adult criminals, Halle’s approach was revolutionary, as the orphans received education and personal beds. Francke’s earnest intention was to bridge the social stratification of the day.
Francke also challenged educational norms by attending to the individual giftedness of each child. Teachers were responsible to recognize individual gifts and help students see them, as well. Francke’s belief in individual aptitude bears two important implications. First, social class does not preclude educational ascension. This thought undergirds the orphan school program, as well as the intersecting structures of education. Second, all work can be vocation and worthwhile for “God’s glory and neighbor’s good.” This conviction determined that trades and basic skills were taught at all levels of Halle’s curriculum.
The interconnection of schools included the adjacent University and Seminary since many of these students taught general education and catechism in the younger schools. This experience afforded the greatest opportunity to fulfill Spener’s demand for practicality and character formation. Following the establishment of the orphanage and widows’ homes Francke began to further develop the elder schools hoping to create what he dubbed a “Seminarium universale, a botanical garden of God-fearing men who as pastors, teachers, politicians, lawyers, missionaries, doctors, pharmacists, booksellers, etc.” who would use their skills “for God’s glory and God’s domain in the world.”
Francke believed that all people should work, noting three reasons: one, God has commanded it; two, one’s neighbor benefits from it; and three, the body needs it. Francke did not dichotomize physical work from spiritual, but demanded that Christian vocation hold both in tension. Whereas Spener articulated pietistic thought, Francke’s manifestations of practicality invigorated a Pietist identity of hard work, discipline and stewardship.
The classic Lutheran “Law and Gospel” dialectic was prevalent in Francke’s thought, but manifested itself in concrete actions with Gospel emphases. In effect, teachers were called to embody the Gospel amidst the Law, as reflected in their pedagogy, discipline and pious example. Therefore, the tension between Law and Gospel in Francke’s pedagogy demonstrates a practical manifestation of a theological belief.
Halle students were both informed about Christianity and formed to do good in the world. Their doing was derivative of their practical training. In effect, Halle was a laboratory of experience as a means to better practice in the field. As Spener had furthered the call for practical education reform and took steps toward application and dialogue in his catechism, so Francke enthusiastically led Halle toward practicality and myriad innovations woven together among a mixture of social classes. Francke ignited Pietism with a strident work ethic and belief that all are gifted to work, and work tangibly for “God’s glory and neighbor’s good.”
Selected references for further reading:
Marcia J. Bunge. “Education and the Child in Eighteenth-Century German Pietism: Perspectives from the Work of A. H. Francke.” in The Child in Christian Thought. (Eerdmans, 2001).
Roger E. Olson. The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform. (InterVarsity 1999).
Gary R. Sattler. August Hermann Francke. God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good: A Brief Introduction to the Life and Writings of August Hermann Francke. (Covenant Press, 1982).
Philipp Jakob Spener. Pia Desideria. (Fortress Press, 1964).
K. James Stein. Philipp Jakob Spener: Pietist Patriarch. (Covenant Press, 1986).