August Gottlieb Spangenberg
Encyclopedia
Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, , German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden....
, he helped develop international missions, as well as stabilize the theology and organization of the German Moravian Church.
Early life and education
Spangerberg was born in Klettenberg, now a part of Hohenstein, ThuringiaHohenstein, Thuringia
Hohenstein is a municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany....
, where his father, Georg Spangenberg, was the pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
and ecclesiastical inspector. Left an orphan at the early age of thirteen, the young Spangerberg attended the gymnasium (secondary school) at Ilefeld. In 1722 he went on to the University of Jena to study law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. Prof. J. F. Buddeus
Johann Franz Buddeus
Johann Franz Buddeus or Budde , German Lutheran theologian and philosopher; born at Anklam, Swedish Pomerania, where his father was pastor, 25 June 1667; died at Gotha 19 November 1729.-Life:...
took him into his family, and arranged a scholarship. Spangerberg soon abandoned law for theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, took his degree in 1726, and began to give free lectures on theology.
Career
He also took an active part in a religious union of students, in supporting free schools for poor children which they established in the suburbs of Jena, and in training teachers. In 1728 Count Zinzendorf visited Jena, and Spangenberg met him. In 1730 he visited the Moravian colony at HerrnhutHerrnhut
Herrnhut is a municipality in the district of Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.It has access to Bundesstraße 178 between Löbau and Zittau...
. He founded a "collegium pastorale practicum" for the care of the sick and poor at Jena, which the authorities broke up as a "Zinzendorfian institution", seen as a challenge to the state. Spangenberg visited the Moravian colony, whose approach appealed to him.
Meanwhile his free lectures in Jena were widely accepted. Gotthilf Francke offered him the post of assistant professor of theology and superintendent of schools connected with his orphanage at Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
. He accepted the offer in September 1732. But differences between the Pietists of Halle and him became apparent. He found their religious life too formal, external and worldly. They could not sanction his comparative indifference to doctrine and his tendency to separatism in church life.
Because of these issues, Spangenberg's taking part in private observances of the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and his connection with Count Zinzendorf brought matters to a crisis. The Senate of the Theological Faculty gave him the alternative of doing penance, submitting to his superiors, and separating from Zinzendorf; or leaving the issue to be settled by the king, unless he preferred to "leave Halle quietly." The case went to the king, who ordered the military to expel Spangenberg from Halle, which they did on April 8, 1733.
At first he went to Jena, but Zinzendorf sought to secure him as a fellow labourer, though the count wished to obtain from him a declaration which would remove from the Pietists of Halle all blame with regard to the disruption. Spangenberg went to Herrnhut and found his life work among the Moravians. He became the movement's theologian, apologist, statesman and corrector, through sixty long years. The Moravians universally referred to Spangenberg as "Brother Joseph" because, like Joseph in Genesis, he took care of his Brethren.
For the first thirty years (1733-1762), his work was mainly devoted to the supervision and organization of the extensive missions in Germany, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and elsewhere. One special endeavour of Spangenberg in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
was to bring the scattered Schwenkfeldians
Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig
Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig was a German theologian, writer, and preacher who became a Protestant Reformer and spiritualist, one of the earliest promoters of the Protestant Reformation in Silesia....
to his faith. In 1741-1742 he traveled to England to raise funds for his mission and obtain the sanction of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
During the second half of this missionary period of his life, Spangenberg went to Pennsylvania, where as bishop he supervised the Moravian churches. He helped raise money to defend the colonies during the Seven Years War. In addition, he wrote as an apologist of the Church against the attacks of the Lutherans and the Pietists. He did much to moderate the mysticism of Zinzendorf. His simple, practical nature took a different approach.
The second thirty years of his work (1762-1792) were devoted to the consolidation of the German Moravian Church. Zinzendorf's death (1760) called for Spangenberg to return to Herrnhut. The Moravian organization needed help. In 1777 Spangenberg was commissioned to draw up the Idea Fidei Fratrum(Compendium of the Christian faith of the United Brethren). This became the accepted declaration of the Moravian belief. As compared to Zinzendorf's writings, this book exhibits the balance and moderation that Spangenberg expressed.
The Idea Fidei Fratrum is an account of doctrine that keeps close to the words of Scripture. There is little in it of abstract theological reasoning. Spangenberg does make his views plain on certain controversial matters. One of these, for instance, is on the question of double predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
, i.e., to damnation as well as salvation.
"If we sum up that which hath been deduced from the Scripture concerning the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we may answer the question, Whether God would have all men to be saved? with a confident, Yes. There is in him the most fervent desire, and the most earnest will that we all should be saved."
He provides numerous texts to justify this position. He notes further that the Saviour suffered the loss of glory and the pains of human life and death in order to save all people. Secondly, the Holy Ghost makes unwearying efforts to reprove the worldly for their sin. "Would God command all men every where to repent, and yet would not, that all men should be saved? Who can form such a thought of the God of Holiness and Truth?"
In his last years Spangenberg devoted special attention to the education of the young. He died at Berthelsdorf
Berthelsdorf
Berthelsdorf is a municipality in the district of Görlitz, in the southeastern part of the Free State of Saxony, Germany.- History :The municipality is next to the Czech Republic and Poland...
on 18 September 1792. He was buried in the Herrnhut (God's Acre
God's Acre
God's Acre is an ancient Germanic designation for a burial ground. In his poem "God's-Acre," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attributes the term to ancient Saxons.-In Christianity:...
).
Works
- Idea fidei fratrum;
- Declaration über die seither gegen uns ausgegangenen Beschuldigungen sonderlich die Person unseres Ordinarius (Zinzendorf) betreffend (Leipzig, 1751);
- Apologetische Schlußschrift (1752);
- Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf (1772-1775); and
- numerous hymns.
Further reading
- Selbstbiographie (autobiography)
- J. Risler, Leben Spangenbergs (Barby, 1794)
- K. F. Ledderhose, Das Leben Spangenbergs (Heidelberg, 1846)
- Otto Frick, Beiträge zur Lebensgeschichte AG Spangenbergs (Halle, 1884)
- Gerhard Reichel, article in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopädie (ed. 1906), s.v. "Spangenberg"
- K. F. Ledderhose, article in Allgemeine deutsche BiographieAllgemeine Deutsche BiographieAllgemeine Deutsche Biographie is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language....
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