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Joachim Justus Breithaupt (1658-1732): Aspekte von Leben, Wirken und Werk im Kontext. Edited by Reimar Lindauer-Huber and Andreas Lindner. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2011. Pp. 222. Cloth euro49.00. ISBN 978-351509335.
One of the most influential Pietists of his age, Joachim Justus Breithaupt labored alongside Philipp Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke to inculcate Pietism within the Lutheran church of Germany. During a career that spanned more than fifty years, Breithaupt held a series of prominent ecclesiastical and academic positions that afforded him extraordinary influence. A prolific writer, poet, and controversialist, he was often at the center of Pietist-Orthodox controversies, whether in Erfurt in the early 1690s or later in Halle and Magdeburg. Despite an upsurge in Pietism studies in recent decades, Breithaupt-the first systematic theologian of Pietism-has seldom been the subject of focused investigation. The 350th anniversary of his birth in 2008 was the occasion for a scholarly symposium, and this volume marks an important step forward in work on Breithaupt.
Andreas Lindner opens the volume with an overview of the contributions, as well as a brief introductory essay on Breithaupt's life and career that sets him in the context of the historiography. The main biographical contribution of the volume is Breithaupt's own account of his life, which he began with Carl Hildebrand von Canstein's urging in 1719. First published during his lifetime in 1725, the Lebenslauf was republished in 1736 by G.A. Francke. This reprinting of the autobiography is welcome, but it also raises...