True Christianity

Albert Schweitzer has called Johann Arndt the " the prophet of interior Protestantism." This great German Lutheran mystic and follower of Melanchthon aroused Calvinist hostility by his spirituality of Christ in the heart of man. He was deposed as pastor of Bedeborn for refusing to abide by the orders of his Calvinist duke. Inspired by Bernard of Clairvaux, Angela of Foligno, John Tauler and Thomas a Kempis, he later came to be venerated by the Pietists. True Christianity is his principal mystical work and one of the most important in the Protestant tradition. He published the first book of this work, which is presented here, in 1605. He added three other books at a later date and two more were appended posthumously. Cover photography by Paul Spremulli

Johann Arndt (or Arnd; December 27, 1555 - May 11, 1621) was a German Lutheran theologian who wrote several influential books of devotional Christianity. Although reflective of the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy, he is seen as a forerunner of pietism, a movement within Lutheranism that gained strength in the late 17th century.