Abstract

Gottfried Arnold had a severe and critical knowledge of a great number of theological works and spiritual documents of the XVI and XVII centuries, in particular of protestant Germany. His aim was to find in the experiences of singular persons or different religious groups the active, interior and practical presence of the original words and deed of Christ. The Christian faith, more than a pure doctrine or a ecclesiastical impersonal structure, is a imitation of him under the direction of his Spirit. The conflict between law and Spirit is active in the reformed churches of central Europe, not only in the old roman Babylon. The beginning of Luther as a teacher and missionary of the Scripture and his Spirit was often forgotten. Many his disciples were not able to accept the freedom, the peace, the love of the Gospel and preferred an apparent security in a new edition of a cold, superficial, authoritarian faith. The aid of the civil powers became necessary. But the words and the examples of Christ could always and anew find their witnesses, if a very disciple of him accept the apocalyptical condition of his life and death.