ARNDT, JOHANN. – German Lutheran theologian and mystic, born at Edderitz (Anhalt) on 27 December 1555, died at Celle (Hannover) on 11 May 1621. He is known as one of the most profound students of Catholic mysticism
among Protestants. He initially embarked upon a medical career, but abandoned it in order to devote himself fervently to theology, which he subsequently studied at Helmstadt (1576), Wittenberg (1577), and Basel (1579). In 1581 he became an elementary-school teacher in his native country and, two years later, pastor at Paderborn.
His broad and multifaceted theological and ascetical culture, acquired largely through his own efforts by reading the major medieval mystics, particularly St. Bernard, St. Teresa, Tauler, and Kempis, gave his thought a markedly Catholic orientation, for which he had to suffer no little hostility from his fellow religionists. In 1590, because he had not accepted the decree of the duke of Anhalt prohibiting the use of images in churches, he was deprived of his office and forced to leave the city of Paderborn. His first work dates from this period: Iconographia, in which he defended the legitimacy of the veneration of images. He later became pastor at Quedlinburg and Brunswick.
A. was an ardent advocate of the inner kingdom of God and a precursor of the Pietist movement, Spener (v.). Against the doctrine of justification by faith alone, he maintained the necessity of moral renewal, asserting that perfection can be attained only by deploying the highest spiritual powers in a life of purity. All his works were widely studied in Germany and abroad. Among the principal ones we may note: Auslegung des Katechismus Lutheri; Auslegung des ganzen Psalters; Paradiesgärtlein aller christlichen Tugenden; Vom wahren Christentum. The latter publication, in four volumes, was translated into many languages, almost rivaling the Imitation of Christ.
The complete edition of A.’s works, edited by J. J. Rambach, appeared in 3 volumes at Leipzig and Görlitz in the years 1734–36.