Sebastian Franck, Johann Arndt, and the Varieties of Religious Dissent

Sebastian Franck and Johann Arndt must be included among those dissenters inspired by the Lutheran Reformation who pursued reforming objectives that went beyond theology and devotion. Franck and Arndt are contrasting figures who reveal the breadth of the movement. The former was a radical and rebel whose studies included history and humanism; the latter turned to Paracelsus and strove to work within Lutheran institutions and retain the pastoral authority which Franck cast aside. Both rejected theological dispute and religiously motivated violence; and both were decisively attracted to the same mystical texts. Both exercised remarkable influence in their day and belatedly in different later periods.