View source for Christian Scriver

[[File:ScriverC1780.JPG|thumb|300 px|Christian Scriver.]]  
'''Christian Scriver''' (2 January 1629 &ndash; 5 April 1693) was a German [[Lutheran]] minister and devotional writer.
<ref>[https://snl.no/Christian_Scriver ''Christian Scriver'' (Store norske leksikon)]</ref>

==Biography==
Christian Scriver was born at [[Rendsburg]] in  the [[Duchy of Schleswig]], Germany. He entered the [[University of Rostock]] in 1647. He was awarded a master's degree in Theology in 1651. During 1653, he was appointed [[archdeacon]] at [[Stendal]]. He was called in 1667 to [[Magdeburg]] in [[Saxony]] as [[pastor]] of St. James's Church (''Sankt-Jakobi-Kirche Magdeburg''). Here he remained twenty-three years, until in 1690 he was made chief court [[chaplain]] at [[Quedlinburg]], a position which he held until his death. 
<ref>[http://purl.uni-rostock.de/matrikel/100051265 ''Immatrikulation von Christianus Schriverius'' (Universität Rostock)]</ref><ref>[http://matrikel.uni-rostock.de/id/400070840''Dekanatsbuch Promotion zum Magister von Christianum Schriverium''(Universität Rostock)]</ref>

The friend of [[Philipp Jakob Spener]], Scriver was one of those theologians of the latter part of the seventeenth century who opposed the formalism then besetting [[Lutheranism]], and thus prepared the way for [[Pietism]], even while himself maintaining strict [[Lutheran orthodoxy|orthodoxy]]. Scriver died in [[Quedlinburg]].<ref>[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Scriver,_Christian ''ADB:Scriver, Christian'' (Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie)]</ref>

The writings of Scriver were devotional, including ''Gottholds vierhundert zufällige Andachten'' (1667; last ed., Basel, 1893; Eng. transl., (''Gotthold's Emblems: or, Invisible Things understood by Things that are made''), by R. Menzies, Edinburgh, 1857), a collection of 400 parables; ''Gotthold's Siech- und Siegesbette'' (1687; new ed., Stuttgart, 1870); and ''Chrysologia Catechetica, Goldpredigten über die Hauptstücke des lutherischen Katechismus'' (1687; new ed., Stuttgart, 1861). The collected works of Scriver have been edited by J. H. Heinrich and R. Stier (6 vols., Barmen, 1847–52).<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ryden/hymnstory.p2.c16.html ''Hymn-Writers Of The Pietist School'' (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)]</ref>

His most important work was ''Seelen-Schatz'' ("The Soul's Treasure", 5 parts, 1675-1692; new ed., 3 vols., Berlin, 1852–53), describing the progress of the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] from misery to eternal life and combining [[allegory]], [[dogmatics]], and [[ethics]]. It has been translated into numerous languages, including Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Finnish.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/mchristianscriv01vergoog ''M. Christian Scrivers Seelen-Schatz (1852)'' (The Internet Archive)]</ref>

Scriver was also a hymn-writer, though his hymns never gained wide acceptance. A number of his compositions have been translated into English including ''Auf, Seel, und danke deinem Herrn'' ("To God, my soul, thank-offerings pay") and ''Hier lieg ich nun, mein Gott, zu deinen Füssen''  ("Here, O my God, I cast me at Thy feet").  His most well-known hymn ''Den lieben Sonne Licht und Pracht'' ("Love the sun light and splendor") is found in a number of renderings.<ref>[http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/BWV446.htm ''Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works Der lieben Sonne Licht und Pracht'' (Bach Cantatas.com)]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Lutheran Orthodoxy]]

==Note==
*{{Schaff-Herzog}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Other sources==
*Lund, Eric  (2011)  ''Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns'' (New York: Paulist Press) {{ISBN|9780809147298}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Christian Scriver}}
{{Lutheran Orthodoxy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scriver, Christian}}
[[Category:1629 births]]
[[Category:1693 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Rendsburg]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Schleswig]]
[[Category:German Lutherans]]
[[Category:17th-century German writers]]
[[Category:Early modern Christian devotional writers]]
[[Category:German Lutheran hymnwriters]]
[[Category:Lutheran writers]]
[[Category:17th-century hymnwriters]]
[[Category:University of Rostock alumni]]
[[Category:17th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Lutheran theologians]]
[[Category:18th-century Lutheran theologians]]