Danzig Notables -- Samuel Schelwig

Samuel Schelwig (1643-1715) had studied at Breslau and Wittenberg. He came to Danzig in 1673 to be pastor of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche in 1673. In 1685 he was appointed rector of the prestigious Danzig Academy. While occupying these prominent and publicly responsible positions he began a bitter attack in treatises on the pietist tendencies of one of his colleagues, Constantine Schütz, until the City Council ordered it to cease in 1693 because of its extreme belligerence. After a trip through northern Germany, allegedly with the purpose of gathering material, Schelwig narrated his experiences with pietists in Itinerarium Antipietisticum (1695), followed by his most comprehensive anti-pietistic tract, Die sektiererische Pietisterei (1696-1697), and Synopsis controversariarum sub pietatis praetextu motarum (1701, 1703, 1720). These evoked many responses from throughout Germany. He had recommended Johann Georg Kulmus for his position as the Polish King's medical representative in Danzig.