36 Kant: A Biographyfields, and thus cut into their profits. The ensuing battle between the cen¬
tralist forces in Berlin and the landed gentry was often fought with great
bitterness, with the Pietists being the king's natural allies. Indeed, Freder¬
ick William I "incorporated Pietism increasingly in his organization, used
it, and thus changed it, only to be changed by it in turn."^40 However one
might be tempted to speak of an "unholy alliance" of religion and politics,
it was an alliance that, on the whole, favored the interests of the common
people rather than those of the nobility.
The Pietism taught at Halle was distinct from that taught elsewhere in
Germany. Francke placed greater emphasis on an active Christian life than
did other propagators of Pietism. Indeed, he enjoined a kind of social ac¬
tivism. Acts of charity were not just the private affair of every individual
Christian, but also a common task of the Prussian Pietist community.
Francke had founded a number of institutions for the housing and educa¬
tion of orphans and other destitute children in Halle, and he embarked on
an ambitious educational project, significant far beyond Halle. The "Franck-
eschen Anstalten" were meant to give "an idea and an example to other
countries and kingdoms so that the common good will come about."^41 The
daily acts of charity that were required of a Pietist were often channeled
into work for such enterprises as orphanages and schools for the poor. It
was this Pietism of the Halle persuasion that had the most significant ef¬
fect in Königsberg. Indeed, there was an immediate and direct connection
between Halle and Königsberg during the first half of the eighteenth cen¬
tury, with the king actively supporting the transplantation of Halle Pietists
to official positions in Königsberg. It was this kind of Pietism that influ¬
enced Kant's parents.
Though Pietism became dominant in Königsberg under Frederick Wil¬
liam I, its influence reached further back. The most important early Pietists
in Königsberg were Theodor Gehr and Johann Heinrich Lysius. Gehr,
who had experienced a Pietistic conversion in Halle, founded a collegium
pietatis in Königsberg, and later also a school for the poor. Gehr's school
developed over the years into a gymnasium. Taken into royal protection in
1701, it obtained the name Collegium Fridericianum in 1703. At the same
time, Lysius became the director of the school, and since he was also
appointed as an "extra Ordinarius''' in the theological faculty of the Uni¬
versity, the influence of Pietism on the culture of Königsberg increased.
Indeed, he had greater official standing than any previous Pietist in Königs¬
berg. This was a significant first victory for Pietism.
Indeed, the Pietists were at first persecuted as "street preachers without