Student and Private Teacher 71had studied in Halle under Wolff."^45 Thus Wolff's philosophy became more
important again when Schulz took the leadership of the Pietistic faction
in Königsberg. The Wolffians in Königsberg could breathe more easily.
Indeed, Schulz promoted Wolffian philosophy as long as its adherents
endorsed the basic truths of Christianity as he saw them, and since most
Wolffians were far from being atheists, there was a truce between the Wolf¬
fians and the Pietists.
None of this meant a return to the free philosophical discussion that
Gottsched had known when he had studied in Königsberg. The apostles
may have sounded like Wolff, but they were still apostles conceived in the
Pietistic mode. J. G. Bock wrote in 1736 to Gottsched: "Our academy does
not look at all similar to the one that my brother left, and I only would like
to say that I have not been able to get a collegium poeticum together within
a year and a half."^46 Poetry, theater, and other nonreligious diversions were
still considered frivolous, worldly, "of the devil," and thus actively dis¬
couraged. All efforts had to be directed towards the well-being of the hu¬
man soul in accordance with Pietistic principles. Wolffian philosophy was
considered useful in this regard, and it could therefore be tolerated, but
only insofar as it supported Pietistic conviction. Cölestin Christian Flottwell
(1711—1759), professor of German rhetoric and another friend of Gott-
sched's in Königsberg, wrote on April 2,1739: "The school of theology is
in a frenzy and at this time the Spanish inquisition is milder than it is."^47
The orthodox faction in Königsberg did not help this situation, since
it did everything in its power to discredit the Pietists. In one bizarre inci¬
dent, redolent more of the Middle Ages than of the Enlightenment, the
orthodox faction tried to defame Salthenius, one of the most prominent
Pietists, by accusing him of being in league with the devil — and not en¬
tirely without foundation. Salthenius, as an adolescent in Sweden, had in¬
deed written a letter to the devil in his own blood, promising the devil his
body and soul in return for a pouch of money that would never run out.
He placed the letter under an oak tree for delivery, but it never reached the
addressee. Instead, it was picked up by a farmer, who immediately notified
the authorities. Salthenius was convicted and received the sentence of death,
which was later commuted to a month in prison. Finding it wise to leave
his native Sweden, Salthenius went to Germany. After studying and con¬
verting to Pietism in Halle, he became first the inspector of the orphanage
in Königsberg, then the inspector of the Collegium Fridericianum, and finally
associate professor of logic and metaphysics in 1732. The orthodox preach¬
ers did not find it was beneath them to report on Salthenius' youthful sin,