Valentin Weigel

Book excerpt: Offered here for the first time in English is a selection of the most important and characteristic works of Valentin Weigel (1533-88). Readers will find in this volume an introduction to the life, times, and writings of Weigel, a German teacher and theologian who articulated a variant of the Protestant Reformation known as Spiritualism: a form of dissent emphasizing spiritual or inner independence from rules, ceremonies, and the visible or organized church. Together, these works present the heart of this reformer's thought, which championed tolerance and individual conscience in an age of confessional hatred and religious war. Weigel's writings are Spiritualist theory at its most accurate. They complete a missing chapter in the history of mystical literature. Book jacket.