Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Donelaitis studied at Königsberg University at the time when the effects of the changes in the structure and staff of the Faculty of Theology started to surface. Due to the pro-pietist staff policy of Friedrich Wilhelm, the vacancies in the Departments were filled with the representatives of that trend; pietists had accounted for the majority of the body of professors since 1733. Donelaitis was likely to have mixed with professors Schulz, Kiepke, Salthenius, and Arnold more frequently than with their opponents Quant, Langhansen, and Lysius, especially because since the summer of 1736 Quant did not have any longer to give regular lectures. Despite the church and the higher education policies at the University, as well as the disturbancies caused in its environment by the implementation of the reforms, there were no significant theological differences between the seven heads of the Departments: all of them represented the traditional Lutheranism. However, one ought to pay attention to the specificity of their philosophical views. Unlike the pietists of the University of Halle, as well as Quant and Langhansen, Schulz was the first to advocate the synthesis of the Lutheran theology, the emphasis on the pietist praxis pietatis, and Wolffpromoted cultura intellectus. The efforts of Schulz to develop rational pietism that would be obviously related to Wolff’s philosophy not only by the methodological view, but also by the balanced ratio between the reason and faith, were especially supported by Arnold.