Series

Trine Outzen
Saving the Soul through Dieting. Governing health at Die Franckeschen Anstalten 1698-1759
Studia historica Lundensia 38
2025 | 324 p. | English,

ISSN: 1650-755X
ISBN: 978-91-90055-06-9, 978-91-90055-07-6

How did early modern religious educational institutions govern pupils’ health, organisms, and souls? This dissertation examines how Halle Pietism developed systematic practices for governing physical and spiritual health—intertwining theological, medical, and pedagogical concerns in the effort to shape pious Christian subjects. Through a detailed analysis of key figures such as August Hermann Francke and Christian Friedrich Richter’s rationalities of health and the body, and the institutional practices of Die Franckeschen Anstalten, the study demonstrates how the governance of humoral balance and spiritual care became inseparable between 1698 and 1759.