In the Vita Corbiniani Bishop Arbeo of Freising (ca. 763-764 to 783-784 CE) wrote a description of the life of Saint Corbinian. This early medieval life of a saint is the object of the present historical analysis. The author describes the changes in the perception of Corbinian from the beginning of his being revered up to the history of research on him. Afterwards he develops from the Vita Corbiniani with the aid of the form-critical method, a modified view of the historical figure Corbinian and his development into a saint. Connected to this is the opening-up of a new perspective on Bavarian church history in the early 8th century.

English summary: The first volume of Hans Schneider's (* 1941) Collected Essays contains his most important studies on Radical Pietism, among which some publications in English language that by now were difficult to access. During the last three decades, the Marburg church historian has exercised an determining influence on this field of study. Besides an important research review, this volume assembles contributions on single representatives of Radical Pietism, such as Gottfried Arnold, Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochenau, Eberhard Ludwig Gruber, and Alexander Mack, and furthermore studies on their conception of history, eschatology, comprehension of baptism, on Hermetical influences and on the effects of Radical Pietism on Scandinavia. These essays are of particular interest for who is working on Pietism out of an perspective of literary or cultural history. German description: Der erste Band der Gesammelten Aufsatze von Hans Schneider (geb. 1941) umfasst seine wichtigsten Beitrage zum radikalen Pietismus, darunter einige bislang schwer zugangliche englischsprachige Veroffentlichungen. In den vergangenen drei Jahrzehnten hat der Marburger Kirchenhistoriker dieses Forschungsfeld massgeblich gepragt. Neben einem wegweisenden Forschungsbericht versammelt der Band personenbezogene Beitrage zu Gottfried Arnold, Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochenau, Eberhard Ludwig Gruber, Alexander Mack und anderen Exponenten des radikalen Pietismus sowie Arbeiten zu Themen wie ihrem Geschichtsbild, ihrer Zukunftserwartung, ihrem Taufverstandnis, Einfluessen der Hermetik und ihrer Wirksamkeit in Skandinavien. Die Aufsatze sind auch fuer literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Zugange zur Pietismusforschung von besonderem Interesse.