God communicates with individuals without the help of human institutions

Ordained as a priest early in his career, Franck later became a Lutheran pastor. Eventually, however, he rejected conservative Protestantism in favor of what he thought of as a non-dogmatic, universalist Christianity. He defended complete freedom of thought and expression. Franck eventually came to argue that God communicates with individuals through the means of a remnant of the divine found in each human being. Franck maintained that no human institution like the church nor any human convention including theology could properly claim to give form or expression to this inner spark or Word of God in the heart of the believer. These beliefs connected Franck both to medieval mystical traditions and to more modern attenuations of traditional Christianity.