Born in Breslaw, Germany in 1768, Schleiermacher was the son of a Prussain army chaplain. At age nine his father came into contact with Pietism and entered into a devotional lifestyle. Friedrich was sent at age 15 to a boarding school run by the Moravian Brethren, a pious evangelical group that traced its roots back to Jan Huss. . While at boarding school Schleiermacher began to question his faith to which the Moravians did not care to give an answer.