Pieper was born at Karwitz, Pomerania, (85 miles (137 km) west of Danzig) and died in St. Louis, Missouri.

He also served as editor of Lehre und Wehre, the faculty journal of Concordia Seminary.

[2][3] From 1882 to 1899, Pieper served on the Board of Colored Missions for the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America.

[1] As a systematic theologian, Franz Pieper's magnum opus, Christliche Dogmatik (1917–1924), provided the modern world with a learned and extensive presentation of orthodox Lutheran theology.

[4] Translated into English as Christian Dogmatics (1950–1953), it continues to be the basic textbook of doctrinal theology in the Missouri Synod.