Descended from Lutheran clergy on both sides of his family, second-youngest of ten children, Conring showed early promise as a student.

Conring was born in Norden, a coastal town in the County of East Frisia, a territory ruled at that time by the counts of Cirksena.

Many of Conring's forebears were ministers, and his father and paternal grandfather, in particular, were apparently compelled to change their circumstances on several occasions in response to Protestant religious conflict.

By the age of 14, Conring had developed into a skilled Latinist, broadly familiar with ancient classical writings and with the leading Latin writers of his own day and region.

It referred to a branch of inquiry that sought chiefly to explicate law, religion and politics in terms laid down by ancient thinkers, particularly Aristotle, who in Conring's circles would often have been known simply as "the philosopher".