diff --git a/pmd-core/pom.xml b/pmd-core/pom.xml
index f86a523719..f0f05bb74b 100644
--- a/pmd-core/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-core/pom.xml
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@
             <scope>provided</scope> <!-- only needed for generating the parser via ant -->
         </dependency>
 
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.antlr</groupId>
             <artifactId>antlr4-runtime</artifactId>
@@ -114,6 +118,11 @@
             <artifactId>pcollections</artifactId>
         </dependency>
 
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.github.tomakehurst</groupId>
             <artifactId>wiremock</artifactId>
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
index 43ec00cd91..2ab7664862 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler;
-import java.util.logging.Level;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.slf4j.event.Level;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.Report.GlobalReportBuilderListener;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.benchmark.TextTimingReportRenderer;
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.benchmark.TimingReportRenderer;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.cache.NoopAnalysisCache;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.PMDCommandLineInterface;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.PmdParametersParseResult;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.internal.Slf4jSimpleConfiguration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.internal.util.AssertionUtil;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Language;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.LanguageFilenameFilter;
@@ -52,7 +54,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.database.DBURI;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.database.SourceObject;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.datasource.DataSource;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.datasource.ReaderDataSource;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.ScopedLogHandlersManager;
 
 /**
  * This is the main class for interacting with PMD. The primary flow of all Rule
@@ -62,7 +63,8 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.ScopedLogHandlersManager;
  */
 public final class PMD {
 
-    private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(PMD.class.getName());
+    // not final, in order to re-initialize logging
+    private static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PMD.class);
 
     /**
      * The line delimiter used by PMD in outputs. Usually the platform specific
@@ -97,19 +99,17 @@ public final class PMD {
         try {
             DBURI dbUri = new DBURI(uriString);
             DBMSMetadata dbmsMetadata = new DBMSMetadata(dbUri);
-            LOG.log(Level.FINE, "DBMSMetadata retrieved");
+            log.debug("DBMSMetadata retrieved");
             List<SourceObject> sourceObjectList = dbmsMetadata.getSourceObjectList();
-            LOG.log(Level.FINE, "Located {0} database source objects", sourceObjectList.size());
+            log.debug("Located {} database source objects", sourceObjectList.size());
             for (SourceObject sourceObject : sourceObjectList) {
                 String falseFilePath = sourceObject.getPseudoFileName();
-                LOG.log(Level.FINEST, "Adding database source object {0}", falseFilePath);
+                log.trace("Adding database source object {}", falseFilePath);
 
                 try {
                     dataSources.add(new ReaderDataSource(dbmsMetadata.getSourceCode(sourceObject), falseFilePath));
                 } catch (SQLException ex) {
-                    if (LOG.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)) {
-                        LOG.log(Level.WARNING, "Cannot get SourceCode for " + falseFilePath + "  - skipping ...", ex);
-                    }
+                    log.warn("Cannot get SourceCode for {} - skipping ...", falseFilePath, ex);
                 }
             }
         } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
@@ -160,14 +160,9 @@ public final class PMD {
             }
             return violationCounter.getResult();
         } catch (final Exception e) {
-            String message = e.getMessage();
-            if (message == null) {
-                LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, "Exception during processing", e);
-            } else {
-                LOG.severe(message);
-            }
-            LOG.log(Level.FINE, "Exception during processing", e);
-            LOG.info(PMDCommandLineInterface.buildUsageText());
+            log.error("Exception during processing: {}", e.toString()); // only exception without stacktrace
+            log.debug("Exception during processing", e); // with stacktrace
+            log.info(PMDCommandLineInterface.buildUsageText());
             return PMDCommandLineInterface.NO_ERRORS_STATUS;
         } finally {
             /*
@@ -190,11 +185,11 @@ public final class PMD {
                 if (isEmpty(ruleSets)) {
                     String msg = "No rules found. Maybe you misspelled a rule name? ("
                         + String.join(",", rulesetPaths) + ')';
-                    LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, msg);
+                    log.error(msg);
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException(msg);
                 }
             } catch (RuleSetLoadException rsnfe) {
-                LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, "Ruleset not found", rsnfe);
+                log.error("Ruleset not found", rsnfe);
                 throw rsnfe;
             }
             return ruleSets;
@@ -211,10 +206,10 @@ public final class PMD {
      * @param rulesets the RuleSets to print
      */
     private static void printRuleNamesInDebug(List<RuleSet> rulesets) {
-        if (LOG.isLoggable(Level.FINER)) {
+        if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
             for (RuleSet rset : rulesets) {
                 for (Rule r : rset.getRules()) {
-                    LOG.finer("Loaded rule " + r.getName());
+                    log.debug("Loaded rule {}", r.getName());
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -335,10 +330,7 @@ public final class PMD {
         ruleSets.removeDysfunctionalRules(brokenRules);
 
         for (final Rule rule : brokenRules) {
-            if (LOG.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)) {
-                LOG.log(Level.WARNING,
-                        "Removed misconfigured rule: " + rule.getName() + "  cause: " + rule.dysfunctionReason());
-            }
+            log.warn("Removed misconfigured rule: {} cause: {}", rule.getName(), rule.dysfunctionReason());
         }
 
         return brokenRules;
@@ -368,11 +360,11 @@ public final class PMD {
     private static void encourageToUseIncrementalAnalysis(final PMDConfiguration configuration) {
         if (!configuration.isIgnoreIncrementalAnalysis()
                 && configuration.getAnalysisCache() instanceof NoopAnalysisCache
-                && LOG.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)) {
+                && log.isWarnEnabled()) {
             final String version =
                     PMDVersion.isUnknown() || PMDVersion.isSnapshot() ? "latest" : "pmd-" + PMDVersion.VERSION;
-            LOG.warning("This analysis could be faster, please consider using Incremental Analysis: "
-                    + "https://pmd.github.io/" + version + "/pmd_userdocs_incremental_analysis.html");
+            log.warn("This analysis could be faster, please consider using Incremental Analysis: "
+                    + "https://pmd.github.io/{}/pmd_userdocs_incremental_analysis.html", version);
         }
     }
 
@@ -433,7 +425,7 @@ public final class PMD {
                 String filePaths = FileUtil.readFilelist(file);
                 files.removeAll(FileUtil.collectFiles(filePaths, fileSelector));
             } catch (IOException ex) {
-                LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, "Problem with Ignore File", ex);
+                log.error("Problem with Ignore File", ex);
                 throw new RuntimeException("Problem with Ignore File Path: " + ignoreFilePath, ex);
             }
         }
@@ -451,9 +443,7 @@ public final class PMD {
                     final LanguageVersion version = discoverer.getDefaultLanguageVersion(ruleLanguage);
                     if (RuleSet.applies(rule, version)) {
                         languages.add(ruleLanguage);
-                        if (LOG.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) {
-                            LOG.fine("Using " + ruleLanguage.getShortName() + " version: " + version.getShortName());
-                        }
+                        log.debug("Using {} version: {}", ruleLanguage.getShortName(), version.getShortName());
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -506,8 +496,8 @@ public final class PMD {
 
         if (!parseResult.getDeprecatedOptionsUsed().isEmpty()) {
             Entry<String, String> first = parseResult.getDeprecatedOptionsUsed().entrySet().iterator().next();
-            LOG.warning("Some deprecated options were used on the command-line, including " + first.getKey());
-            LOG.warning("Consider replacing it with " + first.getValue());
+            log.warn("Some deprecated options were used on the command-line, including {}", first.getKey());
+            log.warn("Consider replacing it with {}", first.getValue());
         }
 
         if (parseResult.isVersion()) {
@@ -541,12 +531,15 @@ public final class PMD {
             TimeTracker.startGlobalTracking();
         }
 
-        final Level logLevel = configuration.isDebug() ? Level.FINER : Level.INFO;
-        final ScopedLogHandlersManager logHandlerManager = new ScopedLogHandlersManager(logLevel, new ConsoleHandler());
-        final Level oldLogLevel = LOG.getLevel();
-        // Need to do this, since the static logger has already been initialized
-        // at this point
-        LOG.setLevel(logLevel);
+        final Level logLevel = configuration.isDebug() ? Level.DEBUG : Level.INFO;
+        Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.reconfigureDefaultLogLevel(logLevel);
+        // need to reload the logger with the new configuration
+        log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PMD.class);
+        if (configuration.isDebug()) {
+            log.debug("Loglevel is at {}", logLevel);
+        } else {
+            log.info("Loglevel is at {}", logLevel);
+        }
 
         StatusCode status;
         try {
@@ -562,9 +555,6 @@ public final class PMD {
             System.err.println(e.getMessage());
             status = StatusCode.ERROR;
         } finally {
-            logHandlerManager.close();
-            LOG.setLevel(oldLogLevel);
-
             if (configuration.isBenchmark()) {
                 final TimingReport timingReport = TimeTracker.stopGlobalTracking();
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/internal/Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/internal/Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9967a87851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/internal/Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * BSD-style license; for more info see http://pmd.sourceforge.net/license.html
+ */
+
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.internal;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+
+import org.slf4j.ILoggerFactory;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactoryFriend;
+import org.slf4j.event.Level;
+
+public final class Slf4jSimpleConfiguration {
+    private Slf4jSimpleConfiguration() { }
+
+    public static void reconfigureDefaultLogLevel(Level level) {
+        System.setProperty("org.slf4j.simpleLogger.defaultLogLevel", level.toString());
+
+        // Call SimpleLogger.init() by reflection.
+        // Alternatively: move the CLI related classes into an own module, add
+        // slf4j-simple as a runtime dependency and create a PmdSlf4jSimpleFriend class in
+        // the package org.slf4j.simple to gain access to this package-private init method.
+        ILoggerFactory loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
+        Class<? extends ILoggerFactory> loggerFactoryClass = loggerFactory.getClass();
+        try {
+            Class<?> simpleLoggerClass = loggerFactoryClass.getClassLoader().loadClass("org.slf4j.simple.SimpleLogger");
+            Method initMethod = simpleLoggerClass.getDeclaredMethod("init");
+            initMethod.setAccessible(true);
+            initMethod.invoke(null);
+        } catch (ReflectiveOperationException ex) {
+            System.err.println("Error while initializing logging: " + ex);
+        }
+
+        LoggerFactoryFriend.reset();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CoreCliTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CoreCliTest.java
index 6437b7a8b7..a9f5fa4d99 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CoreCliTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CoreCliTest.java
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.contrib.java.lang.system.RestoreSystemProperties;
+import org.junit.contrib.java.lang.system.SystemErrRule;
 import org.junit.rules.TemporaryFolder;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.junit.JavaUtilLoggingRule;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public class CoreCliTest {
     @Rule
     public RestoreSystemProperties restoreSystemProperties = new RestoreSystemProperties();
     @Rule
-    public JavaUtilLoggingRule loggingRule = new JavaUtilLoggingRule(PMD.class.getPackage().getName()).mute();
+    public SystemErrRule loggingRule = new SystemErrRule().enableLog().muteForSuccessfulTests();
 
     private Path srcDir;
 
@@ -163,6 +163,18 @@ public class CoreCliTest {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void debugLogging() {
+        runPmdSuccessfully("--debug", "--no-cache", "--dir", srcDir, "--rulesets", DUMMY_RULESET);
+        loggingRule.getLog().contains("[main] DEBUG net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD - Loglevel is at DEBUG");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void defaultLogging() {
+        runPmdSuccessfully("--no-cache", "--dir", srcDir, "--rulesets", DUMMY_RULESET);
+        loggingRule.getLog().contains("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD - Loglevel is at INFO");
+    }
+
 
 
     // utilities
diff --git a/pmd-test/pom.xml b/pmd-test/pom.xml
index 31ffb0a5e5..ba77537131 100644
--- a/pmd-test/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-test/pom.xml
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@
             <artifactId>system-rules</artifactId>
             <scope>compile</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2476b7959d..2ca546d3c8 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
         <ant.version>1.10.12</ant.version>
         <javadoc.plugin.version>3.2.0</javadoc.plugin.version>
         <antlr.version>4.8</antlr.version>
+        <slf4j.version>2.0.0-alpha6</slf4j.version>
 
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
@@ -717,7 +718,12 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
                 <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-                <version>1.7.32</version>
+                <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+                <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
+                <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>