This paper is devoted to the construction and study of an equilibrium Glauber-type dynamics of infinite continuous particle systems. This dynamics is a special case of a spatial birth and death process. On the space Γ of all locally finite subsets (configurations) in R d , we fix a Gibbs measure µ corresponding to a general pair potential φ and activity z > 0. We consider a Dirichlet form E on L 2 (Γ, µ) which corresponds to the generator H of the Glauber dynamics. We prove the existence of a Markov process M on Γ that is properly associated with E. In the case of a positive potential φ which satisfies δ:= R d (1 − e −φ(x) ) z dx < 1, we also prove that the generator H has a spectral gap ≥ 1 − δ. Furthermore, for any pure Gibbs state µ, we derive a Poincaré inequality. The results about the spectral gap and the Poincaré inequality are a generalization and a refinement of a recent result from [6]. MSC: 60K35, 60J75, 60J80, 82C21, 82C22