At Nuremberg as a student he came under the influence of his teachers Hegel and Schelling. He continued his studies at Leipzig, where he abandoned theology for philosophy. Returning to Nuremberg, he taught there from 1822 at the college and from 1827 at the gymnasium. In 1830, owing to illness and disagreements with the rector, he withdrew to devote himself exclusively to poetry and study, especially of philosophy and the history of religions. After attempting a reconciliation of pantheism with theism (Andeutung eines Systemes spekulativer Philosophie, Nuremberg 1831), he sought to devise a new religion of the future (Züge einer neuen Philosophie der Religion und Religionsgeschichte, 1835; Die Religion des neuen Weltalters, 3 vols., Hamburg 1850). In 1858 he converted to Catholicism, which he had previously opposed.
D. left many works, both of a religious-philosophical character and of a poetic nature. Among the former, special mention should be made of: Philosophie, Religion und Altertum (2 vols., Nuremberg 1833); Die Geheimnisse des christlichen Altertums (1846 [placed on the Index by decree of 5 March 1857]), elaborated in French by Hermann Ewerbeck under the title: Qu'est-ce que la Bible d'après la nouvelle philosophie allemande? (Paris 1850 [placed on the Index by decree of 2 December 1857]). After his conversion he published, among other works: Meine Konversion (Mainz 1859); Die dreifache Krone Roms (Münster 1859); Das Wunder (ibid. 1874); Der Zukunftsidealismus der Vorwelt (ibid. 1874). Among his poetic works, the following stand out: Die Glorie der hl. Jungfrau Maria (1841), which had a second, widely circulated edition under the title Marianische Legenden und Gedichte nach alten lateinischen, italienischen, spanischen, französischen und deutschen Darstellungen und Original-Poemen (Münster 1859); Blumen und Früchte aus dem Garten christlicher Weltanschauung und Lebensentwicklung (Mainz 1863). His finest lyrics are found in Frauenbilder und Huldigungen (3 vols., Leipzig 1853 and 1858), from which Brahms selected several poems as texts for his musical compositions.