HIRSCHER, JOHANN BAPTIST. — Theologian, born at Altergarten (Ravensburg) on 20 January 1788, died at Freiburg in Br. on 4 September 1865.
He studied theology at Freiburg and was ordained a priest in 1810 at the Seminary of Meersburg. From 1812 he was professor at the Seminary of Ellwangen; from 1817 he held the chair of moral theology and pastoral theology in the then newly established Faculty of Catholic Theology at Tübingen (where G. A. Moehler was his colleague and where he founded the Theologische Quartalschrift with Drey), and from 1837 the chair of moral theology at the University of Freiburg in Br.
H.’s theology is the faithful mirror of the transitional period in which it arose: having overcome rationalism in dogmatics and ethicisim in moral theology, it retains from the Enlightenment period its humanistic orientation, its aversion to scholasticism, casuistic morality, and the old catechetical methods. The work Missae genuinam notionem... eruere tentavit, in which he strongly advocated liturgical and pastoral reforms, was placed on the Index (decree of 20 January 1823). H. submitted and attempted to bring his doctrine into better harmony with the teaching of the Church. H. was also a zealous promoter of charitable works and a passionate devotee of art.
Among his writings, the following should be recalled: Die christliche Moral als Lehre von der Verwirklichung des göttlichen Reiches in der Menschheit (3 vols., Tübingen 1835–36), a work of marked originality; Geschichte Jesu Christi, des Sohnes Gottes und Weltheilandes (ibid. 1840); Katechismus der christkatholischen Religion (Freiburg in Br. 1842–60).