KIEFL, FRANZ XAVER. - Catholic theologian and writer, born at Höhenrain (Lower Bavaria) on 17 Oct. 1869, died at Regensburg on 5 June 1928. Ordained priest in 1894, he first worked in parochial ministry and later (1900) in theological teaching. Gifted with speculative intellect and well versed in the history of dogma and Protestantism as well as in contemporary philosophy, K. was able in his numerous writings to address the various problems not only of theology but also of social order and pedagogy. He is especially noted for his role in the controversies surrounding the theology of H. Schell (q.v.) and his debates with the Protestant pedagogue F. W. Foerster.
Principal works: Der Friedensplan des Leibniz (1903, 2nd ed., 1925); Die Ewigkeit der Hölle und ihre spekulative Begründung (1905); H. Schell (1907); Die Stellung der Kirche zur Theologie von H. Schell (1908); Leibniz (1913); Die Theorien des modernen Sozialismus über den Ursprung des Christentums (1915); F. W. Foersters Stellung zum Christentum (1918); Foerster und der Katholizismus (1918); Die Staatsphilosophie der katholischen Kirche und die Frage der Legitimität in der Erbmonarchie (1928).
Jaroslav Škarvada