PESCH, CHRISTIAN. — Jesuit, theologian, born in Mühlheim (Cologne) on 25 May 1853, died in Valkenburg (Netherlands) on 26 April 1925.
Having entered the Society of Jesus on 30 September 1869, he taught dogmatic theology from 1884 to 1895 to his German confrères exiled at Ditton Hall (England), and from 1895 to 1912 to the same confrères after they had moved to Valkenburg; thereafter he devoted himself exclusively to his work as a writer.
(photo: Pont. Comm. arch. sacra)
PESCE — The word ΙΧΘΥC scratched in a mausoleum of S. Sebastiano. Note the tau = Cross placed between the first two letters (3rd century). Rome.
In addition to extensive contributions to the cultural periodicals Stimmen aus Maria Laach, Stimmen der Zeit and Zeitschr. für Kath. Theol., he wrote: Praelectiones dogmaticae (9 vols., Friburgo in Br. 1895–99; 4th and 5th eds. in 1925); also abridged and adapted for use in seminaries (4 vols., there 1913–14). Studies on particular subjects: Zur neueren Literatur über Nestorius (there 1914); De inspiratione S. Scripturae (there 1916; 2nd ed., there 1925; supplement there 1926), noteworthy especially for its positive section; Nestorius als Irrlehrer (Paderbona 1921); Die selige Jungfrau Maria, die Vermittlerin aller Gnaden (Friburgo in Br. 1923). Furthermore, from 1900 to 1916 he published a series of six studies on current theological questions in the collection he founded: Theologische Zeitfragen; the 4th is worth recalling: Glaube, Dogmen und geschichtliche Tatsache (there 1908; Italian version, Rome 1909); and the 5th: Glaubenspflicht und Glaubensschwierigkeiten (there 1908; Italian version: Il dovere della fede, Rome 1911). Of an ascetical nature: Die hl. Schutzengel (there 1917) and, on the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Unser bester Freund (there 1923).
Rich in patristic, historical and exegetical learning, and possessing a remarkably balanced spirit in discussion, his value lies above all in having secured the considerable results of the positive critical method for the traditional structure of Scholasticism, drawing inspiration from S. Tommaso, de Lugo and Suárez. The Praelectiones dogmaticae remain, even today, one of the most complete modern theological textbooks. During the period of Modernism, P. contributed effectively and decisively to eliminating it from Germany.