Möhler,

Möhler, JOHANN ADAM, Roman Catholic theologian, was born at Igersheim, in Württemberg, May 6, 1796, and studied at the university of Tübingen, where, after being theological tutor, he became ordinary professor of Theology in 1828. His earliest publication was a treatise On the Unity of the Church (1825), which was followed, in 1827, by a historico-theological essay on Athanasius. But his reputation, both posthumous and among his own contemporaries, rests mainly on his well-known Symbolik, a work on the doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants, as represented by their public confessions of faith (1832). This remarkable book passed through five large editions in six years, was translated into all the leading languages of Europe, and drew forth numerous criticisms and rejoinders, the most considerable of which is that of Baur (q.v.), 1833. To this Möhler replied in 1834, and next year he accepted a professorship in the new university of Munich. He died April 12, 1838. His miscellaneous works were collected and published posthumously (2 vols. 1839-40) by Dr Döllinger.