HIRSCHE, GEORG KARL: German Lutheran divine; b. at Bruxlswick April 19, 1816; d. at Hamburg July 23, 1892. He was educated at the Collegmm Carolinum in Brunswick, then at Göttingen (1833-36). He studied under Locke at Göttingen and was greatly influenced by him; he also heard Erdmann lecture on philosophy at Berlin (1836). In Nov., 1836, he took his first examination in theology at Wolfenb(ittel, and his second in Aug., 1840. Hirsche taught in the public school at Holrr minden (1841-46), and in Oct., 1846, he was chosen minister of the Marienldrche at Osnabrück. The choice was not approved by the government but, after tedious negotiations, it was confirmed in 1848. In 1858 he was appointed an ecclesiastical councilor to the duke of Brunswick, which office he held until 186.3, when he again entered the ministry at Hamburg, being chosen pastor of the St. Nicholas Church there. He held this position until $ few months before his death.

During his pastorate at Hamburg he devoted himself to a study of Thomas A Bempis and his book De imitdione Christi. These labors have made him known both to Protestants and Roman Catholics. His purpose was a double one: to restore the"Imitation of Christ" to its original form and secondly to prove that Thomas is xempis was the author of the book. He succeeded in both these aims. He discovered from a manuscript in the library at Brussels that the original form of the book must have been in meter and rime. He then hunted through the other works of Thomas and the related literature in order to discover the thoughts which were peculiar to Thomas. This led him to a thoroughgoing investigation of the Brethren of the Common Life (q.v.), the results of which he published in the Herzog RE (2d ed., ii.

678-760). He drew from these investigations the conclusion that the Brethren of the Common Life

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can not be regarded as forerunners of the Reformation. His studies on Thomas he gave to the world in his Prolegomena zu einer neuen Ausgabe der Imir tatio Christi (3 vols., Berlin, 1873-94), and in his edition of the De imitatione Christi (1874).

Carl Bertheau.

Bibliography: ADB. 1. 364-365.

HIRSCHER, JOHANN BAPTIST: German Ro man Catholic; b. at Altergarten, near Ravensburg (22 m. e.n.e. of Constance), Upper Swabia, Jan. 20, 1788; d. at Freiburg Sept. 4, 1865. He studied at Freiburg, and from 1812 to 1817 officiated as tutor at Ellwangen and Rottweil. In the latter year he was appointed professor of moral and pastoral theology at the University of Tübingen, and in 1834 he was called to Freiburg to fill a similar office, which he held until 1863. In 1839 he was elected a member of the cathedral chapter of the archdiocese of Freiburg. His works include: Christlich: Moral als Lehre von der Verwirklichung des gottlichen Reichs in der Menschheit (Tübingen, 1835); Die Geschichte Jesu (1839); Beiträge zur Homiletik and Katechetik (1852); Das Leben Marid (Freiburg, 1854); and Die HauptstAcke des christ lichen Glaubens (Tübingen, 1857). Prior to and during the revolution of 1848 he was a member of the House of Representatives of Baden. His wri tings favored the introduction of certain changes, such as the admission of lay members to diocesan synods. His Erorterungen über die grossen re ligi6sen Fragen der Gegenwart (3 vols., Freiburg, 1846-55) and Die kirchlichen Zustdnde der Gegen wart (Tübingen, 1849), are the most important of his writings of this period.

(C. Weizsäcker†.)

Bibliography: TQB, 1866, pp. 298 sqq.; F. von Weech. Badische Biogrtphieen, 2 vols., Darmstadt, 1875.