Pesch, Christian
PESCH, CHRISTIAN
Jesuit theologian; b. Cologne-Mulheim, May 25, 1835; d. Valkenburg, Holland, April 26, 1925. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1869. After completing the course of studies, he was sent to Ditton Hall in England, where he taught dogmatic theology from 1884 to 1895, after which he taught for 17 years at Valkenburg. The influence of St. Thomas, Suárez, and De Lugo is apparent in both his doctrine and methodology. At the time when modernism was influencing the thinking of many German theologians, Pesch became a leading authority and proponent of orthodoxy and contributed notably to the eradication of modernism in Germany. The best-known of his works is the Praelectiones dogmaticae (9 v. Freiburg 1894–97). This work is still a popular textbook of dogmatic theology because of its clarity, precision, and order. The Compendium theologiae dogmaticae (4 v. Freiburg 1913–14), is a résumé of the one previously mentioned. Pesch's other well-known book is De inspiratione Sacrae Scripturae (Freiburg 1906).
Bibliography: h. weisweiler Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al. (Paris 1903–50) 12.l:1305–06.
[g. v. kohls]