Heinrich Wilhelm Josias Thiersch (November 5, 1817 – December 3, 1885), usually known as H. W. J. Thiersch, was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 philologist

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

, theologian, and minister

Minister of religion

In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...

, active in the short-lived Catholic Apostolic Church

Catholic Apostolic Church

The Catholic Apostolic Church was a religious movement which originated in England around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States. While often referred to as Irvingism, it was neither actually founded nor anticipated by Edward Irving. The Catholic Apostolic Church was organised in...

.

Early life

Thiersch was born in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, the son of well-known classicist Friedrich Thiersch

Friedrich Thiersch

Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch , was a German classical scholar and educationist.-Biography:He was born at Kirchscheidungen...

, and brother of surgeon Karl Thiersch

Karl Thiersch

Karl Thiersch, also spelled Carl Thiersch , was a German surgeon born in Munich. His father was educationist Friedrich Thiersch, his father-in-law was renowned chemist Justus von Liebig...

 and painter Ludwig Thiersch

Ludwig Thiersch

Ludwig Thiersch was a German painter, primarily of mythological and religious subjects and especially of ecclesiastical art, also influential in Greece.-Early life:...

. He studied philology at the University of Munich from 1833 to 1835, primarily under his father but also under Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , later von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him between Fichte, his mentor prior to 1800, and Hegel, his former university roommate and erstwhile friend...

 and Joseph Görres. He switched to theology and moved to the University of Erlangen, where from 1835 to 1837 he studied under Hermann Olshausen

Hermann Olshausen

Hermann Olshausen was a German theologian.-Biography:Olshausen was born at Oldeslohe in Holstein. He was educated at the universities of Kiel and Berlin , where he was influenced by Schleiermacher and Neander...

 and Gottlieb von Harless

Gottlieb Christoph Adolf von Harless

Gottlieb Christoph Adolf von Harless , was a German Lutheran theologian.-Life:He was born at Nuremberg. As a youth, he was interested in music and poetry, and was attracted by ancient and German classical literature, especially by Jean Paul. He was indifferent to Christianity...

, and then to the University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

 from 1837 to 1838, ending with a degree in theology.

He was a lecturer at Erlangen from 1839, and then professor of theology at the University of Marburg from 1843. Among his early work, his 1841 monograph De Pentateuchi Versione Alexandrine (The Pentateuch Versions of Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

) is credited with being among the first to point out the importance of recently discovered papyri

Papyrus

Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....

 for research on the Septuagint.

Conversion to the Catholic Apostolic Church

As early as 1836, Thiersch had become interested in the Catholic Apostolic Church ("Irvingism"). In 1847 he converted, and in 1850 resigned his professorship to dedicate himself as a minister in that church. He lived in various cities ministering to the scattered Irvingite congregation, including Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

, Munich, Augsburg

Augsburg

Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

, and Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

. He was a lecturer at Marburg from 1853 to 1858, but otherwise held no permanent positions in his later life due to his religious heterodoxy.

The 1911 New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge

Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge

The Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge is a religious encyclopedia. It is based on an earlier German encyclopedia, the Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Like the Realencyklopädie, it focuses on Christianity from a primarily Protestant point of...

described his life following conversion as follows:

Thiersch was a man of sincere and profound piety, of rare classical, theological, and general culture, an enthusiastic teacher, and might have become the successor of Neander

August Neander

Johann August Wilhelm Neander , was a German theologian and church historian.-Biography:Neander was born at Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, is said to have been a Jewish pedlar, but August adopted the name of Neander on his baptism as a Protestant Christian...

in Berlin; but, in obedience to what he believed to be a divine call, he sacrificed a brilliant academic career to his religious convictions. He lived in poverty and isolation. He was lame; but had a very striking, highly intellectual and spiritual countenance, and an impressive voice and manner. He was the most distinguished German convert to Irvingism. He sincerely believed that the Lord had restored the apostolic office and the prophetic gifts of the Apostolic Church in the Irvingite community; and, notwithstanding the apparent failure of the movement, he adhered to it till his death.