Möhler, Johann Adam (1796–1838)

German Roman Catholic theologian. He aimed to show Catholics the true nature of the church: as one, dynamic, ever youthful, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit. He published The Unity of the Church (1824) and Symbolism (1832).

He was born in Igersheim, Württemberg, and became professor of theology at Tübingen and Munich. Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical Immortale Dei, on the idea of the church, borrowed much of Möhler's thought, which is apparent also in the teaching of Pius XI and Pius XII on the Mystical Body.