Born at Donzdorf, Württemberg, he was a pupil at the Latin school of Schwäbisch Gmünd between 1815 and 1818 and at the Gymnasium at Ellwangen from 1818 to 1822.
After performing the duties of a parish priest for a year he became, in the autumn of 1828, a tutor in the Catholic theological seminary, "Wilhelmsstift" at Tübingen.
He was reported as a scholar of far-reaching knowledge, of great productive energy, and at the same time a philosopher with a talent for speculation.
His service consisted in securing a deep speculative foundation for Christian truth and in attempting to defend against other perspective like Hegelian philosophy.
With his colleagues at Giessen he established the Jahrbücher für Theologie und christliche Philosophie (three yearly series in seven volumes, Frankfort am Main, 1834–35; Mainz, 1836).