Born at Würzburg, of Jewish parentage, as Julius Jolson, he was brought up strictly in the Jewish religion and was allowed to attend the gymnasium. As a result of its influence, he was at the age of seventeen converted to Christianity and baptized into the Lutheran Church at Erlangen on November 6, 1819. To this faith he clung with earnest devotion and persistence until his death. Having studied law at Würzburg, Heidelberg and Erlangen, Stahl, on taking the degree of doctor juris, established himself as Privatdozent in Munich, was appointed ordinary professor of law at Würzburg, and in 1840 received the chair of ecclesiastical law and polity at Berlin. Here he immediately made his mark as an ecclesiastical lawyer, and was appointed a member of the first chamber of the general synod. Elected in 1850 a member of the short-lived Erfurt parliament, he bitterly opposed the idea of German federation. Stahl early fell under the influence of Schelling, and at the latter's insistence, began in 1827 his great work Die Philosophie des Rechts nach geschichtlicher Ansicht, in which he bases all law and political science upon Christian revelation, denies rationalistic doctrines, and, as a deduction from this principle, maintains that a state church must be strictly confessional. This position he further elucidated in his Der christliche Staat und sein Verhältniss zum Deismus und Judenthum. As Oberkirchenrath, Stahl used all his influence to weaken the Prussian Union of churches and to strengthen the influence of the Lutheran Church. Stahl advocated the formation of an episcopal constitution of the Lutherans, similar to Roman Catholics or Anglicans. The Prussian minister von Bunsen attacked him, while King Frederick William IV supported Stahl in his ecclesiastical policy, and the Prussian Union would probably have been dissolved had not the regency of Prince William supervened in 1858. Stahl's influence fell under the new régime, and, while remaining a member of the Prussian House of Lords, he resigned his seat on the general synod. While taking a cure he unexpectedly died at Bad Brückenau.
Selected works
Die Philosophie des Rechts nach geschichtlicher Ansicht. Heidelberg, 1830, 1833, 1837
Die Kirchenverfassung nach Lehre und Recht der Protestanten. Erlangen, 1840
Ueber die Kirchenzucht. 1845
Das monarchische Prinzip. Heidelberg, 1845
Der christliche Staat. Berlin, 1847
Die Revolution und die konstitutionelle Monarchie. Berlin, 1848
Was ist Revolution? Berlin, 1849, 1852
Der Protestantismus als politisches Prinzip. Berlin, 1853
Die katholischen Widerlegungen. Berlin, 1854
Wider Bunsen. Berlin, 1856
Die lutherische Kirche und die Union. Berlin, 1859
Siebenzehn parlamentarische Reden und drei Vorträge . Berlin, 1862
Die gegenwärtigen Parteien in Staat und Kirche: neunundzwanzig akademische Vorlesungen . Berlin, 1868
