Albert Réville (4 November 1826,
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime25 October 1906) was a distinguished French
Protestant theologian, known for his 'extremist' liberal views. He is also known for being one of the first intellectuals to join the
Dreyfusard cause when the
Dreyfus Affair erupted in the 1890s.
Réville was born in
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime. After studying at the universities of
Geneva and
Strassburg, he became
pastor at
Luneray
Luneray () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in northern France.
Geography
A small town of farming and light industry situated in the ...
(near Dieppe), and from 1851 to 1872 he was pastor of the
Walloon church in
Rotterdam.
In 1880 he became professor of the History of Religions in the
Collège de France,
during the course of which he helped found the ''Revue de l'histoire des religions'' with
Maurice Vernes Maurice Vernes (25 September 1845, in Nauroy – 29 July 1923, in Paris) was a French Protestant theologian and historian of religion.
He studied theology at the Protestant seminary in Montauban and the University of Strasbourg, receiving his d ...
. In 1886, he was appointed as the inaugural President of the new "
Fifth Section" for Religious Sciences at the
École Pratique des Hautes Études in
Paris.
He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society in 1886.
He was a prolific writer on the comparative history of world religions. In addition to the history of Christianity, he published on the native religions of Central America (about which he gave the 1884
Hibbert Lectures), Chinese religion
and the history of the idea of the Devil.
He was a notable advocate of
David Strauss'
vision hypothesis
The vision theory or vision hypothesis is a term used to cover a range of theories that question the physical resurrection of Jesus, and suggest that sightings of a risen Jesus were visionary experiences. It was first formulated by David Friedric ...
, that the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus were historically due to a vision caused by nervous tension by Mary Magdalene and subsequent mass hysteria among the disciples.
[Rush Rhees ''The Life of Jesus of Nazareth'' 2007 "This last explanation has in recent times been revived in connection with the so-called vision-hypothesis by Renan and Réville. Mary found the tomb empty, and being herself of a highly strung nervous nature—she had been cured by Jesus of "]
His son,
Jean Réville
Jean Réville (6 November 1854 – 6 May 1908) was a French Protestant theologian born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He was the son of theologian Albert Réville (1826–1906).
He studied theology at Geneva, Berlin and Heidelberg, obtaining his ...
, was also a theologian.
Translated works
*''Storia del Diavolo'', Lulu Press, Raleigh (NC), 2018, Italian version of ''Histoire du Diable'' (1870), translated by Rev. Marco Lupi Speranza, .
References
External links
*
*
1826 births
1906 deaths
People from Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
19th-century Protestant theologians
French Protestant theologians
Academic staff of the University of Paris
19th-century French theologians
Members of the American Philosophical Society
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