Pierre Courthial (1914–2009) was a French pastor and

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

(Calvinist)

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. His pastoral career was spent in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

La Voulte-sur-Rhône La Voulte-sur-Rhône (, literally ''La Voulte on Rhône''; oc, La Vòuta) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France. Population Lagerstätte La Voulte-sur-Rhône is a marine Lagerstätte (sedimentary deposit) located in F ...

, and Paris. He helped establish theological study centres in France, and in later life completed two volumes of theological writing.

Early life

Pierre Courthial was born in

Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. His father was a businessman and was

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

; his mother was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. At sixteen, Courthial read works by

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

and his colleague,

Pierre Viret Pierre Viret (1509/1510 – 4 April 1571) was a Swiss Reformed theologian, evangelist and Protestant reformer. Early life Pierre Viret was born in 1509 or 1510 in Orbe, then in the Barony of Vaud, now in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. He wa ...

. These writings established a theological foundation for his studies that continued throughout his lifetime.

Education

Courthial began studying business, but after only one year he decided to pursue theology. He studied formally at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris from 1932 to 1936, where he learned from Reformed theologian

Auguste Lecerf Auguste Lecerf (1872–1943) was a French Reformed pastor of the Église réformée de France (''Reformed Church of France'') and a partly autodidact neo-Calvinist theologian. From 1927 onwards, he was dogmatics professor at the Protestant Facul ...

. After completing his studies at the university, he returned to stay with his family until he was awarded a scholarship to begin doctoral work at the Free University of Amsterdam. However, his plans were interrupted when the Protestant Church in Lyon asked him to pastor the church for one year until their new minister was able to arrive. As it turns out, Courthial never continued his studies, but worked as a pastor for much of the rest of his life.

Ministry

During his pastoral ministry, Courthial studied Scripture and Reformed theology. Despite being firmly centered in Reformed doctrine, he strongly upheld

ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

and found this to be centered on the four grand

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

s of the Church: the dogmas of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, the

Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

, salvation by

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

, and the authority of

Scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

. A year after he became a pastor in Lyon in 1937, he was sent as a delegate to the Synod at Lyon, which decided to reestablish the

Reformed Church of France The Reformed Church of France (french: Église réformée de France, ERF) was the main Protestant denomination in France with a Calvinist orientation that could be traced back directly to John Calvin. In 2013, the Church merged with the Evangel ...

. When in 1941 Courthial was named pastor of a Reformed parish in La Voulte-sur-Rhône, he befriended an orthodox theologian; the two met often to read and discuss the Church Fathers. It was during this time Courthial learned much about modern orthodox theologians. During his time at L’Église Réformée de l’Annonciation in Paris (1951–74), Courthial continued to study theology diligently, dedicating significant time to sermon preparation, all while caring for his congregation. He served there for twenty-three years. In addition to his pastoral work, Courthial served as co-editor of ''La Revue réformée'', for which he also contributed articles. He served on several missions and educational boards and in 1967 formed the Center of Evangelical Theological Studies. In the 1970s Courthial expanded his personal studies to translate works from well-known Dutch theologians into English, and he translated the works of many respected Americans as well. Thus began his concentration on the significance of what he called “tota scriptura” (he preferred this term to “

sola scriptura , meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of au ...

”), which is the application of God’s word to every area of life. This eventually led to a line of theology that would come to be known as “the ecumenism of

Athanasius Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

”, which is the application of Scripture to all aspects of life, or the ecumenism of those who live and work “against the world” as Athanasius did.

Reformed Seminary at Aix-en-Provence

In 1973, Courthial helped found a faculty of Protestant Reformed theology in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

. Paul Wells, Eugene Boyer, Pierre Filhol, and Peter Jones all visited him and asked him to join them. He accepted their invitation, moving to Aix-en-Provence, where he served as the first dean at the Free Faculty of Reformed Theology and taught

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

and practical theology until his retirement in 1984. He lived at 33 Avenue Jules Ferry from 1974 to 1984. William Edgar (now a professor at

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...

, Philadelphia) and Pierre Berthoud (who succeeded him as dean) also joined the faculty. During these years Courthial traveled to South Africa, the United States, and Canada. In September 1979, he traveled to Philadelphia at the invitation of Westminster Theological Seminary to speak at their 50 year Jubilee, where he was one of four distinguished recipients chosen to receive Westminster’s first honorary doctorates.

Theological works

After his retirement in 1984 Dr. Courthial applied himself to his two major writing projects, ''Le jour des petits recommencements'' (''The day of small new beginnings''), 1996, and ''De Bible en Bible'' (''From Bible to Bible''), 2001. Courthial undertook the first of these with the encouragement of his good friend in Switzerland, Jean-Marc Berthoud, brother of Pierre Berthoud. Courthial completed ''Le jour des petits recommencements'' at the age of 82. Over the course of the next ten years, until his death in 2009, Courthial stayed in contact with friends and theologians from his home in Paris. His theology was strongly influenced by

, August Lecerf,

Pierre du Moulin Pierre Du Moulin ( Latinized as Petrus Molinaeus; 16 October 1568 – 10 March 1658) was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years. Life Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant minis ...

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...

Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...

, John Murray, J. Gresham Machen,

Cornelius van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later receive ...

Rousas John Rushdoony Rousas John Rushdoony (April 25, 1916 – February 8, 2001) was an American Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian. He is credited as being the father of Christian Reconstructionism and an inspiration for the modern Christian hom ...

, Paul Wells and others. PIERRE AND WIFE

Death

Pierre Courthial died on April 23, 2009. He left behind his wife of sixty-seven years, Hélène, five children. Pierre courthial class

References

"Dr. Pierre Courthial Remembered"
Westminster Theological Seminary.
Zurich Publishing Author Biography
* "Pierre Courthial,

* Pierre Courthial, ''A New Day of Small Beginnings'', Zurich Publishing, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Courthial, Pierre 1914 births 2009 deaths People from Lyon Metropolis French Calvinist and Reformed ministers French educators Clergy from Lyon