Albert Réville (4 November 1826,

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime departments of France, department, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth ...

25 October 1906) was a distinguished French

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, 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

. After studying at the universities of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and

Strassburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, he became

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

at Luneray (near Dieppe), and from 1851 to 1872 he was pastor of the Walloon church in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. In 1880 he became professor of the History of Religions in the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, during the course of which he helped found the ''Revue de l'histoire des religions'' with Maurice Vernes. In 1886, he was appointed as the inaugural President of the new " Fifth Section" for Religious Sciences at the

École Pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

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 David Friedrich Strauss (; ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he explored via myth. St ...

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 epiphanies or internal, subjective visionary experiences, ofte ...

, 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, 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 Christian theologians Members of the American Philosophical Society {{France-reli-bio-stub