Jean Guitton (August 18, 1901 – March 21, 1999) was a French

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 ...

philosopher and

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 ...

Biography

Born in Saint-Étienne, Loire in August 1901, he studied at the

Lycée du Parc The Lycée du Parc is a public secondary school located in the sixth ''arrondissement'' of Lyon, France. Its name comes from the Parc de la Tête d'Or, one of Europe's largest urban parks, which is situated nearby. It provides a ''lycée''-level ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

and was accepted at the

École Normale Supérieure École 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 * École, S ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1920. His principal religious and intellectual influence was from a blind priest, Francois Pouget. He finished his philosophical studies in the early 1920s and later became a professor in many French universities. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was made a war prisoner by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

. In the year 1954, he earned a literary award from the Académie française. From 1955 to 1968 he continued his works as a professor of philosophy at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. He became a member of the Académie française in 1961.Jean Guitton Biography at the Académie française Website (French)
/ref> Invited as an observer to the

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote ar ...

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, the first lay person to be granted this honor, he would become a close friend of

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

. He died in

at 97 in 1999. During his life, he was also awarded the Great Cross of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and of the Arts and Letters Medal. In most of his works Jean Guitton writes about and discusses the agnostic confrontation between human

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

and human logic. He wrote around fifty books.

Works

* ''Portrait d'une mère'' (1933) * ''Le Temps et l'éternité chez Plotin et Saint Augustin'' (1933) * ''La Philosophie de Leibniz'' (1933) * ''Actualité de saint Augustin'' (1935) * ''La Pensée moderne et le catholicisme'' (1934-1950) * ''Perspectives'' (1934) * ''Newman et Renan'' (1938) * ''La Pensée de M. Loisy'' (1936) * ''Critique de la critique'' (1937) * ''Le Problème de la connaissance et de la pensée religieuse'' * ''Le Problème de Jésus et le fondement du témoignage chrétien'' (1946) * ''Développement des idées dans l'Ancien Testament'' (1947) * ''Portrait de M. Pouget'' (1941) * ''Justification du temps'' (1941) * ''Fondements de la communauté française'' (1942) * ''Journal de captivité 1942-1943'' (1942-1943) * ''Nouvel art de penser'' (1946) * ''Le Problème de Jésus'' (1946) * ''L'Amour humain'' (1948) * ''L'Existence temporelle'' (1949) * ''La Vierge Marie'' (1949) * ''Pascal et Leibniz'' (1951) * ''Le Travail intellectuel'' (1951) * ''Journal, études et rencontres'' (1959 et 1968) * ''L'Église et l'Évangile'' (1959) * ''La Vocation de Bergson'' (1960) * ''Une mère dans sa vallée'' (1961) * ''Regard sur le concile'' (1962) * ''Génie de Pascal'' (1962) * ''L'Église et les laïcs'' (1963) * ''La conversion de Ratisbonne'' (1964) * ''Le Clair et l'Obscur'' (1964) * ''Dialogues avec Paul VI'' (1967) * ''Développement de la pensée occidentale'' (1968) * ''Profils parallèles'' (1970) * ''Newman et Renan'' * ''Pascal et Leibniz'' * ''Teilhard et Bergson'' * ''Claudel et Heidegger'' * ''Ce que je crois'' (1971) * ''Paul VI et l'Année sainte'' (1974) * ''Écrire comme on se souvient'' (1974) * ''Remarques et réflexions sur l'Histoire'' (1976) * ''Journal de ma vie'' (1976) * ''Évangile et mystère du temps'' (1977) * ''L'Évangile dans ma vie'' (1978) * ''Paul VI secret'' (1980) * ''Le Temps d'une vie'' (1980) * ''Jugements'' (1981) * ''Pages brûlées'' (1984) * ''L'Absurde et le Mystère'' (1984) * ''Portrait de Marthe Robin'' (1985) * ''Œcuménisme'' (1986) * ''Un siècle, une vie''(1988), 13th Prix Fondation Pierre-Lafue 1989 * ''Dieu et la science'' (with Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, 1991) * ''Portrait du père Lagrange'' (1992) * ''Celui qui croyait au ciel et celui qui n'y croyait pas'' (with Jacques Lanzmann, 1994) * ''Lumen de lumine'' (1994) * ''Chaque jour que Dieu fait'' (1996) * ''Le Siècle qui s'annonce'' (1996) * ''Mon testament philosophique'' (1997) * ''Ultima Verba'' (with Gérard Prévost, 1998) * ''Le livre de la sagesse et des vertus retrouvées'' (1998)

References

External links

Jean Guitton Biography at the Académie française Website (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guitton, Jean 1901 births 1999 deaths Writers from Saint-Étienne Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni University of Paris faculty French Roman Catholic writers Catholic philosophers 20th-century French philosophers Members of the Académie Française Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite French male writers 20th-century French Catholic theologians 20th-century French male writers