Henri-Charles Puech (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi ʃaʁl pɥɛʃ]; 20 July 1902, Montpellier – 11 January 1986, aged 83) was a French historian who long held the chair of History of religions at the Collège de France from 1952 to 1972.
Biography
editA philosopher by training, he was interested in Greek philosophy, especially in hermetism and neoplatonism, before turning to the study of Christian doctrines of the early centuries, a discipline he long taught in the École pratique des hautes études. His teaching had a great influence on the development of patristics studies in the second half of the twentieth in France. But it is primarily as a result of the discovery of new documents in the study of Manichaeism and the various systems of Gnostic thought that he gained international recognition.
A long collaborator of the Revue de l'histoire des religions before he directed it, he presided the Association internationale pour l'étude de l'histoire des religions from 1950 to 1965.
Honours
edit- Officier of the Légion d'honneur (1963)
- Commandeur of the Ordre of the Palmes académiques (1965)
- Commandeur of the Ordre national du Mérite (1969)
Work
edit- 1970: Histoire des religions, 3 vol., Éditions Gallimard
- 1978: En quête de la gnose, Paris, Gallimard, series "Bibliothèque des Sciences Humaines", 2 volumes Tome 1 : La Gnose et le Temps. Tome 2 : Sur l'évangile selon Thomas
- 1979: Sur le manichéisme et autres essais, Paris, Flammarion, series "Idées et recherches"
External links
edit- Henri-Charles Puech on the site of the collège de France
- Notice sur la vie et les travaux d'Henri-Charles Puech, membre de l'Académie on Persée
- Puech, Henri-Charles on E. Universalis
- Allocution de M. Henri-Charles Puech, président on Persée
