Edmond de Pressensé


Edmond Dehault de Pressensé was a French Protestant religious leader.

Biography

He was born in Paris, and studied in Lausanne under Alexandre Vinet. He went on to the University of Halle as a pupil of Friedrich August Tholuck and to Humboldt University in Berlin, where he studied under August Neander. In 1847 he became a pastor in the Evangelical Church at the chapel of Taitbout in Paris.
He was a powerful preacher and political orator; from 1871 he was a member of the National Assembly, and from 1883 a life senator. In 1890 he was elected a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. Pressensé laboured for the revival of biblical studies. He contended that the Evangelical Church ought to be independent of the power of the state.
His son Francis de Pressensé was a French politician and man of letters.

Published works

In 1854 he founded the Revue chrétienne, and in 1866 the Bulletin idéologique. His works include:L'Immaculée conception: histoire d'un dogme Catholique-Roman Histoire des trois premiers siècles de l'Église chrétienne L'Église et la Révolution française Jésus-Christ, son temps, sa vie, son œuvre Les Origines, le problème de la connaissance; le problème cosmologique
Several of his works have been translated into English:The Immaculate Conception translated by Adolf ZytogorskiJesus Christ: his times, life, and work translated by Annie Harwood HolmdenThe early years of Christianity: a comprehensive history of the first three centuries of the Christian church translated by Annie Harwood HolmdenA Study of origins: or, the problems of knowledge, of being, and of duty translated by Annie Harwood HolmdenThe ancient world and Christianity translated by Annie Harwood Holmden