Alfred Firmin Loisy

Alfred Firmin Loisy , 1857-1940, French theologian, biblical critic, and leading exponent of biblical modernism . He was ordained (1879) a Roman Catholic priest and was (1881-93) professor at the Catholic Institute in Paris. His belief in greater freedom in interpreting the history and development of religious doctrine brought him into conflict with Popes Leo XIII and Pius X. In 1893, he was dismissed from the institute. He taught (1900-1904) at the École des Hautes Études and (1909-30) at the Collège de France. At the beginning of the 20th cent. he became the principal leader of the Modernism movement, which accepted the theories of higher criticism and developed a kind of liberal humanitarianism. His books were condemned severally and collectively by the Holy See, and in 1908 he was excommunicated. Thereafter he became increasingly opposed to the teachings of the church. Among his works are L'Évangile et l'église [the gospel and the church] (1902), Le IVe Évangile [the fourth gospel] (1903), and Les Évangiles synoptiques [the synoptic gospels] (1908). His autobiography appeared in 1924.

Bibliography: See J. Ratté, Three Modernists (1968).

Loisy, Alfred Firmin (1857–1940), French Modernist biblical scholar. He applied historico-critical methods to the study of the Bible, and in 1893 he was dismissed from his post at the Institut Catholique in Paris. In 1902 he published L'Évangile et l'Église. As against A. Harnack, who sought to base Christianity on the teaching of the historical Jesus apart from later dogmatic accretions, Loisy maintained that its essence was to be sought in the faith of the developed Church as expanded under the guidance of the Spirit. The book was condemned by the Abp. of Paris. In 1903, when Loisy published not only an account of the controversy but also Le Quatrième Évangile, Pius X placed both books on the Index. Loisy made a formal act of submission and retired to the country. The final breach with the Church came after the Papal acts of 1907 condemning Modernism. Loisy published Simples Réflexions sur le décret du Saint-Office Lamentabili (1908) and Les Évangiles synoptiques (1907–8); on 7 Mar. 1908 he was excommunicated.

From 1909 to 1930 Loisy was a professor at the Collège de France. He was a prolific writer, but after his break with the Church his work on the NT was generally regarded as erratic. It appears, however, that he was a mystic, with a pastoral sense.

Loisy, Alfred (1857–1940) French biblical scholar. He was a Catholic priest who became one of the leaders of the Catholic Modernist movement which attempted to reconcile Catholic theology with scientific thought and biblical criticism. Modernism was condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907 and Loisy was excommunicated. He maintained that the coming of the kingdom of God was the essence of Jesus' teaching, but that it was the Church which, in fact, arrived.