Faculté Jean-Calvin

The Faculté Jean-Calvin (Jean Calvin Faculty) is an independent private Protestant and evangelical theology faculty based in Aix-en-Provence, France. It describes itself as an "Institut privé de théologie protestante et évangélique" and operates in the Reformed and Calvinist tradition at university level. It is a member of the Conseil national des évangéliques de France (CNEF), the national evangelical umbrella body in France. The institution is the heir to an earlier Protestant theology faculty of the Églises Réformées Evangéliques Indépendantes (EREI, now UNEPREF), which operated from the 1940s until it effectively ceased activity in 1967. From 1971, decentralised theology courses were organised in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Nîmes under the impetus of Eugène Boyer and Pierre Filhol. A new faculty was formally inaugurated on 13–14 October 1974, with Pierre Courthial joining in June 1974. The faculty adopted a specifically Reformed identity, with professors adhering to the Confession of La Rochelle, and was constituted as a free institution not tied to any church union. In 2011 the faculty changed its name to Faculté Jean Calvin, taking the name of the Reformation figure John Calvin to improve visibility and to signal both its Reformed foundation and its openness to all Protestant churches. The new name was officially inaugurated on 19 February 2011 in the presence of local officials including the mayor of Aix-en-Provence. At the same time it joined the CNEF. The faculty offers programmes from certificate level to third cycle (doctoral-level research), including Bachelor and DEST (Diplôme d'Études Supérieures de Théologie) degrees in applied theology and theology & exegesis, professional and research second-cycle programmes, Validation des Acquis par l'Expérience (VAE), and short specialised certificates such as Christian formation and apologetics. Programmes carry ECTS credits (e.g. 180 ECTS for Bachelor, 120 ECTS for DEST) and include supervised internships and biblical language study. All programmes are available on campus in Aix-en-Provence or fully by distance learning via a digital platform, with the same courses, professors and diplomas. The faculty also publishes the Revue Réformée and hosts events. Its teaching staff has included figures such as Paul Wells, Pierre Courthial, Michel Johner, Yannick Imbert and Donald Cobb, alongside associate professors from institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Cameroon and the Netherlands.

The present Faculté Jean-Calvin is the heir to an earlier Protestant theology faculty of the Églises Réformées Evangéliques Indépendantes (EREI, now UNEPREF), which remained open between the 1940s and 1960s. After several professorial departures, its teaching body was seriously reduced, and in 1967, with the departure of P. Verseils, the faculty de facto ceased activity. Only an "Association cultuelle pour l'entretien de la Faculté" and the faculty's "Conseil" remained; de jure the faculty still existed, along with its property and buildings. As early as 1967, the same year the first faculty closed, pastor André Tholozan, president of the EREI, wrote to Eugène Boyer, then pastor of a church in York, Pennsylvania, asking him to help reorganise the Aix faculty by recruiting "Calvinist" professors. In early 1968, E. Boyer, travelling from Philadelphia to Detroit, met Professor Edmund Clowney of Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia). In 1971, during a trip to the United States, E. Boyer, advised by E. Clowney, met two English students: Paul Wells, then in his second year of licence at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Peter Jones, who was completing a doctorate in theology at Princeton. Under the impetus of Eugène Boyer and Pierre Filhol, from 1971 decentralised theology courses were organised in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Nîmes. These courses were taught in dogmatics by Bill Clark (of the Calvinist publisher "Grâce et Vérité"); in Old Testament by pastor Émile Nicole; in practical theology by Eugène Boyer; and in history and sociology by François Gonin, then pastor of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Aix-en-Provence. The creation of a new faculty raised questions, particularly in relation to the old Reformed Evangelical faculty. It was not conceivable to re-found a faculty serving only the EREI, nor was it possible to ignore that there were Calvinists in the Église réformée de France (ERF), starting with Pierre Marcel, editor of La Revue réformée. A new Reformed faculty serving renewal in all churches, Reformed or otherwise, had its place in the French-speaking Protestant landscape. Pierre Berthoud explained: "It is a new institution since it is free in relation to any union of Churches – it is the faculty council that defines the general policy of the faculty – and it has adopted a specifically Reformed theological identity: the professors adhere to the Confession of La Rochelle." At the start of the 1973 academic year, one year before the faculty's official opening, the teaching body consisted of Paul Wells (the first to join the new teaching team), teaching Hebrew, Greek and dogmatics; François Gonin for church history; Eugène Boyer for practical theology; and Peter Jones, charged with teaching the New Testament. In June 1974, Pierre Courthial joined the faculty, which was solemnly inaugurated on 13 and 14 October 1974. The changing religious landscape in the Protestant tradition during 1975–2005 led the faculty council to consider a name change to improve the faculty's visibility. Considering the growth and significant interaction between the faculty and evangelical circles (for whom the "free" and "Reformed" association was a significant problem), the faculty sought a new name. The figure of John Calvin, reformer and symbol of Protestantism in France, imposed itself, and the faculty took the name Faculté Jean Calvin. To testify to its Reformed foundation and its attachment to openness to all Protestant churches, a subtitle was added: "Institut privé de théologie protestante et évangélique". The new name was officially inaugurated on 19 February 2011 in the presence of, among others, Maryse Joissains-Masini (mayor of Aix-en-Provence), Gaëlle Lenfant (vice-president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional council) and André Guinde (representing the general council of the PACA region). At the same time, the Faculté Jean-Calvin joined the Conseil national des évangéliques de France, participating fully in the work of various commissions (theological, new church planting) and thus being an actor in the evangelical unity movement in France. Today the faculty offers programmes from certificate to third cycle, on campus or by distance learning, and its teaching staff has included Jean-Philippe Bru (practical theology), Pierre-Sovann Chauny (systematic theology), Donald Cobb (New Testament and Greek), Michel Johner (ethics and church history), Yannick Imbert (apologetics and church history) and Gert Kwakkel (Hebrew and Old Testament, professor at the theological university of Kampen, NL). Associate professors have included William Edgar III (Westminster Theological Seminary), Gordon Campbell (Union Theological College, Belfast), Jean Decorvet (HET-Pro, Switzerland), Jean Patrick Fanga (Institut supérieur de théologie Camille Chazaud, Cameroon), Sébastien Fath (historian, CNRS, Paris) and Jay Sklar (Covenant Theological Seminary, St Louis, USA).

• 2011

  The faculty is renamed Faculté Jean Calvin, officially inaugurated on 19 February, and joins the CNEF.

• 1974

  Pierre Courthial joins in June; the faculty is solemnly inaugurated on 13–14 October.

• 1973

  At the start of the academic year, the teaching body includes Paul Wells, François Gonin, Eugène Boyer and Peter Jones.

• 1971

  Decentralised theology courses begin in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Nîmes under Eugène Boyer and Pierre Filhol.

• 1967

  The earlier EREI theology faculty de facto ceases activity with the departure of P. Verseils.

Independent Reformed and Calvinist Protestant theology faculty offering university-level theological, spiritual and practical training, on campus in Aix-en-Provence or fully by distance learning, with the same courses, professors and diplomas.

• Bachelor professionnel

• Bachelor Théologie appliquée

• Bachelor Théologie & exégèse

• DEST professionnel

• DEST Théologie appliquée

• DEST Théologie & exégèse

• 2ème cycle professionnel

• 2ème cycle Recherche

• Validation des Acquis par l'Expérience (VAE)

• Certificat de formation chrétienne

• Diplôme Théologie & Mission

• Certificat spécialisé en apologétique

• Cours à la carte

1. 1Faculté de Théologie | Faculté Jean Calvinfacultejeancalvin.com
2. 2Faculté Jean-Calvinfr.wikipedia.org
3. 3Faculté Jean-Calvinwikidata.org