Henri Daniel-Rops

Infobox Writer
name = Henri Daniel-Rops


imagesize =
caption =
pseudonym = Henri Daniel-Rops
birthname = Henri Jules Charles Petiot
birthdate = January 19, 1901
birthplace = Épinal, France
deathdate = July 27, 1965
deathplace = Aix-les-Bains, France
occupation = Author
nationality = French
period =
genre = Catholic religion
subject =
movement = Ordre Noveau
notableworks = Jesus, His Life and Times
spouse = Madeleine Bouvier
partner =
children = Francis Petiot
relatives =
influences = Gabriel Marcel
influenced =
awards = French Academy 1955


website =

Henri Daniel-Rops (Épinal, January 19, 1901 - Aix-les-Bains, July 27, 1965), French writer and historian whose real name was Henri Petiot.

Early life

He was the son of a military officer. Daniel-Rops was a student of the Faculty of Law and Literature in Grenoble. He received his Agrégation in History in 1922, the youngest in France. He became a professor in Chambéry, Amiens and finally in Paris. In the late 1920's he began his literary career with an essay, Notre inquiétude (Our Concern, 1927) and a novel L'âme obscure (The dark soul, 1929) and several articles in various journals, Correspondent, Notre Temps and La Revue des vivants.

Literary career

Starting in 1931 he wrote mostly about Catholicism, advised by Gabriel Marcel with whom he shared membership in the Ordre Nouveau. He helped disseminate those ideas in books which makes him one of the representatives of the intellectual ferment of non-conformists the years 1930: Le Monde sans âme (The world without a soul), Les annés tournantes, Eléments de notre destin.

After 1935, his ties with Ordre Nouveau is somewhat loose. He assisted in the weeklies and publishing the Catholics Sept Temps. Until 1940 he published several novels, biographies and essays, at the home of the collection Présences Plon Edition', from where he published the book La France et son armée (France and his army) of General de Gaulle, whom he would befriend.

From 1941 to 1944, he wrote Le peuple de la Bible (The People of the Bible) and a son Jésus temps (Jesus and His Times), the beginning of a work of religious history that will continue with a monumental Histoire de l'Eglise du Christ (History of the Church of Christ).

After the liberation of France in 1944, he abandoned teaching to devote himself to work as a Christian historian and writer, directing the magazine Ecclésia and editing Je sais, je crois (I know, I think), published in English as The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism.

At the same time, he worked with various European federalist movements, with some of his former colleagues from Ordre Nouveau. He joined The Federation, and the French Federalist Movement.

From 1957 to 1963 was one of the 50 governors of the European Foundation of Culture founded by Denis de Rougemont. In 1955, he was elected to the French Academy.

Works

Daniel Rops was written novels and works of religious history:

L'Âme obscureL'Épée de feu Jésus and His Times Histoire sainte Histoire Sainte Mort, où est ta victoire? (Death, where is thy victory?) La nuit des cœurs flambants La vie quotidienne en Palestine au temps de Jésus (The daily life in Palestine at the time of Jesus)

He was also a professor of history at the Lyceum Chambéry from 1922 to 1929.

Daniel-Rops was undoubtedly the most widely read writer in France by post-war Catholics.

"This article draws heavily on the article in the French-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of April 1, 2008.

External links

* [http://www.catholicauthors.com/daniel-rops.html Daniel-Rops autobio]
* [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/index.html News and biographical works on the site of the French Academy] (French).