Tixeront, Joseph
TIXERONT, JOSEPH
Sulpician theologian, educator, patrologist; b. Ennezat, France, March 19, 1856; d. Lyons, Sept. 3, 1925. Having studied theology at the seminary of Lyons, he was ordained there in 1879. Tixeront was trained in historical and theological method under L. duchesne; then taught theology at the seminary from 1884 to 1898, and patrology at the University of Lyons from 1898 till his death. His most important work is his History of Dogmas in Christian Antiquity (3 v. 1905–12; English tr. of 5th ed. 192630), in which he traces the development of early Christian religious beliefs and doctrine with historical objectivity. His dissertation, Les Origines de l'Èglise d'Èdesse et la légende d'Abgar (1888; English tr. 1934), was followed by: Vie mondaine et vie chrétienne à la fin du II e siècle (1906), La Vie monastique en Palestine au Ve et VI e siècle (1911), Le Sacrement de Pénitence dans l'antiquité chrétienne (1914), La Démonstration de la prédication apostolique de St. Irénée (1916), Précis de patrologie (1918), Mélanges de patrologie et d'histoire des dogmes (1921), and L'Ordre et les ordinations (1924). A conscientious scholar, he contributed immeasurably to the formation of an objective viewpoint in tracing the history of Christian doctrines back to their origins.
Bibliography: c. e. podechard, Joseph Tixeront (Lyons 1925).
[f. x. murphy]