François Puaux (1806-1895)

An active partisan of the Revival Movement

  • François Puaux (1806-1895) © Mours

He was born in Vallons-Pont d’Arc (Ardèche) in 1806 and first he read Law at the Law School in Montpellier, then Theology in Montauban.

He carried out his ministry in Luneray, Rochefort, and Mulhouse. A very active partisan of the Revival Movement, he defended the evangelicals, never hesitating to enter into debates with the liberals. He wrote a number of pamphlets hostile Roman Catholicism. In his obituary in Le Temps he is described as “the last of the old time Huguenots……he liked fighting and would spontaneously go to it with the joy and the energy of a sniper. His weapons were of truly learning, but he had the gift of style, using popular images and spirited replies” (Il peut être considéré comme le dernier représentant du type d’huguenot d’autrefois… Il aimait la lutte, s’y portant spontanément avec l’allégresse et l’allure d’un franc-tireur. Les armes dont il se servait (…) n’étaient rien moins que savants, mais il avait le don du style, de l’image populaire, de la répartie brusque) (quoted by A. Encrevé, in Les Protestants).

His son Frank Jean Alexandre (1844-1922), a pastor and theologian, may be considered as the official historian of French Protestantism at the end of the 19th Century.

Associated notes

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  • Edouard Reuss (1804-1891)

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  • Samuel Vincent (1787-1837)

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  • Ami Bost (1790-1874)

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  • Charles Wagner (1852-1918)

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