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Marc Boegner | |
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 Conference atLe Poët-Laval (1965) | |
| Born | (1881-02-21)21 February 1881 |
| Died | 18 December 1970(1970-12-18) (aged 89) |
| Occupation(s) | Pastor, president of theReformed Church of France |
| Known for | Righteous Among the Nations |
| Righteous Among the Nations |
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| By country |
Marc Boegner, commonly known aspasteur Boegner (French:[pastœʁbœɲe]; 21 February 1881 – 18 December 1970), was a French theologian, pastor, essayist, notable member of theFrench Resistance and a notable voice in theecumenical movement.
Marc Boegner was the nephew and disciple of the Lutheran pastorTommy Fallot, who foundedChristian socialism in France.[1]Born inÉpinal,Vosges in 1881, Boegner was educated inOrléans, and later Paris, where he studied law. Poor eyesight was an obstacle to his pursuit of a career within the navy but after a spiritual conversion experience he entered the Faculty for Theology in Paris and in 1905 was ordained a pastor of the Reformed Church of France. After having been a Protestantpastor in a rural parish in Aouste-sur-Sye inDrôme, in 1911 he became professor of theology at the House of the Missions of Paris, and in 1918 went on to the Parish of Poissy-Annonciation where he remained until 1952. In 1928, he inaugurated the sermons of Protestant Lent on the radio, which contributed to his notoriety. There he preached on theunity of Christians. In 1929, he became the first president of theProtestant Federation of France (Fédération protestante de France), a position he held until 1961. In 1938 he became the first president of the national council of theReformed Church of France (l'Église réformée de France), a post he held until 1950. He was on two occasions the professor at the Academy of International Law at The Hague. Between 1938 and 1948 he was president of the administrative committee of the provisionalWorld Council of Churches in formation. After the council had been formed he became one of its co-presidents, a post he held until 1954. In 1955 Marc Boegner presented a television show calledPrésence protestante.
Boegner actively worked, during the occupation, in an open way as well as clandestinely, to try to improve the lot of the Jews, and even defended and saved a number of them. His compassion extended also to many political refugees. He intervened with Pierre Laval, in vain, to ask him to give up including Jewish children younger than 16 years in the deportation convoys. In 1943, he condemned the forced sending of workers toGermany under theSTO. Against violence and the armed struggle, he let his faith and conscience choose against joining theMaquis in an early stage. His action to help the Jews during the war made him be awarded theRighteous among the Nations inYad Vashem in 1988.
Having met six times, in the middle of his resistance work, MarshalPhilippe Pétain, he was decorated with theOrder of the Francisque[citation needed] and was named a member of the National Council ofVichy[citation needed]. He remained, at the time of his questioning in the Allied lawsuit against the old leader, on 30 July 1945, to testify for the good intentions and the goodwill expressed by Pétain in the difficult circumstances of France - a lenient idea of Pétain's actions, today contradicted by authors and some historians.
After the war, he continued his fight for unity while taking part in theecumenical movement (mouvement œcuménique). He was also a Protestant observer during theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965) during which he staged a public dialogue withCardinal Bea in Geneva. He also metPope Paul VI. The ecumenical movement is the subject of his last book published in 1968 (The Long Road to Unity, Eng. trans. 1970).
Boegner died in Paris.
