The Second Empire
The Protestant attitude towards Louis-Napoléon and the Second Empire was ambiguous. Generally speaking, the regime seemed too authoritarian and clerical, at least in its early years. Nevertheless it relaxed the...
The Third Republic (1871-1940)
Most Protestants were favourable to the Third Republic and strongly influenced its beginnings. Several intellectuals were attracted by Protestantism and for some, the “protestantisation” of France was, they felt, the...
Protestants and Public Education
During the XIXth century, the July Monarchy and the Third Republic were the two significant periods of intense Protestant participation in the development of the public education system that had initially...
The Protestants and the Dreyfus Case
Many Protestants took sides in favour of Captain Dreyfus. Some will even take an active part in the movement that will allow the re-examination of the process, such as Scheurer-Kestner,...
Anti-Protestantism
The end of the XIXth century was marked by an anti-Protestantism accentuated by the Dreyfus case and opposing Catholics and Protestants, while the right wing anti-republicans denounced a « Judaeo-Protestant alliance ».
The Huguenot cross
A sign of recognition among the Reformed, the Huguenot cross appeared only one century after the Reformation was established in France.
Les tombes protestantes
La Réforme a introduit l’idée que le lieu d’ensevelissement est indifférent. Elle répudie tout culte rendu aux morts. Aucune cérémonie funèbre n’est prévue, le pasteur n’assiste pas à l’ensevelissement. Les...
Service organisations
As they came to be recognized once more as having their place in society, the Protestants strove to actively consolidate such recognition with concrete commitments.
Bible Societies
The Reformation required that every believer should be capable of reading the Bible. One of the main concerns of the leaders of re-established the Protestant Church was to make this...
Missionary Societies
Missionary work started by the French Protestants in the nineteenth century was divided into two categories : the one targeting non-Christian people and thus more or less related to French colonial...
Service organisations for the aid of pastors
Once the official recognition of the Protestant Church acquired, practical means had to be provided for. No wonder the issue of pastors’ living conditions arose soon after.
Charity organisations
Many Protestant service organisations were created in the nineteenth century, and this for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, a very active compassion of all who were rejected by...
Service organisations in favour of the younger generations
At the beginning of the Third Republic, Protestant youth work expanded rapidly. It was meant to give underprivileged young men and women, constantly at the mercy of the numerous transformations...
Social aid services
After the 1848, Revolution and above all after the Commune, the Protestant community which included rich industrialists and bankers, turned their attention to the working class and the younger generations....
The concern for youth
After1848, student life became more specifically organized. Associations were created to protect the young.
Societies for the promotion of education
As it received full recognition, the Protestant community had to provide itself with the tools that would make it part of history and guarantee its future.
Protestant evangelization
For French Protestants, the nineteenth century represented the period of “reintegration” or “rebirth”. After more than a century-long ban, everything or nearly everything had to be rebuilt. The Concordat rule...
The Montauban Faculty of Theology in the 19th century
The faculty was founded in 1808-1810 and trained the majority of the Reformed Church pastors. After a somewhat tentative beginning, studies were reorganized by a decree initiated by Baron Cuvier...
The Faculty of Protestant theology in Paris
Protestant theology had never been taught in Paris, not even at the time of the Edict of Nantes. The transfer of the Strasburg universities to Paris, in the years that...