Placide Tempels
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Placide Frans Tempels (1906–1977) was a Belgian missionary who became famous for his book Bantu Philosophy.
[edit] Life
Tempels was born in Berlaar, Belgium, on 18 February 1906. Born Frans Tempels, he took the name "Placide" on his entry into a Franciscan seminary in 1924. After his ordination to the presthood in 1930 he taught for a short time in Belgium before being posted to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1933. He stayed there for twenty-nine years, broken by only two short stays back in Belgium. In April 1962 he returned to live in a Franciscan monastery in Berlaar, where he died on 9 October 1977.
[edit] Bantu Philosophy
Though neither African nor a philosopher, Tempels had a huge influence on African philosophy through the publication in 1945 of his book La philosophie bantoue (published in English translation in 1959) as Bantu Philosophy).
[edit] External links
- Placide Tempels — Website in French (with option of English navigation); includes the full text of Bantu Philosophy, plus on-line critical readings
