Jean Guitton

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Jean Guitton (August 18, 1901 - March 21, 1999) was a French Catholic philosopher and theologian.

Born in Saint-Étienne, he studied at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon and was accepted at the École normale supérieure in Paris. He finished his philosophy studies in the early 1920s and later became a professor in many famous French universities. During World War II, he was made a war prisonner by the Nazis. In the 1954, he earned a literary award from the Académie Française. From 1955 to 1968 he continued his works as a professor at the Sorbonne. He became a member of the Académie Française in 1961.

Invited as an observer to the ecumenical council of Vatican II, the first lay person to be granted this honor, he would become a close friend of Pope Paul VI.

He died in Paris. During his life, he was also awarded the Great Cross of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the Légion d'Honneur and of the Arts and Letters Medal.

In most of his works, Jean Guitton writes about and discusses the confrontation between human faith and human logic. During his life, he wrote more or less one hundred books.

He died at Saint-Étienne.

Preceded by Léon Bérard

Seat 10 Académie française 1961-1999

Succeeded by Florence Delay