Coquerel, Athanase Laurent Charles

Coquerel, Athanase Laurent Charles a French Protestant divine, and president of the Presbyterian Council of Paris, was born in that city, August 27, 1795. He pursued his theological studies at Geneva and Montauban, and in 1816 was ordained pastor. During the following twelve years he resided in Holland, and preached with acceptance before Calvinistic congregations at Amsterdam, Leyden, and Utrecht. In 1830 he was called to Paris, and there spent the rest of his life. The first year he was there he established a periodical, entitled Le Protestant, which was continued till December 1833, when he was chosen a member of the consistory. In January 1834, the first number of the Libre Examen appeared, under the joint editorship of Coquerel and Artaud, and was carried on until July 1836. He rapidly acquired the reputation of a great pulpit orator, and the liberal views which he announced with fearless freedom brought him more and more into antagonism with the rigid Calvinists. He was chosen a member of the Legion of Honor, at Paris, in 1835. After the revolution of February, 1848, Coquerel was elected a member of the National Assembly; and after the coup d'etat of December 2, 1851, he confined himself to the duties of his pastorate, which he had not ceased to discharge. He died at Paris, January 10, 1868. A large number of his Sermons were. published, in eight volumes, between 1819 and 1852. Other works by him are, L'Orthodoxie Moderne, a reply to Strauss's Life of Jesus (Paris, 1841; transl. into Dutch and English): Le Christianisme Experimental, a christology (ibid. 1858; transl. into German by H. Althaus, Hanover, 1859, 2 vols.): — Histoire Sainte (1839): — Projet de Discipline pour les Eglises Reformees de France (ibid. 1861): — Biographie Sacree (1825-26), etc. See Lichtenberger, Encyclop. des Sciences Religienses, s.v.; Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. 1:243; Encyclop. Brit. 9th ed. s.v.