page_title: Pierre Courthial
section_title: Ministry
hierarchical_section_title: Pierre Courthial / Ministry
caption_attribution_description: English: Courthial receives an honorary doctorate, Westminster Seminary, 1979
context_page_description: Pierre Courthial was a French pastor and Reformed Church theologian. His pastoral career was spent in Lyon, La Voulte-sur-Rhône, and Paris. He helped establish theological study centres in France, and in later life completed two volumes of theological writing.
context_section_description: During his pastoral ministry, Courthial studied Scripture and Reformed theology.  Despite being firmly centered in Reformed doctrine, he strongly upheld ecumenism and found this to be centered on the four grand dogmas of the Church: the dogmas of the Trinity, the Incarnation, salvation by grace, and the authority of Scripture.
  A year after he became a pastor in Lyon in 1937, he was sent as a delegate to the Synod at Lyon, which decided to reestablish the Reformed Church of France.
  When in 1941 Courthial was named pastor of a Reformed parish in La Voulte-sur-Rhône, he befriended an orthodox theologian; the two met often to read and discuss the Church Fathers. It was during this time Courthial learned much about modern orthodox theologians.
  During his time at L’Église Réformée de l’Annonciation in Paris (1951–74), Courthial continued to study theology diligently, dedicating significant time to sermon preparation, all while caring for his congregation. He served there for twenty-three years. In addition to his pastoral work, Courthial served as co-editor of La Revue réformée, for which he also contributed articles.  He served on several missions and educational boards and in 1967 formed the Center of Evangelical Theological Studies.
  In the 1970s Courthial expanded his personal studies to translate works from well-known Dutch theologians into English, and he translated the works of many respected Americans as well. Thus began his concentration on the significance of what he called “tota scriptura” (he preferred this term to “sola scriptura”), which is the application of God’s word to every area of life. This eventually led to a line of theology that would come to be known as “the ecumenism of Athanasius”, which is the application of Scripture to all aspects of life, or the ecumenism of those who live and work “against the world” as Athanasius did.
caption: Courthial receives honorary doctorate, Westminster Seminary, 1979
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