Xavier Tilliette facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Xavier Tilliette
|
|
---|---|
![]() Xavier Tilliette in 2017
|
|
Born | |
Died | 10 December 2018 Paris, France
|
(aged 97)
Nationality | French |
Occupation | Philosopher Priest Historian of philosophy |
Xavier Tilliette (born July 23, 1921, in Corbie, France – died December 10, 2018, in Paris, France) was a very smart French thinker. He was a philosopher, which means he studied big questions about life and knowledge. He was also a historian of philosophy, meaning he knew a lot about how people have thought about these questions throughout history. Plus, he was a theologian, someone who studies religious beliefs.
Xavier Tilliette was a student of famous thinkers like Jean Wahl and Vladimir Jankélévitch. He joined the Society of Jesus, a group of Catholic priests, in 1938. He became a professor at the Catholic Institute of Paris and also taught at other important universities, including the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
A Life of Learning and Teaching
Xavier Tilliette loved to teach and share his knowledge. He was a "visiting professor" at many universities. This means he traveled to different places to teach philosophy. He taught in cities like Lima, Santiago, Berlin, Rome, and Munich.
He was also very good with languages. He could speak English, Italian, German, and Spanish fluently. He also knew older languages like Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. On top of that, he could read Portuguese and Danish. This helped him study many different ideas from around the world.
His Main Ideas
Xavier Tilliette was an expert on two philosophers named Schelling and Jaspers. Since the 1970s, he worked on something called "philosophical Christology". This is a way of understanding the ideas of Christianity through philosophy.
He believed that Christian philosophy could come from Revelation. Revelation means when divine truth is shown to people. He also studied Paul Claudel, a famous French writer. Tilliette was also interested in phenomenology. This is a way of studying how we experience things, looking at thinkers like Husserl.
Awards and Friends
Xavier Tilliette won awards from the French Academy twice. This is a very important group in France that looks after the French language. Many of his books were translated into other languages. People in English, Italian, German, and Spanish-speaking countries could read his work.
He knew many important thinkers and friends. Some of them were Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Henri de Lubac, and Paul Ricœur. He was also a member of several important academic groups. These included the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici. He was also part of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich.
Xavier Tilliette was honored for his work and contributions. He was made a knight of the Légion d'honneur. This is one of France's highest awards. He also received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic from Italy. He passed away in Paris on December 10, 2018, when he was 97 years old.