BERRUYIER, ISAAC-JOSEPH. — An exegete, born in Rouen on 7 November 1681, he entered the Society of Jesus as a young man and died in Paris on 18 February 1758. Wishing to spread the study of biblical history, he composed a Histoire du Peuple de Dieu depuis son origine jusqu'à la venue du Messie, tirée des seuls Livres Saints (Paris, 1728).
His paradoxical exegesis, contrary at many points to tradition, brought him the condemnation of the Church (6 May 1734). The two following volumes, published perhaps without the author’s knowledge, intensified the controversies, especially through the efforts of the Jansenists, who accused him of Nestorianism and Socinianism, and were placed on the Index by Benedict XIV (1755) and Clement XIII (1758). The work, however, circulated widely, including in Italian translation (against this translation Benedict XIV issued a severe brief of condemnation on 17 February 1758).