LAGRANGE, MARIE-JOSEPH. - Dominican exegete, born Albert, at Bourg-en-Bresse on 7 March 1855, died at St-Maximin (Provence) on 10 March 1938. He was the most prolific, most universal, and most influential exegete of the first half of the 20th century. He entered the Dominicans in 1879 and in 1890 was entrusted with organizing a biblical and theological school in Jerusalem, where he remained for 45 years. In 1892 he founded the Revue biblique and in 1900 began the collection of commentaries and studies entitled Études bibliques. The French government entrusted the École archéologique française to his «École biblique» (q.v.).
Lagrange addressed almost every important topic in the Old and New Testaments. Initially, his attention was directed mainly to the Old Testament, from which he never entirely departed, though he left younger collaborators to specialize in II. Turning to the New Testament, he published (in the Études bibliques series): St Marc (1911, 4th ed. revised 1929), Epître aux Romains (1916), Epître aux Galates (1918), St Luc (1921), St Matthieu (1923), St Jean (1925), Le canon du Nouveau Testament (1933), Critique textuelle (1935); the Synopsis Evangeliorum (1926) and the synthetic work L'Évangile de Jésus-Christ (1928) completed this imposing series of works.
The history of religions was a third field of study in which he delved deeply. To this belong: Le judaïsme avant Jésus-Christ (1931), Les mystères: l'orphisme (1937), and many articles in the Revue biblique. To these must be added the endless list of communications, notes, and reviews in which Lagrange revealed himself as a promoter of biblical studies and a guardian of the true scientific method that should guide them; these constitute one of the most important contributions to the history of contemporary exegesis.
For the breadth of his scholarly work, the scope of his influence, and the creation of institutions such as the École biblique and the Revue biblique, Lagrange surpasses his friend Canon A. Van Hoonacker (q.v.). Yet perhaps his work does not always possess the solidity and originality of