JACQUES LE FÈVRE D'ÉTAPLES. - Born at Étaples about 1455, died at Nérac in January 1536. Writer and exegete, he began to shape his thought under the influence of the revived humanism following a stay in Italy (1492).
In 1498 he published the *Theologia vivificans*, subtitled *Cibus solidus*, a Latin edition of three works by the Pseudo-Dionysius: *Caelestis Hierarchia*, *Ecclesiastica Hierarchia*, and *Divina nomina*. In the following decade he printed, "for the edification of the faithful," many Greek and Latin pamphlets, including the *Theologia Damasceni* [*De fide orthodoxa*], the *Adversus Eunomium* and the *Hexaemeron* of St Basil, the *Contemplationes* of Lullus, the *De Trinitate* of Richard of St Victor, and others. In 1507 he took up residence at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, of which his pupil Guillaume Briçonnet had become abbot. In contact with the monks he matured the final development of his thought, returning to the first source of Christian knowledge, Holy Scripture. In 1509 he published the *Psalterium quinquplex*, enriched with sober exegetical-spiritual notes. This work was known and annotated by Luther. In his celebrated *Sancti Pauli epistolae XIV ex vulgata editione* (1512), he sought to reconcile faith and works. According to some exegetes he did not accept the dogma of original sin and believed in the total freedom of man. Le Fèvre’s strong desire to "return" to Scripture ran parallel to, though it did not coincide with, Lutheranism. His contact with Protestantism was nonetheless considerable: in 1514 he defended Reuchlin against the Sorbonne; he was esteemed by Luther; according to some Protestant interpreters he was close to Reformation theories in holding that the Mass is merely an act of commemoration and in opposing the cult of the Saints and the Virgin. By centring his teaching on Scripture (his translation of it remained a classic) and directing his devotion towards an imprecise dogmatic definition, he ranks among the initiators of the so-called evangelism. The underestimation of the hierarchical element, the tendency to vulgarize the Bible, and the evident infiltration of some Lutheran ideas among the members of the Meaux circle (Farel was among them) exposed him to attacks by the Sorbonne, which he fled by escaping to Strasbourg towards the end of 1525. According to some Catholic interpreters he did not depart from orthodoxy precisely because his thought, so rich in nuances, must be interpreted in the light of evangelism. He died as a guest of Margaret of Navarre, by whom he had been appointed librarian at Blois.