RÉVILLE, JEAN. – French Protestant theologian, born on 6 November 1854 in Rotterdam, died on 5 May 1908 in Paris.
Son of Albert R., a Protestant pastor and learned scholar of the history of religions. He obtained a degree in theology in Paris in 1886 with the thesis La Religion à Rome au temps des Sèvères (Paris 1886), one of his most important works; that same year he became lecturer in ecclesiastical history at the Sorbonne. From 1894 to 1907 he also taught patristics at the Protestant theological faculty. From 1884 he directed the Revue de l'histoire des religions and, after his father’s death (1907), held his chair at the Collège de France. He studied the Philonic doctrine of the Logos: Le Logos d'après Philon d'Alexandrie (Geneva 1877); La doctrine du Logos dans le VIᵉ Evangile et dans les
works of Philon (Paris 1881); he traced the development of the episcopate from its origins to the time of Ignatius of Antioch (Les origines de l'Episcopat, Paris 1894); he published a large number of articles on the history of early Christianity. An extreme rationalist like his father, and an allegorist to the utmost degree, his extremist position is also reflected in his historical works.