TIXERONT, JOSEPH. – Sulpician theologian, born on 19 March 1856 at Ennezat (Puy-de-Dôme), died at Lyon on 3 September 1925. A pupil of Duchesne (v.), he was ordained a priest in 1879. A long period of teaching theological disciplines at the Seminary of Lyon (1884–98) prepared him for the university chair of patristics in that city (1898).
He acquired international fame with Histoire des dogmes dans l'antiquité chrétienne (3 vols., Paris 1905–12), reprinted several times and translated into various languages within a few years. The author set out to fill the gap lamented in the Catholic field, as compared with the Protestant one, concerning a scientific and comprehensive treatment of the development of Christian doctrinal thought in antiquity; he succeeded admirably, although today his work already seems somewhat outdated. T., not in an apologetic tone but with the attitude of an observer, with erudition and absolute respect for the truth, soberly sketches the evolution of religious beliefs, following chiefly the chronological order rather than the systematic and analytical order of the treatment of individual dogmas; the result is a complete picture of the life of the Church in a particular historical period. Perhaps, however, the exegesis is more carefully treated than the in-depth discussion of particular questions.
He also wrote: Les origines de l'Église d'Édesse et la légende d'Abgar (Paris 1888); Vie mondaine et vie chrétienne à la fin du IIe siècle (Lyon 1906); La vie monastique en Palestine au Ve et VIe siècle (ivi 1911); Le Sacrement de l'énitence dans l'antiquité chrétienne (Paris 1914); La démonstration de la prédication apostolique de st Irénée (ivi 1916); Précis de patrologie (ivi 1918); Mélanges de patrologie et d'histoire des dogmes (ivi 1921); L'Ordre et les ordinations (ivi 1924).