Henri Irenee Marrou: Historien engage (review)

This biography of Marrou serves not only as a record of his work, of the educational, cultural, and religious movements to which he contributed but also as a substitute for the unpublished acts of the colloquy organized to memorialize him at l'École normale supérieure in May, 1978, a year after his death. It provides little information on Marrou's family life, save for a short section on his wife, Jeanne, at the time of her death. Riché divides the account into three sections, defined by the long central narrative (pp. 87-306) covering Marrou's work at the Sorbonne.

The first section deals with family background and early education, then the four years at l'École normale supérieure during which he formed friendships and made the political, social, and religious commitments which were to define his life's work. Two years at l'École française de Rome, where he first began to work on North Africa and Augustine, were followed by five years of teaching at Naples and a year in Cairo. After a year (September, 1939-1940) of military service—in the medical corps—Marrou filled a position at Montpellier for one year before going to the University of Lyons in 1941. After four years of the most varied engagements, he was called to Paris at the end of the war.

The central section of the book is divided by subject into four chapters. The first deals with his colleagues, students, and courses, his projects in patristic studies, and his international engagements. The next chapter provides an extended and perhaps overly detailed account of his writings. The narrative then turns to Marrou's attempts to promote the reform of the French educational system, which included support for non-classical, technical education, and his political engagement focused on the war in Algeria and a sustained rejection of Marxism. The final chapter in this part examines Marrou's evolving religious role. Always a committed Catholic, he attempted to maintain his intellectual integrity through some difficult years, finding a way to support the postwar efforts of reform without alienating the more conservative elements in the French church, particularly the hierarchy. His evaluation of Pius XII's Humani Generis, for example, provoked reactions and even rebukes from both sides.

The final, and shortest, section addresses the last decade of Marrou's life, defined by the academic revolution of 1968. Faced with the changes in the university system, Marrou at first protested and then withdrew in disappointment. He saw his students through and made arrangements for his own succession but did not participate in the reorganization. Instead, he continued his publishing and participation in academic meetings. In the Church, he fought a more sustained fight, particularly in the pages of Les Quatres Fleuves, against the anti-intellectualism of the times.

The volume ends with a brief portrait, and appreciation, of Marrou as a teacher, friend, and Catholic.

Riché has written a necessary biography of an important and influential scholar. The text will be useful for anyone attempting to understand the transitions in French culture, education, religious life, and even politics during the past century. For those not already well versed in the subject, however, the book presents several challenges. The author often presumes a familiarity with persons and movements—such as the worker-priests—which ignores the quarter-century since Marrou's death. The exposition is, moreover, often a stitching together of extended citations from the writings or letters of Marrou and the testimonials of his associates, which are too often not assimilated into a coherent narrative. The volume will, therefore, be most appealing to those who share Riché's appreciation of and devotion to Henri Irénée Marrou.