“Our grief is deep, not only because he was a great philosopher recognized by everyone and of whom we are all proud, but also because we have lost an incomparable interpreter of the Gospel”, declares the Protestant Federation of France in its tribute to the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, who died at the age of 92 at Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine) on the night of 20 May. The Federation which has organized a service of remembrance in Paris on Thursday 26 May recalls a participation of the philosopher in the National Synod of the Reformed Church of France in 2000 and Ricoeur’s recent commitment to important questions such as history, memory and forgiveness. Paul Ricoeur recalls Jean-Arnold del Clermont, president of the Federation “constantly threw a bridge between religion and philosophy, and for this we will always be grateful to him. There was in him both philosophic rigour and devotion to the Christian faith, without confusion or separation between the two dimensions”.
