André Paul

André Paul (born Loures-Barousse, 7 April 1933) is a noted French scholar, educator and writer in the fields of theology, biblical studies and ancient Judaism.

[a] As a young man of 18, Paul entered the seminary in Toulouse to become a Catholic priest, where he began the study of Hebrew, which he has said determined his future.

Returning to France and his studies, Paul enrolled at University Seminary of Pope Pius XI in Toulouse, where he earned a licentiate in theology.

This resulted in the publication of his first book, in 1968, L’évangile de l’enfance selon Saint Matthieu (The Infancy Narrative in the Gospel of St. Matthew).

In September of that year, he gave an address at the Congress of the French Catholic Association for Biblical Studies held at Chantilly, Oise, where Paul Ricoeur and Roland Barthes acted as responders.

In 1970, he was appointed as the editor of the influential journal, Recherches de science religieuse, succeeding the noted Jesuit scholar and cardinal, Jean Daniélou.

In 2004 Paul was entrusted with the direction of a new series of books on Qumran called La Bibliothèque de Qumrân, published by Éditions du Cerf, which was to be written by a team of young scholars in the field.