Henri-Charles Puech

Henri-Charles Puech (; 20 July 1902, Montpellier – 11 January 1986, aged 83) was a French historian who long held the chair of History of religions at the Collège de France from 1952 to 1972.

Biography A philosopher by training, he was interested in Greek philosophy, especially in hermetism and neoplatonism, before turning to the study of Christian doctrines of the early centuries, a discipline he long taught in the École pratique des hautes études. His teaching had a great influence on the development of patristics studies in the second half of the twentieth in France. But it is primarily as a result of the discovery of new documents in the study of Manichaeism and the various systems of Gnostic thought that he gained international recognition.

A long collaborator of the before he directed it, he presided the Association internationale pour l'étude de l'histoire des religions from 1950 to 1965.

Honours Officier of the Légion d'honneur (1963) Commandeur of the Ordre of the Palmes académiques (1965) Commandeur of the Ordre national du Mérite (1969)

Work 1970: Histoire des religions, 3 vol., Éditions Gallimard 1978: En quête de la gnose, Paris, Gallimard, series "Bibliothèque des Sciences Humaines", 2 volumes Tome 1 : La Gnose et le Temps. Tome 2 : Sur l'évangile selon Thomas 1979: Sur le manichéisme et autres essais, Paris, Flammarion, series "Idées et recherches"