Paul-Louis Couchoud (; July 6, 1879, in Vienne, Isère – April 8, 1959, in Vienne) was a French philosopher, a graduate from the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris, a physician, a man of letters, and a poet. He became well known as an adapter of Japanese haiku into French, an editor of Reviews, a translator, and a writer promoting the German thesis of the non-historicity of Jesus Christ.
Education in philosophy
In 1898, Paul-Louis Couchoud entered the École Normale Supérieure (at 45, rue d'Ulm, Paris, called "ENS rue d'Ulm"), a special college-level institute in Paris for French elite students in arts and sciences selected every year through a national competition. He graduated in 1901 as an “agrégé” (lecturer) in philosophy. The French degree is not directly comparable to an American one, as it is granted to a few dozens of top-ranked students in a national competition held once a year.
Visit to Japan and interest in Japanese poetry Couchoud obtained a scholarship from the banker Albert Kahn.Albert Kahn (1860–1940), was a rich banker, a philanthropist, and a passionate collector of Japanese and Chinese art and documents, especially photographs and early movies. Not desirous to see his unique collection dismantled and dispersed, he bequeathed it all, along with his Japanese-designed estate, to the city of Paris for a museum bearing his name. This grant allowed Couchoud to visit Japan (September 1903 – May 1904), a country which became a passion. During a trip on French canals by barge (1905), Couchoud and his two friends, sculptor Albert Poncin and painter André Faure, composed haiku in French. They published their work anonymously in a limited edition (30 copies) of (Along the waterways), a collection of free-verse tercets which was well received. It still is considered one of the most successful adaptations of haiku in French. Couchoud also studied and translated Japanese Haijin (Yosa Buson in particular) in (Lyrical Epigrams of Japan, 1906).
Couchoud made later two more trips to Japan and China, from which resulted his collection (published as Japanese Impressions, 1920). In 1955, Marguerite Yourcenar wrote: "I have never met P. L. Couchoud, but one of his books, , which I still have in a hardback edition on my bookshelves in Northeast Harbor, may have been the first work through which I encountered Asian poetry and thought. I was fifteen then, and I still know by heart some haiku translated or adapted by him; this exquisite book was for me the equivalent of a half-open door. It has never closed. How much would I have loved to go and visit P. L. Couchoud with you, and thank the sick poet for all what he made me feel or resonate".Letter to Alexis Curvers and Marie Delcourt, (May 18, 1955), in Achmy Halley, Marguerite Yourcenar en poésie: archéologie d'un silence (2005)
Friendship with the writer Anatole France In 1907, Couchoud became acquainted with the famous French writer Anatole France (1844–1924), becoming his friend and confidante until A. France's death in 1924. The French writer was famous as being the model of the ideal French man of letters. He was a passionate critic of the Catholic Church, and an avowed opponent of the clerical political factions. He supported the Jew Alfred Dreyfus in the world-famous Dreyfus Affair. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1921, and in 1922 all his books were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum of the Vatican.
Couchoud took part in the sessions of the "Salon" organized by Leontine Lippmann, Anatole France's friend and "muse", known after her marriage as "Madame Arman de Caillavet"."Letters A. France/Couchoud", published in Le Lys Rouge (1968)
Couchoud became Anatole France's doctor, and, upon the death of Leontine Lippmann (1910), he paid regular visits to A. France at the Villa Saïd, in his quality of physician, and also as a friend, to bring him consolation during his mourning. He convinced A. France to go on another journey in Italy to overcome his grief. Couchoud acted as witness at the wedding of Anatole France and Emma Laprévotte (October 1920). After France's death, Couchoud said of him: "For more than twenty years I have known him as if he were a gentle father, always ready to listen and guide you".Philippe Niogret, La revue Europe et les romans de l'entre-deux-guerres: 1923-1939 (2004), p. 155.
Becoming a doctor in medicine In the mid 1900s, Couchoud decided to study medicine. At the same time, Albert Schweitzer was making the same choice in Germany after his studies in theology. After an internship at the "Maison nationale" of Charenton, Couchoud became an intern in the asylum system of the Paris administration. He worked at the "Maison Blanche Asylum" as an assistant of Marc Trénel (May 1909 – April 1910). Trenel entered a very complimentary appraisal of his assistant in his file (December 1909): "High intelligence, encyclopedic knowledge, highly sophisticated mind. His future will be extraordinary ".Private archives, Maison Blanche This assessment was confirmed by Albert Paraz who said of him: "... a man of amazing culture, reading all the ancient languages. He was so aggrieved when I confessed that I didn’t understand them that, in the end, I made him believe that I could at least speak Latin and Greek ..."Jacques Aboucaya, Paraz le rebelle, (Series "Au cœur du monde", Lausanne, 2002), p. 193. Paraz also reminisces over Couchoud's relationship with his future wife. Hinting that both spouses were not intransigent about the observance of faithfulness.
Couchoud presented in Paris his doctorate thesis on primitive asthenia (1911).L'Asthénie primitive, Paris, no 413 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1910-1911). He became director of a health center in Saint-Cloud, where he took care of Anatole France, a center owned by Anthippe Sevastos, the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle's sister-in-law, whom Couchoud ended up marrying (May 1918). In 1922, Couchoud became a doctor at the leading Cochin hospital in Paris.
When the French writer Jules Romains started conducting experiments on "extra-retinal vision" (1917), criticisms of this pseudo-science obliged him to interrupt his "research" until 1922. One such session took place at Anatole France's home, which was witnessed by co-signing doctors, including Couchoud, who at the time offered his own home for another session (December 1922).
The question of the historicity of Jesus, and the German "Christ myth" thesis
Encountering the "German thesis" Couchoud became intrigued by the German Christ Myth Theory after reading Orpheus (1909), a history of religions by Salomon Reinach (1858–1932), another graduate of the "ENS". Jacques Chevalier, a close friend of Couchoud since their time at the "ENS" as students in philosophy, was reported describing Couchoud's decisive encounter with the new ideas: "[A]fter attending Loisy's lectures at the Collège de France, Couchoud became convinced by a German thesis denying the historicity of Jesus. Which did not prevent him from using some poetic language when discussing Christianity, for instance in The Enigma of Jesus (1924) and The God Jesus (1951)".As quoted in Jean Lebrec, Joseph Malègue, romancier et penseur, H.Dessain & Tolra, Paris, 1960, p. 66.
Editor of reviews on religions In the 1920s and 1930s, Couchoud became an editor of major media projects on the history of religions.Couchoud edits the series "Christianisme" (ed.Rieder), including works by Joseph Turmel; the series "Mythes et Religions" (PUF); and the series "History of Christianity", according to François Laplanche in La crise de l'origine: la science catholique des Évangiles et l'histoire au xxe siècle, (Albin Michel, 2006). "Archibald Robertson" wrote that "[T]he works of Paul Louis Couchoud are such a joy to read that their style alone must have made many converts."Archibald Robertson, Jesus Myth or History (1946), p. xiii.
First article and book: The Enigma of Jesus (1923)
Introduction by James G. Frazer Couchoud presented his thesis in a first article published in the literary review Mercure de France: "The Enigma of Jesus", (March 1923), and developed it in his first book, The Enigma of Jesus (1923), which carried an introduction by the Scottish anthropologist James G. Frazer, the famous author of The Golden Bough (1890), a pioneering study of primitive mythology and comparative religion. Frazer had initially strongly rejected the Jesus myth thesis, but he modified his original view while giving credit to Couchoud for his calm and reasoned analysis without adopting his hypothesis: "[W]hether Dr. Couchoud be right or wrong [in denying the historicity of Jesus]...he appears to have laid his finger on a weak point in the chain of evidence on which hangs the religious faith of a great part of civilized mankind." Frazer's contribution and more open stance gave a marked credibility to Couchoud.Walter P. Weaver, The historical Jesus in the twentieth century, 1900-1950, (Trinity Press Int'l, 1999), p. 302, Google Books
Jesus, a divine product of his cult Couchoud rejects Robertson's hypothesis of a pre-Christian cult of Joshua, for which he finds no evidence. He presents his thesis in his article in the following terms: "Jesus is an unknown historical figure. It is possible that he may have lived, since millions of people have lived without leaving a trace. It is not enough to declare 'We know nothing about Jesus, except that he existed'. On the contrary, we must boldly assert that 'We do not know anything about him, not even whether he existed'. In historical research, only the strictest accuracy permits us to say anything more. However, the very document which would positively prove the existence of Jesus is missing...Jesus belongs to history thanks to his name and the cult built around him, but he is not a historical figure. He is a divine being, whose knowledge was slowly developed by Christian minds. He was begotten in faith, in hope and in love. He was shaped by emotional fervor. He has been given changing figures by various forms of worship. He was born the moment he got his first believer... His only reality is spiritual. Everything else is phantasmagoria.""L'énigme de Jésus", In Mercure de France, T. 162, N°593, (March 1, 1923), pp. 377, and 398-399.
Critics In the Creation of Christ (1939), they will be pushed to a later date, around 135–140. Couchoud was countered by articles written by the Jesuit Léonce de Grandmaison, and the Protestant Maurice Goguel also in Le Mercure de France.
Second article and book: The Mystery of Jesus (1924)
Other early Christian documents confirm Paul's doctrine Couchoud continued exposing his thesis in a series of lectures to a cultural association, the Union pour la Vérité ("Union for Truth") in early 1924. He published a second article, "The Mystery of Jesus" (March 1924), after having presented the proofs for inspection to A. France, assuring him that "You know that I have given you my heart". Couchoud produced a second book of the same title as the article, to complete his exposé, The Mystery of Jesus (March 1924). In this second book, Couchoud reproduced his two articles of the Mercure de France, adding three more chapters. "At the origin of Christianity there is, if I am right, not a personal biography, but a collective mystical experience, sustaining a divine history mystically revealed." (p. 117)Quoted in Maurice Goguel, Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History (1926), p. 27 He attempted to show that the study of the Apocalypse (Revelation of John) and of the non-Pauline epistles confirmed the conclusions drawn from the Pauline epistles. Only the testimony of Paul of Tarsus is valid. The docetic form of Christianity should be the orthodox one, if Paul is defined as the true founder of Christianity.
No ordinary man becoming deified