Pierre Benoit (archaeologist)

Maurice Benoit (3 August 1906 – 23 April 1987), better known as Pierre Benoit, was a French Catholic priest, exegete, and theologian.

Biography

A Dominican, Pierre Benoit studied the New Testament at the École Biblique from 1934, and directed the École from 1964 to 1972. An expert on the Second Vatican Council, he became a member of the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

His work was principally composed of the translation of biblical texts written in Koine Greek, and the co-ordination of the translation of the Jerusalem Bible. In particular he was the author of the translation of the Gospel of Matthew in this edition, as well as the Epistle to the Philippians, Epistle to Philemon, Epistle to the Colossians, and the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Pierre Benoit also was the author of four volumes of a work entitled Exegesis and Theology, created between 1961 and 1982 at éditions du Cerf.

In the 1970s he became involved in archaeological investigations carried out at Christian sites in Jerusalem. One of his most extensive pieces of archaeological work was the thorough and definitive excavation at the site of the Antonia Fortress, and the surrounding area.

Works

• The Holy Bible (a translation under the ordinances of the École Biblique), The French Book Club, Paris, 1955–1956
• The Jerusalem Bible: The Holy Bible (a French translation, under the ordinances of the École Biblique), New ed. revised and augmented, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 1973
• The Jerusalem Bible (a translation under the ordinances of the École Biblique), New ed. reviewed and corrected, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 1998 ISBN 2-204-06027-5
• Pierre Benoit, Exegesis and Theology, Editions du Cerf, Paris, 1961. (further volumes: 1968, 1982 - ISBN 2-204-01813-9 )

See also

• Jerusalem Bible
• École Biblique
• Exegesis

External links

• Site of the Ecole biblique
• Sacred works by Pierre Benoit (Éditions du Cerf)