Gérard Dagon (4 April 1936, Strasbourg - 22 May 2011, Gandrange) was a French evangelical pastor, teacher, author, publisher and long-time Christian countercultist.
Early life and education
He got a Master of Divinity at the faculty of Protestant theology in the University of Strasbourg.
Ministry
He became pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (EPRAL) in 1959, then directed the Union of Evangelical Churches Chrischona (Union des Églises évangéliques Chrischona). He participated in the creation of the evangelical directory, then became president of the (Fédération évangélique de France) in 1991 for a few years . He founded, alongside others such as Swiss pastor and former member of the ADFI Paul Ranc, the association Vigi-sectes in 1998 who informs about religions and cults from a christian perspective. He published books about religious movements, about pseudo-Christian groups he considered cults because of their supposed biblical errors, and an extensive encyclopedia on Christianity. He listed 150 people who have claimed to be the Messiah from the first century CE. At the end of his ministry, he became pastor of an Independent Baptist church in Moselle.
Reception
In 1998, the pastor of the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine Sylvain Dujancourt accused Dagon of using his anti-cult campaign to attract new people to his church.
Sébastien Fath considered Dagon a "key figure of French evangelical Protestantism since the 1970s", and Émile Poulat qualified him a "pioneer" in the religious issues.
Main works
- Les Sectes en France, 1958
- Petites églises de France, Amneville, six volumes, 1960s-1970s
- Parlons sectes, Barnabas editions, 1991, ISBN 2-908582-04-X
- Panorama de la France Évangélique, Barnabas editions, 1993, ISBN 2-908582-07-4
- Les Sectes à visage découvert : Tome 1 , Yerres : Barnabas editions, 1995, ISBN 2-908582-09-0
- Les Sectes à visage découvert : Tome 2 , Dozulé :Barnabas editions, 1997, ISBN 2-908582-17-1
- Nouvelle Encyclopédie chrétienne, Gandrange, 2005, 1247 p., ISBN 2-9500197-3-0
References
- Ohlott, Paul (25 May 2011). "Décès du pasteur Gérard Dagon, l'un des fondateurs de Vigi-Sectes" (in French). Top Chretien. Archived from the original on 3 August 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- "Les sectes expliquées en public". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). Toulouse: La Dépêche Group. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ^ Hervieu-Léger, Benoît (16 April 1998). "Sectes". La Croix (in French). Paris: Bayard Press. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- Evangeliques info, Le pasteur Gérard Dagon n’est plus, evangeliques.info, Switzerland, May 25, 2011
- Rath, Noël M.; Gilbert, Marcel (2005). Les sectes en question: Se questionner et questionner (in French). L'Harmattan. p. 55. ISBN 2-7475-8996-X.
- Ohlott, Paul (20 August 2007). "Les prétendants au Trône céleste !" (in French). Top Chrétien. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- Evangeliques info, Le pasteur Gérard Dagon n’est plus, evangeliques.info, Switzerland, May 25, 2011
- Fath, Sébastien. Du ghetto au réseau: le protestantisme évangélique en France (1800–2005) (in French). Genève: Labor et Fides. p. 194. ISBN 2-8309-1139-3.
- Poulat, Émile (2003). Notre laïcité publique: "La France est une République laïque" (Constitutions de 1946 et 1958) (in French). Berg International. p. 259. ISBN 2-911289-65-X.
External links
- (in French) Site of Vigi-sectes
- 1936 births
- 2011 deaths
- 20th-century Baptist ministers
- 20th-century French male writers
- 20th-century French non-fiction writers
- 21st-century Baptist ministers
- 21st-century French male writers
- 21st-century French non-fiction writers
- Baptist writers
- Clergy from Strasbourg
- French evangelicals
- French male non-fiction writers
- French religious writers
- Independent Baptist ministers
- People of the Christian countercult movement