Placide Tempels
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (April 2014) |
Placide Tempels | |
---|---|
Born | Frans Tempels 18 February 1906 |
Died | 9 October 1977 | (aged 71)
Nationality | Belgian |
Occupation | missionary, writer |
Placide Frans Tempels (18 February 1906 – 9 October 1977) was a Belgian Franciscan missionary in the Congo who became famous for his book Bantu Philosophy.
Life[]
Tempels was born in Berlaar, Belgium. Born Frans Tempels, he took the name "Placide" on his entry into a Franciscan seminary in 1924. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1930 he taught for a short time in Belgium before being posted to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1933. He stayed there for twenty-nine years, broken by only two short stays back in Belgium. In April 1962 he returned to live in a Franciscan monastery in Hasselt, where he died in 1977.
Bantu Philosophy[]
Though neither African nor a philosopher, Tempels had a huge influence on African philosophy through the publication in 1945 of his book La philosophie bantoue (published in English translation in 1959) as Bantu Philosophy).
External links[]
- Placide Tempels — Website in French (with option of English navigation); includes the full text of Bantu Philosophy, plus on-line critical readings
- 1906 births
- 1977 deaths
- Belgian writers in French
- Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries
- Belgian Franciscans
- Christian missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- People from Berlaar
- Philosophy writers
- Belgian writer stubs