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Maurice Tièche. 

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Tièche, Maurice (1895–1959)

By Eudritch Jean, Richard P. Lehmann, and Jean-Michel Martin

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Eudritch Jean: Diploma in Electronic Engineering (Haitian State University), B.A. in Theology (Adventist University of Haiti), and M.T.S. (Friedensau Adventist University [FAU], Germany). Jean worked as an electronic engineer in Haiti for twelve years and shortly served as assistant pastor at the district of Bethanie in the Central Haiti Conference. Currently, he is working as volunteer for the Institute of Adventist Studies of FAU. He plans to pursue doctoral studies in ethics.

Richard P. Lehmann, Ph.D. (University of Strasbourg, France), served as a missionary in Cameroon, Africa. He was academic dean of the theology school at the Adventist University of France and later president of the same institution. He was also president of the Franco-Belgian Union. Lehmann published numerous books, articles, and contributed to Bibles editions. He also contributed to the Handbook of the Seventh-day Adventist Theology, The Seventh-day Adventist International Bible Commentary, and other major publications of the Biblical Research Institute.

Jean-Michel Martin, Ph.D. (University of Geneva), is a retired church historian who has taught history in the Adventist University of France in Collonges-Campus Adventists du Salève.

First Published: January 29, 2020

Maurice Tièche was an Adventist educator, pastor, author, and broadcaster from France.

Early Life

Maurice Tièche was born March 5, 1895, in Nîmes (Gard), France, to Leon-Paul Tièche (1867–1928) and Rachel Cabanis. At the time of his birth his father was serving as an evangelist for the Seventh-day Adventist church in Nîmes.1 He later became president of the French-Swiss Conference (1903-1907) then of the Latin Union (1907-1920).2

Education and Marriage

Maurice Tièche graduated from the University of Paris (commonly referred to as La Sorbonne), where he studied literature and philosophy. While there he also became interested in theology and education.3 In addition, he did advanced studies in education at the Institute of the Sciences of Education in Geneva.4 On October 16, 1918, Tièche married Nelly Amélie Delaprès (August 18, 1895-June 21, 1968) in Nîmes (Gard). They had two sons, Paul Tièche (1919-1982) and Jacques Tièche.

Career as Administrator, Teacher, and Pastor

Tièche started his career as an officer of the French Conference in which he served as the secretary for two years (1919-1920).5 At the same time he taught in the first French SDA school in Nîmes, and he received an invitation from the General Conference to spend a few months in America at the beginning of 1920 for the sake of a special study of denominational school methods.6 The aim was to prepare him to take part in the new school project that was expected to take place in the French field for the training of ministers.7 He taught in the school in Nîmes for one year and was transferred in 1921 to the Latin Union Missionary School in Gland (Vaud), Switzerland, where he served as school principal and also as teacher of history, theology, and literature.8 Concurrently, he was department director for Education and Missionary Volunteers for the Leman Conference.9

At the end of 1921 the Latin Union Missionary School moved to Collonges-sous-Salève (Haute-Savoie), France, and was renamed Latin Union Training School (Séminaire Adventiste du Salève).10 In the meantime, Tièche continued to teach literature and pedagogy at the school and kept his administrative duties at the conference. He remained in those positions until 1922. That year he was called to pastoral ministry and was assigned to a church in Lille, France11 which he pastored until 1924.12

In 1925 Tièche joined the North France Conference as department director of Missionary Volunteers. From that year onwards he remained in administrative positions for about 35 years. During that time, he served in three conferences and one union: North France Conference (1925-1931; 1947-1955), Leman Conference (1939-1945), French Conference (1956-1959), and Franco-Belgian Union Conference (1937-1959). Tièche at times held the following positions: executive committee member at the union level; department director of Education, Missionary Volunteers (Adventist youth), Sabbath School, and Radio and Television, both at the conference and the union levels. He played a significant role in the Youth department. After World War II, he spent four years to completely reorganize this department.13 Every summer he organized training camps for the youth in order to strengthen the Adventist Youth movement in the Franco-Belgian territory.

Parallel to his administrative responsibilities, Tièche continued to be involved in pastoral ministry and then in teaching. From 1927 to 1931 he pastored a church in Reims, France. During those years he became more interested in the topic of youth education as well as the psychological and spiritual development of children. In 1931 he returned to the Séminaire Adventiste du Salève as a Bible teacher and the director of the pedagogical division.14 He continued to work at the seminary until he had issues with his eyes which forced him to quit his teaching career in 1946.15 Besides Bible, he later taught French, psychology, literature, and, among other things, he also led for some time the “Normal Training Department”16 (1941-1945) and the elementary school (1946).

Editor and Broadcaster

In addition to his career as administrator, teacher, and pastor, Tièche was also an editor and a broadcaster. From 1924 to 1927, he edited La Revue Adventiste (ARH), the 16-page semimonthly church paper for the French-speaking church members.17 He participated in the production of a French young people’s paper, L’Ami des Jeunes (The Friend of the Youth), intended for French-speaking and French-reading Missionary Volunteers (Adventist Youth) around the world. He was selected to be the editor in chief of that eight-page monthly journal,18 and served in this position for three years (1930-1932).

Since education was one of his areas of expertise, the Franco-Belgian Union asked Tièche in 1949 to prepare monthly educational radio talks to be used with the weekly broadcasts of the Voice of Hope which was heard over Radio Luxembourg.19 He accepted the challenge and created what would become the great joy and passion of his life: the educational broadcasts of the Voice of Hope.20 On January 1, 1950, the first broadcast was presented, relayed by 24 national stations.21 From that date until his death in 1959, Tièche was present on the air every Sunday morning through his educational program.22 During those nine years, an average of two million people listened to his broadcast every week.23 In addition to France, Switzerland, and Belgium, Tièche’s educational talks were broadcasted in other European countries, the Caribbean, and some French-speaking countries in Africa, such as Senegal.24

Tièche’s educational broadcasts considered various problems of education, inspired by some features of Christian education. In support of the broadcasts, he offered to his listeners a correspondence course on family education which consisted of 20 lessons, each of them addressing an aspect of family life and the training of children.25 He also created, together with Dr. E. Süssmann,26 the Family Education Center which aimed to assist parents and future parents with the educational tasks incumbent upon them.27 Centers with this aim were opened in many cities of France, including Paris and Angers. He supported them by presenting public lectures on children’s education and the problems of youth and couples.

Death

Until his sudden death on August 17, 1959, Maurice Tièche was active in holding public lectures and dedicated himself to literary and radio production. He died in Paris, France, at the age of 64.28 He was buried on August 21, 1959, in Collonges-sous-Salève.29

Contribution

Maurice Tièche was an important figure in the European French-speaking countries during the second and third generations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He played a considerable role in strengthening the Adventist Youth movement in these territories, and he contributed to the development of the Séminaire Adventiste du Salève. However, his legacy lies in the work he did to emphasize the principles of Christian education. The conferences he presented on the topic were greatly appreciated. His educational broadcasts were not only a powerful means of public advocacy for educational reform, but they also offered a weekly opportunity to reach a class of people who otherwise would never listen to a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist.30 Above all, Tièche wrote many books dealing with the topic of family education.31

Sources

Cuisset, Madeleine. “Maurice Tièche N’est Plus …” Revue Adventiste, October 15, 1959.

Fridlin, Marius. “Pioneer Work in Senegal, West Africa.” ARH, September 17, 1953.

General Conference Committee, General Conference Archives. Accessed October 11, 2018. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1920.pdf.

“Historique.” Campus Adventiste du Salève. Accessed October 29, 2018. www.campusadventiste.edu/decouvrir/notre-histoire-51.html.

“Le Campus Adventiste du Salève (Collonges-sous-Salève, France).” Accessed October 29, 2018. https://www.archivesadventistes.org/collonges.

“Nécrologie.” Revue Adventiste, September 1, 1959.

Rasmussen, Steen. “Do You Read French?” The Youth’s Instructor, July 9, 1929.

Schuberth, Otto. “Growth in the Franco-Belgian Union.” ARH, May 15, 1952.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association,1919-1922, 1932.

Tièche, Maurice. “Applying Our Work of Education to Evangelism.” The Ministry for Word Evangelism, March 1953.

_____________. “Applying Our Work of Education to Evangelism.” Part II. The Ministry for Word Evangelism, April 1953.

_____________. “L. P. Tièche.” Revue Adventiste, May 15, 1928.

“Tièche, Maurice.” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996, second revised edition.

“Tièche, Léon-Paul.” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996, second revised edition.

Tièche, Paul, and John Graz. “Tièche Maurice.” Dictionnaire du Monde Religieux dans la France Contemporaine. Vol 5. Paris: Beauchesne, 1993.

“We Are Glad to Greet…” ARH, February 19, 1920.

Notes

  1. Maurice Tièche, “L. P. Tièche,” Revue Adventiste, May 15, 1928, 9.

  2. “Tièche, Léon-Paul,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996, second revised edition), 776.

  3. “Tièche, Maurice,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 776.

  4. Maurice Tièche, “Applying our Work of Education to Evangelism,” The Ministry for Word Evangelism, March 1953, 25.

  5. See “French Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1919), 132; “French Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920), 142.

  6. “We Are Glad to Greet…,” ARH, February 19, 1920, 32. See also, General Conference Committee, January 11, 1920, 527-528, General Conference Archives, accessed October 11, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1920.pdf.

  7. Ibid.

  8. “Foreign School Principals,” and “Latin Union Missionary School,” in Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1921), 12, 160. See also, “Tièche, Maurice,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 776.

  9. “Leman Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1921), 92.

  10. “Latin Union Training School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922), 168. See also, “Historique,” Campus Adventiste du Salève, accessed October 29, 2018, www.campusadventiste.edu/decouvrir/notre-histoire-51.html; “Le Campus Adventiste du Salève (Collonges-sous-Salève, France),” accessed October 29, 2018, https://www.archivesadventistes.org/collonges.

  11. “Tièche, Maurice,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 776.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Madeleine Cuisset, “Maurice Tièche N’est Plus …,” Revue Adventiste, October 15, 1959, 8.

  14. Ibid, 7. See also “Séminaire Adventiste du Salève,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1932), 310.

  15. Cuisset, 7-8.

  16. This probably means the department which oversaw the training of teachers. Historically, normal school was the term used for an institution created to train high school graduates to be teachers.

  17. Cuisset, 8.

  18. Steen Rasmussen, “Do You Read French?” The Youth’s Instructor, July 9, 1929, 7.

  19. Tièche, “Applying our Work of Education to Evangelism,” 26.

  20. Cuisset, 8. See also Paul Tièche and John Graz, “Tièche Maurice,” Dictionnaire du Monde Religieux dans la France Contemporaine, Vol. 5 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1993), 475.

  21. Tièche, “Applying our Work of Education to Evangelism,” 26.

  22. Cuisset, 8. See also Tièche and Graz.

  23. Cuisset, 8.

  24. See Ibid, 8; Marius Fridlin, “Pioneer Work in Senegal, West Africa,” ARH, September 17, 1953, 17.

  25. Maurice Tièche, “Applying our Work of Education in Evangelism,” Part II, The Ministry for Word Evangelism, April 1953, 17.

  26. Dr. E. Süssmann was a medical doctor who served as an executive committee member in the Southwest France Conference in the beginning of the 1950s.

  27. Tièche, “Applying our Work of Education to Evangelism,” The Ministry for Word Evangelism, March 1953, 25.

  28. “Nécrologie,” Revue Adventiste, September 1, 1959, 16.

  29. Cuisset, 9. Many tributes were paid to him in the newspapers of the general public. For example, the review La Vie du Rail (Railroad Life), in which Maurice Tièche published some articles on education, issued following his death a tribute written by Roger Ferlet, the review’s director. For some extracts of this tribute, see Ibid, 8.

  30. Otto Schuberth, “Growth in the Franco-Belgian Union,” ARH, May 15, 1952, 17.

  31. Among the most well-known books written by Maurice Tièche, one can mention: A la Recherche d’un Art qui se Perd: Vivre (In Search of a Lost Art: To Live); Le Bonheur Chez Soi (Happiness at Home), an eight-volume series which integrally presents in printed version the educational broadcasts from 1950 to 1956; La Vie et ses Problèmes (Life and its Issues); Problèmes du Couple (Problems of the Couple); and Force et Faiblesse de la Femme Moderne (Strength and Weakness of the Modern Woman).

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Jean, Eudritch, Richard P. Lehmann, Jean-Michel Martin. "Tièche, Maurice (1895–1959)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed February 06, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7B60.

Jean, Eudritch, Richard P. Lehmann, Jean-Michel Martin. "Tièche, Maurice (1895–1959)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access February 06, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7B60.

Jean, Eudritch, Richard P. Lehmann, Jean-Michel Martin (2020, January 29). Tièche, Maurice (1895–1959). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved February 06, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7B60.