Bénédict Pictet

PICTET, Bénédict. b. Geneva, 19 May 1655; d.10 January?/9 June? 1724. Pictet was the son of André Pictet and Barbe Turrettini. He was a Calvinist theologian who revised the Psalter, and who was a pioneer in writing hymns in French-speaking Reformed circles. He was educated by his maternal uncle and godfather, the professor of theology François Turrettini (1623-87), an influential figure in the Reformed Church of Geneva and a defender of the strictest Calvinism. At the age of 14, he entered the Academy and two years later defended a thesis on natural elements (‘Dissertatio physica de elementis prima’).  He undertook theological studies in Geneva (1671-74) and defended a thesis discussing...