Introduction

Biography

Édouard was the son of Ge­ne­van pas­tor Charles Barde.

He be­gan stu­dy­ing theo­lo­gy in Ge­ne­va (1856–60), fin­ish­ing his doc­tor­ate in Ber­lin and Tü­bing­en, Ger­ma­ny, in 1861.

He served as a pas­tor at Van­dœuvres, Swit­zer­land (1865–79), then be­came pro­fess­or of the New Tes­ta­ment at the School of Theo­lo­gy of the Ev­an­ge­li­cal Society of Ge­ne­va (1880–1904).

At the same time, he was in charge of the Un­ion Na­tion­ale Évan­gél­ique de Ge­nève and the In­ter­na­tion­al Cen­tral Com­mit­tee of Chris­tian Youth Un­ions (pre­si­dent, 1895–1904).

He was a res­pect­ed lead­er of the ev­an­ge­li­cal wing of the Pro­test­ant Na­tion­al Church of Ge­ne­va at the time of the Li­ber­al crisis. In 1869, mak­ing com­mon cause with his friend Fré­dér­ic Go­det, he gave a re­ply to the con­fer­enc­es of Fer­di­nand Buis­son on the theme of church-state re­la­tions.