Introduction

Biography

Alexandre was the son of Marc Vi­net (sec­re­ta­ry of the Vau­dois de­part­ment of the in­ter­ior) and Jeanne-Eti­enn­ette Baud, and hus­band of So­phie-Ger­maine-Au­guste de La Rot­taz (mar­ried 1819).

At age 20, he was ap­point­ed pro­fes­sor of the French lang­uage at the gym­na­si­um in Basle, a po­si­tion he held, with some work for the uni­ver­si­ty, for 20 years.

In 1819, he was called to the min­is­try. At first op­posed to the move­ment of the Ré­veil, a deep­er know­ledge of its prin­ci­ples and sym­pa­thy with the per­se­cu­tion of its lead­ers drew him to the move­ment.

He wrote fear­less­ly in de­fense of tol­er­a­tion (Du re­spect des opin­ions, 1824), free­dom of wor­ship (Mé­moire en fa­veur de la li­ber­té des cultes, 1826), and the sep­a­ra­tion of church and state (Es­sai sur la ma­ni­fes­ta­tion des con­vict­ions re­li­gieuses, et sur la sé­pa­ra­tion de l’É­glise et de l’É­tat, 1842).

In 1837, Vi­net was re­called to Lau­sanne to oc­cu­py the chaire de thé­o­lo­gie in the Aca­de­my. He resigned the chair in 1840, with­draw­ing at the same time from the na­tion­al church.

He took a pro­mi­nent part in the pre­lim­in­a­ry com­mit­tees for the for­ma­tion of the Église libre du Can­ton de Vaud, but was com­pelled to with­draw from the dis­cuss­ions by fail­ing health, and his pro­pos­als were large­ly mo­di­fied in its fi­nal con­sti­tu­tion, to his deep re­gret.

Works

• Discours sur quelques su­jets re­li­gieux, 1831–41
• Études sur Blaise Pas­cal
• Études sur la lit­té­ra­ture Fran­çaise au dix-neuv­i­ème Si­ècle, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly
• Études Ev­an­gél­iques, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly