Paul Tournier

Paul Tournier (12 May 1898 – 7 October 1986) was a Swiss physician and author who had acquired a worldwide audience for his work in pastoral counseling. His ideas had a significant impact on the spiritual and psychosocial aspects of routine patient care, and he has been called the twentieth century's most famous Christian physician. 2Life and education Tournier was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Pastor Louis Tournier and Alisabeth Ormond. His 70-year-old father, who was a highly respected clergyman at St. Peter's cathedral, died three months after his birth. At the age of six he was orphaned when his mother, then 42, died from breast cancer. Afterwards Tournier and his 10-year-old sister were raised by his uncle and aunt, Mr, and Mrs, Jacques Ormond. This painful experience had a profound effect on Tournier. He withdrew into himself and became lonely and shy. Throughout his adolescence he maintained a sense of insecurity, which he would hide behind an intellectual facade, accentuated by his mathematical success in grade school and by a Greek teacher in high schoo