Jean Borella (born in Nancy, France, May 21, 1930) is a Christian philosopher and theologian. Borella's works are inspired by Ancient and Christian Neoplatonism, but also by the Traditionalist School of René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon.
Borella's father, who was Italian, made a career in military aviation before his death in 1937 in an air crash, when Jean was seven years old. Borella's mother was French from Lorraine. Borella had a Catholic education and traditional public school secondary studies which reinforced in him the idea that he would be a defender of the faith. By age 14, Borella understood Cartesian proof of the existence of God. In 1950, he stayed for a short while in a Benedictine monastery, but left, disappointed.
Borella attended university in Nancy, France.[1] Two of Borella's philosophy professors had significant influence on him, Georges Vallin and Guy Bugault. Vallin, French Orientalist and philosopher, primarily taught the principles of Vedanta. Bugault taught the philosophy of Khâgne. While both Vallin and Bugault were readers of René Guénon, they did not speak of Guénon in class or in private conversations with Borella. Borella graduated in 1953 with a degree in philosophy, and, in the same year, became familiar with Guénon, and then with Frithjof Schuon.
In 1954, Borella married a Polish woman.
By 1957, Borella was a professor of philosophy in Gérardmer. In 1962, he became professor in Nancy, France, where he taught philosophy and French until 1977. In 1982, he was at the University of Paris X: Nanterre.
Borella has three daughters, the youngest of which is a Benedictine nun, and four grandchildren.
