Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French
Orientalist and
Semitic scholar, expert of
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
and
civilizations
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Civ ...
,
historian of religion
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
,
biblical scholar
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...
, and
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
.
He wrote influential and pioneering historical works on the
origins
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
of
early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...
,
and espoused popular political theories especially concerning
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and
national identity
National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...
. Renan is known as being among the first scholars to advance the now-discredited
Khazar theory
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi- nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire cover ...
, which held that
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
were descendants of the
Khazars
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
,
Turkic peoples who had
adopted Jewish religion and migrated to Western Europe following the collapse of their
khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
.
Life
Birth and family
![Maison Musée Ernest Renan Tréguier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Maison_Mus%C3%A9e_Ernest_Renan_Tr%C3%A9guier.jpg)
He was born at
Tréguier
Tréguier (; br, Landreger) is a port town in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the capital of the province of Trégor.
Geography
Tréguier is located 36 m. N.W. of Saint-Brieuc by road. The port is situat ...
in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
to a family of fishermen. His grandfather, having made a small fortune with his fishing
smack, bought a house at Tréguier and settled there, and his father, captain of a small cutter and an ardent
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, married the daughter of a Royalist tradesman from the neighbouring town of
Lannion
Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants.
Climate
Lannion has a ...
. All his life, Renan was aware of the conflict between his father's and his mother's political beliefs. He was five years old when his father died, and his sister,
Henriette, twelve years his senior, became the moral head of the household. Having in vain attempted to keep a school for girls at Tréguier, she departed and went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
as a teacher in a young ladies' boarding-school.
[
]
Education
Ernest, meanwhile, was educated in the ecclesiastical seminary of his native town.[ His school reports describe him as "docile, patient, diligent, painstaking, thorough". While the priests taught him mathematics and Latin, his mother completed his education. Renan's mother was half ]Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
. Her paternal ancestors came from Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, and Renan used to say that in his own nature the Gascon and the Breton were constantly at odds.[
During the summer of 1838, Renan won all the prizes at the college of Tréguier. His sister told the doctor of the school in Paris where she taught about her brother, and he informed F. A. P. Dupanloup, who was involved in organizing the ecclesiastical college of ]Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet
Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet () is a Catholic church in the centre of Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement. It was constructed between 1656 and 1763. The facade was designed in the classical style by Charles Le Brun. It contains many notable ...
, a school in which the young Catholic nobility and the most talented pupils of the Catholic seminaries were to be educated together, with the idea of creating friendships between the aristocracy and the priesthood. Dupanloup sent for Renan, who was then fifteen years old and had never been outside Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
. "I learned with stupor that knowledge was not a privilege of the Church ... I awoke to the meaning of the words talent, fame, celebrity." Religion seemed to him wholly different in Tréguier and in Paris.[ He came to view Abbé Dupanloup as a father figure.][Theiss, Will. "The Pale Galilean: Ernest Renan, Jesus, and Modern History", ''Marginalia'', Los Angeles Review of Books, March 16, 2018]
/ref>
Study at Issy-les-Moulineaux
In 1840, Renan left St Nicholas to study philosophy at the seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called ''Isséens'' in French. It is one of Paris' entrances and is located from Notre-Dame Cath ...
. He entered with a passion for Catholic scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
. Among the philosophers, Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid (; 7 May ( O.S. 26 April) 1710 – 7 October 1796) was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher. He was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1783 he wa ...
and Nicolas Malebranche
Nicolas Malebranche ( , ; 6 August 1638 – 13 October 1715) was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the ...
first attracted him, and, then he turned to G. W. F. Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
and J. G. Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohrung ...
.[ Renan began to see a contradiction between the ]metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
which he studied and the faith he professed, but an appetite for verifiable truths restrained his scepticism. "Philosophy excites and only half satisfies the appetite for truth; I am eager for mathematics", he wrote to Henriette. Henriette had accepted in the family of Count Zamoyski
The House of Zamoyski (plural: Zamoyscy) is the name of an important Polish noble (szlachta) family, which used the Jelita coat of arms. It is the Polish term for "de Zamość" (Polish "z Zamościa"), the name they originally held as lords of Z ...
an engagement more lucrative than her former job. She exercised the strongest influence over her brother.[
]
Study at college of St Sulpice
It was not mathematics but philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
which was to settle Renan's gathering doubts. His course completed at Issy, in 1844 he entered the college of St Sulpice in order to take his degree in philology prior to entering the church, and, here, he began the study of Hebrew. He realized that the second part of the ''Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...
'' differs from the first not only in style but in date, that the grammar and the history of the ''Pentateuch
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...
'' are later than the time of Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
, and that the ''Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology (a ...
'' is clearly written centuries after the time in which it is set. At night he read the new novels of Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
; by day, he studied Hebrew and Syriac under Arthur-Marie Le Hir.[ In October 1845, Renan left St Sulpice for Stanislas, a lay college of the ]Oratorians An Oratorian is a member of one of the following religious orders:
* Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (Roman Catholic), who use the postnominal letters C.O.
* Oratory of Jesus (Roman Catholic)
* Oratory of the Good Shepherd (Anglican)
* Teologisk Orator ...
. Still feeling too much under the domination of the church, he reluctantly ended the last of his associations with religious life and entered M. Crouzet's school for boys as a teacher.[
]
Scholarly career
Renan, educated by priests, was to accept the scientific ideal with an extraordinary expansion of all his faculties. He became ravished by the splendor of the cosmos. At the end of his life, he wrote of Amiel, "The man who has time to keep a private diary has never understood the immensity of the universe." The certitudes of physical and natural science were revealed to Renan in 1846 by the chemist Marcellin Berthelot
Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substance ...
, then a boy of eighteen, his pupil at M. Crouzet's school. To the day of Renan's death, their friendship continued. Renan was occupied as usher only during evenings. During the daytime, he continued his researches in Semitic philology. In 1847, he obtained the Volney prize The Prix Volney ( en, Volney Medal) is awarded by the Institute of France after proposition by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres to a work of comparative philology.
The prize was founded by Constantin Volney in 1803 and was original ...
, one of the principal distinctions awarded by the Academy of Inscriptions
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...
, for the manuscript of his "General History of Semitic Languages." In 1847, he took his degree as ''Agrégé de Philosophie'' – that is to say, fellow of the university – and was offered a job as master in the ''lycée'' Vendôme
Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019).
It is one of the ...
.[
In 1856, Renan married in Paris Cornélie Scheffer, daughter of ]Hendrik Scheffer
Hendrik Scheffer (The Hague, 25 September 1798 – Paris, 15 March 1862) was a Dutch painter in the Romantic tradition who lived in France for most of his life. In France he is usually known as Henri Scheffer.
Personal life
Scheffer was the yo ...
and niece of Ary Scheffer
Ary Scheffer (10 February 179515 June 1858) was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, and Lord Byron, as well as religious subjects. He was als ...
, both French painters of Dutch descent. They had two children, Ary Renan
Cornelius Ary Renan (1857–1900) was a French Symbolist painter and anti-clerical social activist.
Career
Renan was the son of the Breton scholar Ernest Renan, who pioneered modern secular study of the life of Jesus. His mother was the daug ...
, born in 1858, who became a painter, and Noémi, born in 1862, who eventually married philologist Yannis Psycharis
Ioannis (Yiannis) Psycharis (Greek: Ιωάννης (Γιάννης) Ψυχάρης; French: ''Jean Psychari''; 1854–1929) was a French philologist of Greek origin, author and promoter of Demotic Greek.
Biography
Psycharis was born on 15 May 1 ...
. In 1863, the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
elected him an international Member.
''Life of Jesus''
Within his lifetime, Renan was best known as the author of the enormously popular ''Life of Jesus'' (''Vie de Jésus'', 1863). Renan attributed the idea of the book to his sister, Henriette, with whom he was traveling in Ottoman Syria and Palestine when, struck with a fever, she died suddenly. With only a New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
and copy of Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
as references, he began writing. The book was first translated into English in the year of its publication by Charles E. Wilbour and has remained in print for the past 145 years. Renan's ''Life of Jesus'' was lavished with ironic praise and criticism by Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
in his book ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus
''The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' (german: Von Reimarus zu Wrede: eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung, literally "From Reimarus to Wrede: a History of Life-of-Jesus Research") is a 1906 work of Biblical historical criticism written by Al ...
''.
Renan argued Jesus was able to purify himself of "Jewish traits" and that he became an Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
. His ''Life of Jesus'' promoted racial ideas and infused race into theology and the person of Jesus; he depicted Jesus as a Galilea
Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galile ...
n who was transformed from a Jew into a Christian, and that Christianity emerged purified of any Jewish influences. The book was based largely on the Gospel of John, and was a scholarly work. It depicted Jesus as a man but not God, and rejected the miracles of the Gospel. Renan believed by humanizing Jesus he was restoring to him a greater dignity. The book's controversial assertions that the life of Jesus Life of Jesus may refer to:
* Life of Jesus in the New Testament
* Historical Jesus
* Chronology of Jesus
* Life of Christ in art
Books
* ''Life of Jesus'' (Hegel)
* ''Life of Jesus'' (Strauss)
*
Filmed
* '' La Vie de Jésus'' (English: ''T ...
should be written like the life of any historic person, and that the Bible could and should be subject to the same critical scrutiny as other historical documents caused controversy and enraged many Christians, and Jews because of its depiction of Judaism as foolish and absurdly illogical and for its insistence that Jesus and Christianity were superior.
Continuation of scholarly career: social views
Renan was not only a scholar. In his book on St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, as in the Apostles
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
, he shows his concern with the larger social life, his sense of fraternity, and a revival of the democratic sentiment which had inspired ''L'Avenir de la Science''. In 1869, he presented himself as the candidate of the liberal opposition at the parliamentary election for Meaux
Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris.
Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, ...
. While his temper had become less aristocratic, his liberalism had grown more tolerant. On the eve of its dissolution, Renan was half prepared to accept the Empire, and, had he been elected to the Chamber of Deputies, he would have joined the group of ''l'Empire liberal'', but he was not elected. A year later, war was declared with Germany; the Empire was abolished, and Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
became an exile. The Franco-Prussian War was a turning-point in Renan's history. Germany had always been to him the asylum of thought and disinterested science. Now, he saw the land of his ideal destroy and ruin the land of his birth; he beheld the German no longer as a priest, but as an invader.[
]
In ''La Réforme Intellectuelle et Morale'' (1871), Renan tried to safeguard France's future. Yet, he was still influenced by Germany. The ideal and the discipline which he proposed to his defeated country were those of her conqueror—a feudal society, a monarchical government, an elite which the rest of the nation exists merely to support and nourish; an ideal of honor and duty imposed by a chosen few on the recalcitrant and subject multitude. The errors attributed to the ''Commune'' confirmed Renan in this reaction. At the same time, the irony always perceptible in his work grows more bitter. His ''Dialogues Philosophiques'', written in 1871, his ''Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...
'' (1882) and his ''Antichrist'' (1876) (the fourth volume of the ''Origins of Christianity'', dealing with the reign of Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
) are incomparable in their literary genius, but they are examples of a disenchanted and sceptical temper. He had vainly tried to make his country obey his precepts. The progress of events showed him, on the contrary, a France which, every day, left a little stronger, and he roused himself from his disbelieving, disillusioned mood and observed with interest the struggle for justice and liberty of a democratic society. The fifth and sixth volumes of the ''Origins of Christianity'' (the Christian Church and Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
) show him reconciled with democracy, confident in the gradual ascent of man, aware that the greatest catastrophes do not really interrupt the sure if imperceptible progress of the world and reconciled, also, if not with the truths, at least with the moral beauties of Catholicism and with the remembrance of his pious youth.[
]
Definition of nationhood
Renan's definition of a nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
has been extremely influential. This was given in his 1882 discourse '' Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?'' ("What is a Nation?"). Whereas German writers like Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kan ...
had defined the nation by objective
Objective may refer to:
* Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
* ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film
* Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object
* Objective Productions, a Brit ...
criteria such as a race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
or an ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
"sharing common characteristics" (language, etc.), Renan defined it by the desire of a people to live together, which he summarized by a famous phrase, "having done great things together and wishing to do more"". Writing in the midst of the dispute concerning the Alsace-Lorraine region, he declared that the existence of a nation was based on a "daily plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
." Some authors criticize that definition, based on a "daily plebiscite", because of the ambiguity of the concept. They argue that this definition is an idealization and it should be interpreted within the German tradition and not in opposition to it. They say that the arguments used by Renan at the conference '' What is a Nation? '' are not consistent with his thinking.
Karl Deutsch
Karl Wolfgang Deutsch (21 July 1912 – 1 November 1992) was a social and political scientist from Prague. He was a professor at MIT, Yale University and Harvard University, as well as Director of Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (International Insti ...
(in "Nationalism and its alternatives") suggested that a nation is "a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbors." This phrase is frequently, but mistakenly, attributed to Renan himself. He did indeed write that if "the essential element of a nation is that all its individuals must have many things in common", they "must also have forgotten many things. Every French citizen must have forgotten the night of St. Bartholomew and the massacres in the 13th century in the South."
Renan believed "Nations are not eternal. They had a beginning and they will have an end. And they will probably be replaced by a European confederation".
Renan's work has especially influenced 20th-century theorist of nationalism Benedict Anderson
Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...
.
Late scholarly career
Shifting away from his pessimism regarding liberalism's prospects during the 1870s while still believing in the necessity of an intellectual elite to influence democratic society for the good, Renan rallied to support the French Third Republic
The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...
, humorously describing himself as a ''légitimiste'', that is, a person who needs "about ten years to accustom myself to regarding any government as legitimate," and adding "I, who am not a republican ''a priori'', who am a simple Liberal quite willing to adjust myself to a constitutional monarchy, would be more loyal to the Republic than newly converted republicans." The progress of the sciences under the Republic and the latitude given to the freedom of thought that Renan cherished above all had allayed many of his previous fears, and he opposed the deterministic and fatalist theories of philosophers like Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practition ...
.
As he got older, he contemplated his childhood. He was nearly sixty when, in 1883, he published the autobiographical ''Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse'' which, after the ''Life of Jesus'', is the work by which he is chiefly known.[
They showed the blasé modern reader that a world no less poetic, no less primitive than that of the ''Origins of Christianity'' still existed within living memory on the northwestern coast of France. It has the ]Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic magic of ancient romance and the simplicity, the naturalness, and the veracity which the 19th century prized so highly. But his ''Ecclesiastes'', published a few months earlier, his ''Drames Philosophiques'', collected in 1888, give a more adequate image of his fastidious critical, disenchanted, yet optimistic spirit. They show the attitude towards uncultured Socialism of a philosopher liberal by conviction, by temperament an aristocrat. We learn in them how Caliban
Caliban ( ), son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''.
His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work: as Russell ...
(democracy), the mindless brute, educated to his own responsibility, makes after all an adequate ruler; how Prospero
Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''.
Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to sea ...
(the aristocratic principle or the mind) accepts his dethronement for the sake of greater liberty in the intellectual world, since Caliban proves an effective policeman and leaves his superiors a free hand in the laboratory; how Ariel
Ariel may refer to:
Film and television
*Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award
* ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki
* ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...
(the religious principle) acquires a firmer hold on life and no longer gives up the ghost at the faintest hint of change. Indeed, Ariel flourishes in the service of Prospero under the external government of the many-headed brute. Religion and knowledge are as imperishable as the world they dignify. Thus, out of the depths rises unvanquished the essential idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
of Renan.[
Renan was prolific. At sixty years of age, having finished the ''Origins of Christianity'', he began his ''History of ]Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
'', based on a lifelong study of the ''Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
'' and on the ''Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
The ("Corpus of Semitic Inscriptions", abbreviated CIS) is a collection of ancient inscriptions in Semitic languages produced since the end of 2nd millennium BC until the rise of Islam. It was published in Latin. In a note recovered after his de ...
'', published by the Académie des Inscriptions
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
under Renan's direction from the year 1881 till the end of his life. The first volume of the ''History of Israel'' appeared in 1887; the third, in 1891; the last two posthumously. As a history of facts and theories, the book has many faults; as an essay on the evolution of the religious idea, it is (despite some passages of frivolity, irony, or incoherence) of extraordinary importance; as a reflection of the mind of Renan, it is the most lifelike of images. In a volume of collected essays, ''Feuilles Détachées'', published also in 1891, we find the same mental attitude, an affirmation of the necessity of piety
Piety is a virtue which may include religious devotion or spirituality. A common element in most conceptions of piety is a duty of respect. In a religious context piety may be expressed through pious activities or devotions, which may vary among ...
independent of dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
. During his last years, he received many honors, and was made an administrator of the Collège de France
The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...
and grand officer of the Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
. Two volumes of the ''History of Israel'', his correspondence with his sister Henriette, his ''Letters to M. Berthelot'', and the ''History of the Religious Policy of Philippe-le-Bel'', which he wrote in the years immediately before his marriage, all appeared during the last eight years of the 19th century.[
Renan died after a few days' illness in 1892 in Paris,] and was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre
The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...
in the Montmartre Quarter
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
.
Reputation and controversies
Hugely influential in his lifetime, Renan was eulogised after his death as the embodiment of the progressive spirit in western culture. Anatole France
(; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...
wrote that Renan was the incarnation of modernity. Renan's works were read and appreciated by many of the leading literary figures of the time, including James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
, Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
, Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lite ...
, Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
, and Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic.
Early life
He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...
. One of his greatest admirers was Manuel González Prada
Jose Manuel de los Reyes González de Prada y Ulloa (Lima, January 5, 1844 – Lima, July 22, 1918) was a Peruvian politician and anarchist, literary critic and director of the National Library of Peru. He is well remembered as a social criti ...
in Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
who took the ''Life of Jesus'' as a basis for his anticlericalism. In his 1932 document "The Doctrine of Fascism
"The Doctrine of Fascism" ( it, "La dottrina del fascismo", italics=no) is an essay attributed to Benito Mussolini. In truth, the first part of the essay, entitled "" (), was written by the Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile, while only the se ...
", Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
also applauded perceived "prefascist intuitions" in a section of Renan's "Meditations" that argued against democracy and individual rights as "chimerical
The Chimera ( or ), also Chimaera (''Chimæra'') (Ancient Greek: , ''Chímaira'' means 'she-goat'), according to Greek mythology, was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature, composed of different animal parts from Lycia, Asia Minor. It is us ...
" and intrinsically opposed to "nature's plans".
Statue
In 1903 a major controversy accompanied the installation of a monument in Tréguier designed by Jean Boucher. Placed in the local cathedral square, it was interpreted as a challenge to Catholicism, and led to widespread protests, especially because the site was normally used for the temporary pulpit erected at the traditional Catholic festival of the Pardon of St Yves. It also included the Greek goddess Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...
raising her arm to crown Renan gesturing in apparent challenge towards the cathedral. The local clergy organised a protest calvary sculpture designed by Yves Hernot
Yves Hernot is the name of two sculptors, father and son, who ran the ''Ateliers Yves Hernot'' sculpture workshop in Lannion, Brittany, which specialised in creating Calvary (sculpture), Calvaries and tombs.
Hernot senior
Yves Hernot senior (182 ...
as "a symbol of the triumphant ultramontaine church."
Views on race
Renan believed that racial characteristics were instinctual and deterministic
Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...
. He has been criticised for his claims that the Semitic race
Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group.[Aryan race
The Aryan race is an obsolete historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people of Proto-Indo-European heritage as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern I ...]
. Renan claimed that the Semitic mind was limited by dogmatism and lacked a cosmopolitan conception of civilisation. For Renan, Semites were "an incomplete race." Some authors argue that Renan developed his antisemitism from Voltaire's anti-Judaism.
He did not regard the Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
of Europe as being a Semitic people. Renan is acknowledged for launching the so-called Khazar theory
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi- nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire cover ...
. This theory states that Ashkenazim had their origin in Turkic refugees that had converted to Judaism and later migrated from the collapsed Khazar Khanate
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
westward into the Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
, and exchanged their native Khazar language
Khazar, also known as Khazaric, was a Turkic dialect group spoken by the Khazars, a group of semi-nomadic Turkic peoples originating from Central Asia. There are few written records of the language and its features and characteristics are unknown ...
for the Yiddish language
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
while continuing to practice the Jewish religion. In his 1883 lecture "Le Judaïsme comme race et comme religion" he disputed the concept that Jewish people
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
constitute a unified racial entity in a ''biological'' sense, which made his views unpalatable within racial antisemitism
Racial antisemitism is prejudice against Jews based on a belief or assertion that Jews constitute a distinct race that has inherent traits or characteristics that appear in some way abhorrent or inherently inferior or otherwise different from t ...
. Renan was also known for being a strong critic of German ethnic nationalism, with its antisemitic undertones. His notions of race and ethnicity were completely at odds with the European antisemitism of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Renan wrote the following about the long history of persecution of Jews
The persecution of Jews has been a major event in Jewish history, prompting shifting waves of refugees and the formation of diaspora communities. As early as 605 BCE, Jews who lived in the Neo-Babylonian Empire were persecuted and deported. A ...
:
When all nations and all ages have persecuted you, there must be some motive behind it all. The Jew, up to our own time, insinuated himself everywhere, claiming the protection of the common law; but, in reality, remaining outside the common law. He retained his own status; he wished to have the same guarantees as everyone else, and, over and above that, his own exceptions and special laws. He desired the advantages of the nations without being a nation, without helping to bear the burdens of the nations. No people has ever been able to tolerate this. The nations are military creations founded and maintained by the sword; they are the work of peasants and soldiers; towards establishing them the Jews have contributed nothing. Herein is the great fallacy inspired in Israelite pretensions. The tolerated alien can be useful to a country, but only on condition that the country does not allow itself to be invaded by him. It is not fair to claim family rights in a house which one has not built, like those birds which come and take up their quarters in a nest which does not belong to them, or like the crustaceans which steal the shell of another species.
However, during the 1880s, Renan shifted away from these views. In a lecture on "Judaism as a Race and as a Religion", he stated:
When, in 1791, the National Assembly decreed the emancipation of the Jews, it concerned itself very little with race. It considered that men ought to be judged, not by the blood that runs in their veins, but by their moral and intellectual value. It is the glory of France to take these questions by their human side. The work of the nineteenth century is to tear down every ghetto, and I have no praise for those who seek to rebuild them. The Israelite race has in the past rendered the greatest services to the world. Blended with the different nations, in harmony with the diverse national unities of Europe, it will continue to do in the future what it has done in the past. By its collaboration with all the liberal forces of Europe, it will contribute eminently to the social progress of humanity.
And in 1883, in a lecture called "The Original Identity and Gradual Separation of Judaism and Christianity":
Judaism, which has served so well in the past, will still serve in the future. It will serve the true cause of liberalism, of the modern spirit. Every Jew is a liberal ... The enemies of Judaism, however, if you only look at them more closely, you will see that they are the enemies of the modern spirit in general.
Other comments on race, have also proven controversial, especially his belief that political policy should take into account supposed racial differences:
Nature has made a race of workers, the Chinese race, who have wonderful manual dexterity and almost no sense of honor... A race of tillers of the soil, the Negro; treat him with kindness and humanity, and all will be as it should; a race of masters and soldiers, the European race. Reduce this noble race to working in the ergastulum like Negroes and Chinese, and they rebel... But the life at which our workers rebel would make a Chinese or a fellah
A fellah ( ar, فَلَّاح ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". ...
happy, as they are not military creatures in the least. Let each one do what he is made for, and all will be well.
This passage, among others, was cited by Aimé Césaire
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the Par ...
in his ''Discourse on Colonialism'', as evidence of the alleged hypocrisy of Western humanism and its "sordidly racist" conception of the rights of man.
Republican racism
During the arising of racism theories around Europe and specifically in France— French Republic (1870–1940)—Renan had an important influence on the matter. He was a defender of people's self-determination concept, but on the other hand was in fact convinced of a "racial hierarchy of peoples" that he said was "established". Discursively, he subordinated the principle of self-determination of peoples to a racial hierarchy, i.e. he supported the colonialist expansion and the racist view of the Third Republic because he believed the French to be hierarchically superior (in a racial matter) to the African nations. This subtle racism, called by Gilles Manceron
The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditi ...
"Republican racism", was common in France during the Third Republic, and was also a well-known defensing discourse in politics. Supporters of colonialism used the concept of cultural superiority, and described themselves as "protectors of civilization" to justify their colonial actions and territorial expansion.
Honours
* The armoured cruiser ''Ernest Renan
Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...
'', launched in 1906, was named in his honour.
* The community of Renan, Virginia
Renan is an unincorporated community in the northeastern part of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. It is included in the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It is contained within the Staunton River Magisterial District, ...
was named after him.
Archives and memorabilia
* Musée de la Vie romantique
The Musée de la Vie romantique (Museum of Romantic Life, or ''Museum of the Romantics'') stands at the foot of Montmartre hill in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, 16 rue Chaptal, Paris, France in an 1830 ''hôtel particulier'' facing two twin-stu ...
, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris
Works
* (1848). ''De l'Origine du Langage''.
* (1852). ''Averroës et l'Averroïsme''.
* (1852). ''De Philosophia Peripatetica, apud Syros''.
* (1854). ''L'Âme Bretonne''.
* (1855). ''Histoire Générale et Systèmes Comparés des Langues Sémitiques''.
* (1857). ''Études d'Histoire Religieuse''.
* (1858). ''Le Livre de Job''.
* (1859). ''Essais de Morale et de Critique''.
* (1860). ''Le Cantique des Cantiques''.
* (1862). ''Henriette Renan, Souvenir pour ceux qui l'ont Connue''.
* (1863–1881). ''Histoire des Origines du Christianisme'':
** (1863). ''Vie de Jésus''.
** (1866). ''Les Apôtres''.
** (1869). ''Saint Paul''.
** (1873). ''L'Antéchrist''.
** (1877). ''Les Évangiles et la Seconde Génération Chrétienne''.
** (1879). ''L'Église Chrétienne''.
** (1882). ''Marc-Aurèle et la Fin du Monde Antique''.
** (1883). ''Index''.
* (1864). Mission de Phénicie (1865–1874)
* (1865)
''Prière sur l'Acropole''
* (1865). ''Histoire Littéraire de la France au XIVe Siècle'' ith Victor Le Clerc
* (1868). ''Questions Contemporaines''.
* (1871). ''La Réforme Intellectuelle et Morale de la France''.
* (1876). ''Dialogues et Fragments Philosophiques''.
* (1878). ''Mélanges d'Histoire et de Voyages''.
* (1878–1886). ''Drames Philosophiques'':
** (1878). ''Caliban''.
** (1881). ''L'Eau de Jouvence''.
** (1885). ''Le Prêtre de Némi''.
** (1886). ''L'Abbesse de Jouarre''.
* (1880). ''Conférences d'Angleterre''.
* (1881). ''L'Ecclésiaste''.
* (1882). ''Qu'est-ce qu'une Nation?''
* (1883)
Islam and Science: A lecture presented at La Sorbonne, 29 March 1883
''[English translation 2nd ed (2011), S.P. Ragep. Montréal, Canada: McGill University]
* (1883). ''Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse''.
* (1884). ''Nouvelles Études d'Histoire Religieuse''.
* (1884). ''Le Bouddhisme''.
* (1887). ''Discours et Conférences''.
* (1887–1893). ''Histoire du Peuple d'Israël'' volumes
* (1889). ''Examen de Conscience Philosophique''.
* (1890). ''L'Avenir de la Science, Pensées de 1848''.
* (1892). ''Feuilles Détachées''.
* (1899). ''Études sur la Politique Religieuse du Règne de Philippe le Bel''.
* (1904). ''Mélanges Religieux et Historiques''.
* (1908). ''Patrice''.
* (1914). ''Fragments Intimes et Romanesques''.
* (1921). ''Essai Psychologique sur Jésus-Christ''.
* (1928). ''Voyages: Italie, Norvège''.
* (1928). ''Sur Corneille, Racine et Bossuet''.
* (1945). ''Ernest Renan et l'Allemagne''.
Works in English translation
* (1862). ''An Essay on the Age and Antiquity of the Book of Nabathaean Agriculture''. London: Trübner & Co.
* (1864). ''Studies of Religious History and Criticism''. New York: Carleton Publisher.
* (1864). ''The Life of Jesus''. London: Trübner & Co.
* (1866). ''The Apostles''. New York: Carleton Publisher.
* (1868). ''Saint Paul''. London: The Temple Company.
* (1871). ''Constitutional Monarchy in France''. Boston: Robert Brothers.
* (1885). ''Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought and Culture of Rome, on Christianity and the Development of the Catholic Church''. London: Williams & Norgate ( The Hibbert Lectures).
** (1888). ''English Conferences of Ernest Renan''. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
* (1888–1895). ''History of the People of Israel''. London: Chapman & Hall vols.* (1888). ''Marcus-Aurelius''. London: Mathieson & Company.
* (1888). ''The Abbess of Jouarre''. New York: G.W. Dillingham.
* (1889). ''The Gospels''. London: Mathieson & Company.
* (1890). ''The Antichrist''. London: Mathieson & Company.
* (1890). ''Cohelet; or, the Preacher''. London: Mathieson & Company.
* (1891). ''The Future of Science''. London: Chapman & Hall.
* (1891). ''The Song of Songs''. London: W.M. Thomson.
* (1892). ''Recollections and Letters of Ernest Renan''. New York: Cassell Publishing Company.
* (1893). ''The Book of Job''. London: W.M. Thomson.
* (1895). ''My Sister Henrietta''. Boston: Robert Brothers.
* (1896). ''Brother and Sister: A Memoir and the Letters of Ernest & Henriette Renan''. London: William Heinemann.
* (1896). ''Caliban: A Philosophical Drama''. London: The Shakespeare Press.
* (1896). ''The Poetry of the Celtic Races, and Other Essays''. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co.
* (1904). ''Renan's Letters from the Holy Land''. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company.
* (1935). ''The Memoirs of Ernest Renan''. London: G. Bles.
References
;Notes
;Citations
Further reading
* Alaya, Flavia M. (1967). "Arnold and Renan on the Popular Uses of History," ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 551–574.
* Azurmendi, Joxe (2003)
Humboldt eta Renanen nazio kontzeptua
''RIEV'', Vol. 48, No. 1, 91–124.
* Azurmendi, Joxe (2014): ''Historia, arraza, nazioa. Renan eta nazionalismoaren inguruko topiko batzuk'', Donostia: Elkar.
* Babbitt, Irving (1912)
"Renan."
In: ''The Masters of Modern French Criticism''. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Bancquart, Marie-Claire (1994). "Renan, Maître de la Violence Sceptique," ''Revue d'Histoire Littéraire de la France'', 94e Année, No. 1, pp. 48–58.
* Barry, William (1897)
"Newman and Renan,"
''The National Review,'' Vol. XXIX, pp. 557–576.
* Barry, William Francis (1905)
''Ernest Renan''
London: Hodder and Stoughton.
* Bazouge, Francis (1889)
"Ernest Renan,"
''Revue du Monde Catholique'', Vol. C, pp. 5–26.
* Bierer, Dora (1953). "Renan and His Interpreters: A Study in French Intellectual Warfare," ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 375–389.
* Brandes, Georg (1886)
"Ernest Renan."
In: ''Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century.'' New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
* Chadbourne, Richard M. (1949). "Renan, or the Contemptuous Approach to Literature," ''Yale French Studies'', No. 3, Criticism and Creation, pp. 96–104.
* Chadbourne, Richard M. (1951). "Renan's Revision of His Liberté de Penser Articles," ''PMLA'', Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 927–950.
* DiVanna, Isabel (2010). ''Writing History in the Third Republic''. Cambridge Scholars Publishin
excerpt and text search
* Espinasse, Francis (1895)
''Life and Writings of Ernest Renan''
London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co.
* Grant Duff, Mountstuart E. (1893)
''Ernest Renan, in Memoriam''
London: Macmillan & Co.
* Guérard, Albert Léon (1913)
"Ernest Renan."
In: ''French Prophets of Yesterday''. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
* Ingersoll, Robert G. (1892). "Ernest Renan," ''The North American Review'', Vol. CLV, No. 432, pp. 608–622.
* Lemaître, Jules (1921)
"Ernest Renan."
In: ''Literary Impressions.'' London: Daniel O'Connor, pp. 80–107.
* Lenoir, Raymond (1925). "Renan and the Study of Humanity," ''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 289–317.
* Mott, Lewis F. (1918)
"Renan and Matthew Arnold,"
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 65–73.
* Mott, Lewis F. (1921)
''Ernest Renan''
New York: D. Appleton and Company.
* Myers, F.W.H. (1897)
"Ernest Renan."
In: ''Essays''. London: Macmillan & Co.
* Neubauer, A. (1893)
"M. Ernest Renan,"
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'', Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 200–211.
* Priest, Robert D. (2015). ''The Gospel According to Renan: Reading, Writing, and Religion in Nineteenth-Century France''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Richard, Edouard (1996). ''Ernest Renan Penseur Traditionaliste?'' Presses Universitaires d'Aix-Marseille.
* Robinson, Agnes Mary Frances (1897)
''The Life of Ernest Renan''
London: Methuen & Co.
* Rolland, Romain (1925). "A Conversation with Ernest Renan," ''The Century Magazine'', Vol. CIX, No. 4, pp. 435–439.
* Saintsbury, George (1892)
"Ernest Renan."
In: ''Miscellaneous Essays''. London: Percival & Co.
* Shapiro, Gary (1982). "Nietzsche Contra Renan," ''History and Theory'', Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 193–222.
External links
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Works by Ernest Renan
at JSTOR
JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
''What is a Nation?'' – Renan's most famous lecture in English translation
The history of the origins of Christianity
Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.
Cornell University Library Digital Collections
Société des Études renaniennes
(Ernest Renan's Society website)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Renan, Ernest
1823 births
1892 deaths
19th-century biblical scholars
19th-century French historians
19th-century French philosophers
19th-century French writers
Antisemitism in France
Biblical criticism
Biblical studies
Writers from Brittany
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
Collège de France faculty
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Founders of Sciences Po
French biblical scholars
French Hebraists
French historians of religion
French literary critics
French orientalists
French philologists
Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Historians of Christianity
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Members of the Académie Française
Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Société Asiatique
New Testament scholars
People from Côtes-d'Armor
Scholars of medieval philosophy
Scholars of nationalism
Semiticists
Phoenician-Punic studies