Renan

Renan, Joseph Ernest (1823-93), Orientalist and scholar, was born in Brittany, and was the son of a master-mariner who was lost at sea. He was educated by the Catholic clergy of his native place (Treguier), and in 1836 proceeded to Paris to enter a college, his aptitude for learning being very noticeable. He studied theology closely with a view to becoming a priest, and in 1842 entered St. Sulpice to learn Hebrew and Syriac. His reading convinced him that he could no longer remain a Catholic, still less become a priest, and he left the college and took to teaching. He had even then conceived the idea of writing a life of Jesus embodying his views as to His attributes. In 1848 he obtained a premium for an essay on the Semitic languages, -and this was published in an amplified form in 1855. The Academy of Inscriptions, recognising his merit, sent him on an antiquarian mission to Italy in 1849, and in 1851 he was given a post in the manuscript department of the Imperial Library. In 1852 his first book of real importance (on Averrhoes and Averrhoism) came out, and he became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. His Studies in Religious History appeared in 1858, and in 1860 he went to Syria on a second mission for his academy.

There he wrote much of his Vie de Jesus, but it did not appear till 1863. It caused the most extraordinary sensation, and its author was assailed in many quarters for his opinions. Its beautiful style and mastery of language, and wonderful learning captivated most literary people. He had been appointed in 1861 professor of Hebrew in the Institute of France, but only delivered one lecture, the outcry raised leading to his suspension and transference to a post in the Imperial Library, much to his chagrin. In 1870, however, he was reappointed to the chair. His Vie de Jesus was the first volume of a series on the history of the Christian Church, the others being The Apostles (1866), St. Paul (1867), Anii-Christ (1873), The Cltristiam Church (1879), and Marcus Anrelius (1880). In 1878 he was elected an Academician, and his other notable books are his Abbesse Jouarre (1886), which created some stir, History of the People of Israel (begun in 1887), Judaism as a Race and as a Religion, and some delightful Souvenirs of Infancy and Youth. Renan was essentially a great writer, but he was also a great thinker.