Ernest Renan
Ernest Renan | |
---|---|
Born | Joseph Ernest Renan 28 February 1823 Tréguier, Kingdom of France |
Died | 2 October 1892 Paris, French Third Republic | (aged 69)
Notable work | Life of Jesus (1863) What Is a Nation? (1882) |
Era | 19th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Continental philosophy |
Main interests | History of religion, philosophy of religion, political philosophy |
Notable ideas | Civic nationalism[1] |
Signature | |
Joseph Ernest Renan (French:
Life
Birth and family
He was born at
Education
Ernest, meanwhile, was educated in the ecclesiastical seminary of his native town.
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, 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. "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.[9] He came to view Abbé Dupanloup as a father figure.[12]
Study at Issy-les-Moulineaux
In 1840, Renan left St Nicholas to study philosophy at the
Study at college of St Sulpice
It was not mathematics but
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
In 1856, Renan married in Paris Cornélie Scheffer, daughter of
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 argued Jesus was able to purify himself of "Jewish traits" and that he became an Aryan. His Life of Jesus promoted racial ideas and infused race into theology and the person of Jesus; he depicted Jesus as a Galilean who was transformed from a Jew into a Christian, and that Christianity emerged purified of any Jewish influences.[19] The book was based largely on the Gospel of John, and was a scholarly work.[19] It depicted Jesus as a man but not God, and rejected the miracles of the Gospel.[19] Renan believed by humanizing Jesus he was restoring to him a greater dignity.[20] The book's controversial assertions that the life of Jesus 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[21] and enraged many Christians[22][23][24][25] and Jews because of its depiction of Judaism as foolish and absurdly illogical and for its insistence that Jesus and Christianity were superior.[19]
American historian George Mosse, in Toward the Final Solution. A History of European Racism (pp 88, 129–130) argues that according to Renan, the intolerance would be a Jewish and not a Christian characteristic, but biblical Judaism would have lost its importance even among the Jews themselves as civilization progressed. That is why modern Jews are no longer disadvantaged by their past and are able to make important contributions to modern progress.[26]
Continuation of scholarly career: social views
In his book on
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 (1882) and his Antichrist (1876) (the fourth volume of the Origins of Christianity, dealing with the reign of Nero) 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) 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.[9]
Definition of nationhood
Renan's definition of a
Karl Deutsch (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".[28]
Renan's work has especially influenced 20th-century theorist of nationalism Benedict Anderson.
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, 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."[29] 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.[30]
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.[9]
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
Renan was prolific. At sixty years of age, having finished the Origins of Christianity, he began his History of
Renan died after a few days' illness in 1892 in Paris,
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 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, Marcel Proust, Matthew Arnold, Edith Wharton, and Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.[31][32] One of his greatest admirers was Manuel González Prada in Peru who took the Life of Jesus as a basis for his anticlericalism. In his 1932 document "The Doctrine of Fascism", Italian dictator Benito Mussolini also applauded perceived "prefascist intuitions" in a section of Renan's "Meditations" that argued against democracy and individual rights as "chimerical" and intrinsically opposed to "nature's plans".[33]
Statue
In 1903 a major controversy accompanied the installation of a monument in Tréguier designed by
Views on race
Renan believed that racial characteristics were instinctual and
He did not regard the
Renan wrote the following about the long history of persecution of Jews:
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.[44]
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.[45][46]
In the aforementioned 1882 conference on What Is a Nation?, Renan had spoken out against the theories that were based on race:
Both the principle of nations is right and legitimate, as that of the primordial right of races is wrong and full of dangers for true progress … The truth is that pure race does not exist and that to base politics on ethnographic analysis means to base it on a chimera.[47]
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.[48][49]
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
fellah happy, as they are not military creatures in the least. Let each one do what he is made for, and all will be well.[50]
This passage, among others, was cited by Aimé Césaire in his Discourse on Colonialism, as evidence of the alleged hypocrisy of Western humanism and its "sordidly racist" conception of the rights of man.[4]
Republican racism
During the arising of racism theories around Europe and specifically in French Third Republic, Renan had an important influence on the matter. He was a defender of people's self-determination concept,[51] but on the other hand was in fact convinced of a "racial hierarchy of peoples" that he said was "established".[52] Discursively, he subordinated the principle of self-determination of peoples to a racial hierarchy,[53] 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.[54] This subtle racism, called by Gilles Manceron "Republican racism",[55] 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. There was also another motivation for his support of colonialism, Renan wrote that "a nation which does not colonize is irrevocably doomed to socialism, to the war between rich and poor".[56]
Honours
- The armoured cruiser Ernest Renan, launched in 1906, was named in his honour.
- The community of Renan, Virginia was named after him.
Archives and memorabilia
- Musée de la Vie romantique, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris
Works
- (1848). De l'orinine 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 ou 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 [with 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 jouvance.
- (1885). Le Prêtre de Némi.[57]
- (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.[58]
- (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 [5 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 psycologique 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 [5 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
- What is a Nation?", 1882; cf. Chaim Gans, The Limits of Nationalism, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 11.
- ISSN 0161-7370 – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b Römer, Thomas (11 October 2012). Homage to Ernest Renan: Renan's historical and critical exegesis of the Bible (Speech). Symposium. Amphithéâtre Marguerite de Navarre-Marcelin Berthelot: Collège de France. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ a b Césaire, Aimé (2000). Discourse on Colonialism, Joan Pinkham, trans. New York: Monthly Review Press, pp. 37–8.
- ^ "Did the Khazars Convert to Judaism? New Research Says 'No'". en.huji.ac.il. Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ S2CID 161320785.
- ISBN 978-1032100166.
- ^ Kaufmann, Alfred (1924). "Renan: The Man," The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 388–398.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m public domain: Duclaux, Agnes Mary Frances (1911). "Renan, Ernest". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–95. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Loth, Joseph (1892). "Renan au Collège de Tréguier," Annales de Bretagne 8 (1), pp. 124–9.
- ^ Galand, René (1959). L'Âme Celtique de Renan. Presses Universitaires de France.
- ^ a b c "Theiss, Will. "The Pale Galilean: Ernest Renan, Jesus, and Modern History", Marginalia, Los Angeles Review of Books, March 16, 2018". Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ "Joseph Ernest Renan". American Philosophical Society Member History Database. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
- ^ Wright, Terence R. (1994). "The Letter and the Spirit: Deconstructing Renan's "Life of Jesus" and the Assumptions of Modernity," Religion & Literature, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 55–71.
- ^ Pitt, Alan (2000). "The Cultural Impact of Science in France: Ernest Renan and the Vie de Jésus," The Historical Journal, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 79–101.
- ^ Hammerton, J. A. (1937). Outline of Great Books, New York: Wise & Co., p. 998.
- ^ As of this writing, WorldCat reports 115 different editions of the book in 1426 different libraries.
- ^ Baird, William (1992). History of New Testament Research: From Deism to Tubingen. Augsburg: Fortress Press, p. 382.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-691-12531-2. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ Chadbourne, Richard M. (1968). Ernest Renan. New York: Twayne Publishers, p. 68.
- ^ "Renan's 'Vie de Jesus'," The Dublin Review 2, January/April 1864, pp. 386–419.
- ^ Jules Théodose Loyson Une prétendue Vie de Jésus, ou M. Ernest Renan, historien, philosophe et poëte (Paris, Douniol, 1863)
- ^ Cochin, Augustin (1863). Quelques mots sur la Vie de Jésus de M. Ernest Renan. Paris: Douniol.
- ^ Instruction pastorale de Monseigneur l'évêque de Nîmes au clergé de son diocèse contre un ouvrage intitulé "Vie de Jésus" par Ernest Renan (1863)
- ^ Several of the books of Henri-Joseph Crelier have polemical titles naming Renan.
- ^ Mosse, George (1980). Toward the Final Solution. A History of European Racism. Harper & Row. p. 130.
- ISBN 978-84-9027-297-8
- ^ "Inventing national identity". June 1999.
- ^ Lee, David C. J. (1996). Ernest Renan. Ardent Media. pp. 97–99.
- ^ Lee, David C. J. (1996). Ernest Renan. Ardent Media. p. 96.
- .
- ^ Brown, Richard (1988). James Joyce and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press. p. 130.
- ^ The Doctrine of Fascism by Benito Mussolini Complete text of the essay "Dottrina" (Doctrines).
- ^ Ernest Renan à Tréguier
- ^ Catalogue, Ernest Renan (1823–1892) un Celte en Orient, Musée d'Art et d'histoire, Musée de Bretagne, 1992, Ville de Saint-Brieuc, Ville de Rennes.
- ^ Olender, Maurice (1992). The Languages of Paradise: Race, Religion, and Philology in the Nineteenth Century. Harvard University Press.
- ISBN 978-0-691-12531-2. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ "I am therefore the first to recognize that the Semitic race, compared to the Indo-European race, truly represents an inferior combination of human nature."—Arvidsson, Stefan (2006). Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science. University of Chicago Press, p. 107.
- ^ "The Racial Motif in Renan's Attitude to Jews and Judaism", in: S. Almog (ed.), Antisemitism Through the Ages, Oxford, 1988, pp. 255–278.
- ^ Anti-Semitism, by Gotthard Deutsch, Jewish Encyclopedia
- ISBN 978-84-9027-297-8
- ^ Le Judaïsme comme Race et comme Religion: Conférence faite au Cercle Saint-Simon. Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1883.
- ^ Mian, Aristide (1945–46). "Renan on War and Peace," The American Scholar, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 90–96.
- ^ Antichrist. London: Walter Scott, Ltd., 1900, pp. 126–127.
- S2CID 145204339.
- S2CID 145721356.
- ^ Based on these quotes, J. V. Dagon in Ernest Renan and The Question of Race argues that Renan cannot be considered a follower of French racist diplomat Gobineau, as instead Todorov affirms. For Gobineau the main responsible for the decadence of civilization is the mixing of races. Furthermore, according to Gobineau, morality and intelligence are determined by human physiology. Renan, on the contrary, does not speak of superior and inferior races based on biological criteria, and he clearly states that "a pure race does not exist". Dagon, Jane Victoria (1999). Ernest Renan and The Question of Race. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University. p. 74.
- .
- ^ Graetz, Michael (1996). The Jews in Nineteenth-century France: From the French Revolution to the Alliance Israélite Universelle. Stanford University Press. p. 212.
- ^ From Ernest Renan, "La Reforme Intellectuelle et Morale". Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1929.
- ^ "What is a Nation?" In: The Poetry of the Celtic Races, and Other Essays. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., 1896, pp. 61–83.
- ^ Preface to The Future of Science. London: Chapman & Hall, 1891.
- ^ The Future of Science. London: Chapman & Hall, 1891.
- ^ Manceron, Gilles (2005). Marianne et les Colonies: Une Introduction à l'Histoire Coloniale de la France. Editions La Découverte.
- ^ Manceron (2005).
- ^ Reparation, Restitution, and the Politics of Memory. De Gruyter. 2023. p. 2.
- ^ Renan considers the problem of a rational transformation by High Priest Antistius of the practice of human sacrifice into "a more humane, spiritual, and scientific form." See Brieux and Contemporary French Society, by William H. Scheifley, 408. https://books.google.com/books?id=_dIaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA408&lpg=PA408 Accessed 27 February 2014
- ^ English translation 2nd ed (2011), S.P. Ragep. Montréal, Canada: McGill University
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.
- ISBN 978-84-9027-297-8
- 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 Publishing 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. "Ernest Renan's Race Problem." The Historical Journal 58.1 (2015): 309–330. online, examines the polarized debate on whether or not Renan was racist.
- 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
- Media related to Ernest Renan at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Ernest Renan at Wikiquote
- Works by or about Ernest Renan at Wikisource
- French Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ernest Renan
- Works by Ernest Renan at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Ernest Renan at Internet Archive
- Works by Ernest Renan at JSTOR
- 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. {Reprinted by} Cornell University Library Digital Collections
- Société des Études renaniennes (Ernest Renan's Society website)
- Newspaper clippings about Ernest Renan in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW