Ernest Renan

French philosopher and writer (1823–1892)

AI overview

Ernest Renan was a French philosopher and writer who lived from 1823 to 1892 and became influential in nineteenth-century intellectual circles. He matters because his work helped shape modern European thought during a period of significant cultural and scientific change.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Joseph
Gender: male
Citizenship: France
Place of birth: Tréguier
Place of death: 5th arrondissement of Paris
Occupation: theologian
Educated at: Collège de France
Employer: Bibliothèque nationale de France
Languages spoken: Hebrew
Native language: French
Religion: Catholic Church
Award: Imperial Order of the Rose
Notable work: Life of Jesus
Academic degree: Doctor of Arts
Doctoral advisor: Etienne Marc Quatremère
Student of: Arthur-Marie Le Hir
Field of work: religious studies
Image: Ernest Renan 1876-84.jpg

Show 14 more facts

described by source: Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
place of burial: Montmartre Cemetery
Commons category: Ernest Renan
date of death: 1892-10-12
member of: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Commons Creator page: Ernest Renan
name in native language: Ernest Renan
writing language: French
start of work period: 1848-00-00
has written for: Journal des débats
date of birth: 1823-02-28
contributed to creative work: Popular Science
birth name: Joseph Ernest Renan
P12749: Wilhelm Zaisser

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

36 objects attributed to Ernest Renan, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~33 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Joseph Ernest Renan (/rəˈnɑːn/; French: [ʒozɛf ɛʁnɛst ʁənɑ̃]; 27 February 1823 – 2 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, writing on Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote works on the origins of early Christianity, and espoused popular political theories especially concerning nationalism, national identity, and the superiority of white people over other human races.

Renan is among the first scholars to advance the Khazar theory, which held that Ashkenazi Jews were descendants of the Khazars, Turkic peoples who had adopted the Jewish religion and allegedly migrated to central and eastern Europe following the collapse of their khanate. On this basis he alleged that the Jews were "an incomplete race."

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ernest Renan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.