A leading French scholar tells of his extraordinary life in this 1883 memoir. Born to a family of fishermen, Renan was educated at the ecclesiastical seminary in his home town; developed a questioning mind and a passion for philosophy, Catholicism, and mathematics; helped define the modern notion of nationhood; and published his controversial Life of Jesus.
A leading French scholar tells of his extraordinary life in this 1883 memoir. Born to a family of fishermen, Renan was educated at the ecclesiastical seminary in his home town; developed a questioning mind and a passion for philosophy, Catholicism, and mathematics; helped define the modern notion of nationhood; and published his controversial Life of Jesus.