Ernest Renan

Discover the story of this extraordinary figure!

The essence of education lies not in the doctrine taught, but in the awakening of the mind.

An astonishing figure

Have you heard of Ernest Renan? Few people really know who Ernest Renan was. And yet few figures in the world have had such a profound impact on their era or been the subject of such enthusiasm and such major scandals.

In many fields, Renan challenged so many established ideas. Even today, he remains one of the key pioneers and inspirations of modern thought.Renan was, above all, a writer. Whether for newspapers or books, he wrote extensively on religions, the literature of the East, philological matters, and also the sciences…the sciences that fascinated him and which revolutionised his initial life choices.

Who was this brilliant scholar? A believer who doubted? Or a scientist who subjected his faith to the scrutiny of reason? Throughout his school years, he excelled in every subject. He studied extensively and travelled widely. His thinking was therefore extremely rich yet complex. He experienced both affluence and hardship, recognition and incomprehension, fame and hostility, rejection and glory… And like George Sand, who was among his friends and those he admired, he moved in the intellectual circles of the time….

Two hundred years after his birth, Renan certainly deserves a little revival in the collective memory…