A new and holistic interpretation of one of the non-fiction sensations of the nineteenth century, Ernest Renan's Life of Jesus, this volume demonstrates how Renan's controversial work intervened in a remarkable range of debates in nineteenth-century French cultural life: not merely religious, but also social, intellectual, and cultural.

• 1: Introduction


• 2: The Author


• 3: The Book


• 4: The Debate


• 5: The Audience


• 6: The Legacy


• Epilogue: Saint Renan


• Bibliography

Robert D. Priest studied at University College London, wrote a doctorate at Oxford, and was then a Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is the author of numerous articles on culture and ideas in nineteenth-century France. This is his first book.