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Prophet of Reason

Science, Religion and the Origins of the Modern Middle East
Brief Description
An eighteen-year-old reads Voltaire and Volney and loses his religion. It’s 1818 in Ottoman Damietta, and Muslims and Christians are questioning everything. Mikha’il Mishaqa walks away from the Catholic Church. Thirty years later, in 1848, he announces his new faith: Evangelical Protestantism, scandalising his community and... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A portrait of Enlightenment science, religious identity and empire in the making of the modern Middle Eastern world

A portrait of Enlightenment science, religious identity and empire in the making of the modern Middle Eastern world

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An eighteen-year-old reads Voltaire and Volney and loses his religion. It’s 1818 in Ottoman Damietta, and Muslims and Christians are questioning everything. Mikha’il Mishaqa walks away from the Catholic Church. Thirty years later, in 1848, he announces his new faith: Evangelical Protestantism, scandalising his community and kicking off a battle of polemics.

The world darkens. In 1860, Mishaqa barely escapes death in the most notorious event in Damascus: a massacre of several thousand Christians. We are presented with a paradox: rational secularism and violent religious sectarianism came of age at the same time.

By tracing Mishaqa’s life through this tumultuous era, where empires jostled for control, Peter Hill answers the question: What did people in the Middle East actually believe? It’s a world where one man could be a Sunni, Jew, and Orthodox Christian in the span of his life, and German missionaries walked naked in the streets of Valletta.

Prophet of Reason by Peter Hill offers a captivating exploration of faith and identity during a time of great upheaval, shedding light on the complex tapestry of beliefs that shaped the Middle Eastern landscape.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780861547364

Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 May 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Oneworld Academic

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 27.0mm

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 368

About the Author

Peter Hill is a historian of the modern Middle East, specialising in the Arab world in the long nineteenth century. He is the author of Utopia and Civilisation in the Arab Nahda and has published articles in Past & Present, the Journal of Arabic Literature, and Journal of Global History.

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