Sciences and religions in the late modern period

34th Ottoman Sultan (1876-1909); he promulgated a constitution in 1876 and abrogated it in 1877, pursuing thereafter despotic policies affording censorship a key role. He advocated a pan-Islamist ideology with a view to rally his Muslim majority while repressing the minority groups, notably the Armenians. After the 1876-1878 war, under pressure from the European power who had allowed him to renegotiate a treaty with Russia, he accepted decisions of the Berlin treaty which provided for a status quo in the Balkans and got close to Germany. The Young Turks overthrew him on 1908 and forced him to reinstate the constitution. But following defeats in North Africa then in the Balkans, they soon adopted even more repressive policies.

English geologist Woodwardian professor of Geology at the University of Cambridge where he taught Darwin. (Though he continued to communicate and stayed on good terms with him, he disagreed with his theories).

a.k.a Harun Yahya was born in Ankara, Turkey where he received an education steeped in Islamic culture and notably the writing of Kurdish writer Said Nursi, author of a comprehensive Quranic commentary. Admitted at the Mimar Sinan University of Istanbul, he met up with other students to pray for one thing but also in order to counter the materialism ferried both in Marxism and Darwinism. In 1986 he enrolled in the Philosophy Department of Istanbul University. A few years later, he published a book entitled Judaism and Freemasonry based on conspiracy theories, in this instance directed at academic and media circles. He created the Science Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, BAV) and in 1995 the Foundation for Protection of National Values (or in Turkish Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı MDKV). His opposition to Darwinism earned him international attention through the distribution of thousands of copies of his Creation Atlas published in several languages. Well received in some predominantly Muslim countries, it was castigated by The Committee on Science and Education of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

French geologist Albert-Auguste Cochon de Lapparent was born in Bourges. A graduate from Polytechnique in 1858, he studied engineering at the École des mines in 1860. He came to geology after reading numerous papers and treatises often in German and following geologic expeditions lead by Élie de Beaumont (1798-1874) under whom he would contribute to the creation of a geologic map of France. In 1875 he was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the Catholic Institute in Paris where he would end his career. He was party to the International Scientific Congress of Catholics.

Training first at the Apostolic School in Avignon, he became a Jesuit in 1877completing in Ghazir a noviciate started in France. He studied philosophy and theology in Beirut. Ordained in 1888, he was appointed superior at Beirut, Saida, Tanail and Alepo. He died in Ghazir aged 80 after a debilitating old age.

Augustine of Hyppo a.k.a Aurelius Augustinus (354-430): early Christian convert. Bishop of Hippo Regius (modern-day Annaba, Algeria) and the most important father of the Western Christian Church. The greatest Latin theologian of Antiquity, he is the author of works that have nourished Western Christianity thinking form the Middle Ages to Modernity.

British mathematician, priest in the Church of England, Oxford professor. He was a leading figure in Anglican liberal theology before 1860. The Order of Nature: Considered in Reference to the Claims of Revelation (1859) is a set of essays seeking to promote a Christian vision of evolution. Father to Robert Baden Powell who founded the scout movement

German poet, playwright and influential theatre director.

System of thought: A set of expounded doctrines that may be formulated as axioms, along with the presuppositions and accepted methodology in their support and inferences.

French polymath (mathematician, physician, philosopher, theologian). Significantly, in a phrase that echoes down the centuries, he distinguishes between the “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars”.

Later Napoleon I: Born in Ajaccio (Corsica): admitted at the Brienne Military School in 1779, he studied warcraft. In 1796, during the French Revolution he was put in charge of the Army of Italy. In April 1797, he defeated the Italo-Austrian army thereby becoming a national hero and launched the Campaign of Egypt and Syria the following year. In spite of prestigious victories, it proved inconclusive and Bonaparte secretly returned in France to wrestle control through the Coup of 18 Brumaire. The resulting consulate let most powers slip into the hands of its First Consul who undertook in depth reforms in the country and had himself crowned emperor on 2 December 1804. From 1805 he would face down coalition after coalition aimed at breaking an hegemony that reached far beyond France's “natural” borders. Forced to abdicate after a disastrous Russian Campaign on 6 April 1814 he was exiled to Elba. After his return for the Hundred Days, he was finally defeated at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and exiled to Saint Helena until his death in 1821.

Maronite scholar converted to Protestantism, he is the author, among other works, of an Arabic dictionary and of the first six volumes of an Arabic encyclopedia. Bustānī's most significant activities were literary. He felt that Arabs should study the sciences as developed in the West and more broadly all aspects of “civilization” regardless of source. The volumes of his encyclopedia were an impressive contribution to that end. He believed, however, that such acculturation could be accomplished only if the Arabic language were molded into a pliable and effective means for expressing the concepts of modern thought, and he developed his dictionary to achieve that goal. In 1870 Bustānī began publication of al-Jinān (“The Shield”), a political and literary review that expressed his views on the need for a cultural revival. As a Christian, he also worked to spread a spirit of toleration and trust among the different religious groups.

c.f. I A 1 Note 5

Born in a family where industrial and academic traditions merged, Darwin first studied Medicine at Edinburgh University before starting a Arts degree at Christ's College Cambridge. His averred interest in and commitment to the natural sciences earned him a place on HMS Beagle for an around the world scientific expedition (1831-1836), when he trained on the spot through extensive naturalist observation and collecting while deepening his scientific reading thanks to the ship's library. Upon his return, he published his first scientific research and was, as from 1837, pondering the “transmutation” of species. After a long developmental phase, he published On the Origin of Species On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Immediately popular, the book was promptly translated in many languages. The theory it proposed gradually imposed evolutionism in scientific circles although natural selection, the mechanism suggested by Darwin, was disputed. In broader civil society the book was highly contentious.

Born in a family where industrial and academic traditions merged, Darwin first studied Medicine at Edinburgh University before starting a Arts degree at Christ's College Cambridge. His averred interest in and commitment to the natural sciences earned him a place on HMS Beagle for an around the world scientific expedition (1831-1836), when he trained on the spot through extensive naturalist observation and collecting while deepening his scientific reading thanks to the ship's library. Upon his return, he published his first scientific research and was, as from 1837, pondering the “transmutation” of species. After a long developmental phase, he published On the Origin of Species On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Immediately popular, the book was promptly translated in many languages. The theory it proposed gradually imposed evolutionism in scientific circles although natural selection, the mechanism suggested by Darwin, was disputed. In broader civil society the book was highly contentious.

daughter of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and Claude of France, married in 1589 to Ferdinando I, grand Duke of Tuscany and mother of Cosimo II de' Medici.

Leading lawyer and member of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is remembered as a fierce litigator, championing, in many cases, the cause of the underdog, and one of the greatest criminal defense lawyers in American history.

Greek mathematician and philosopher

Protestant missionary born in Colombia in the State of New York. He studied medicine at Jefferson. He settled in Beirut where he practiced medicine and taught at the Syrian Protestant College. After a thorough study of Arabic he drafted valuable textbooks on a range of subjects: algebra, geometry, chemistry, pathology, geography, poetry and syntax. He ran the Abeih seminary from 1846 to 1856. The set of presentations he organised promoting the debate on Darwinism altered his relationship with the institution's management.

son of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Christina of Lorraine, Grand-Duke of Tuscany from 1609 to 1621.

Dominican priest open to the idea of evolution. He published in 1887 his Evolution of Organic Species – which was consigned to the index by the Roman authority. He was forced to retract in 1895.

Physician neuropsychiatrist for Paris Hospitals, champion of special hospitals for mentally retarded children, which he helped create. Politically positioned on the radical left upon his election as Paris representative in 1873, he campaigned relentlessly for the secularization of hospital nursing in France.

Born in Northford Connecticut, he graduated from Yale in 1821. In 1826, he graduated from Andover Newton Theological School and was sent by the American Board of Commissioners For Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to Malta there to oversee their Printing operation. Already proficient in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, with a working knowledge of French, German and Italian, he learned Turkish, Armenian then Arabic during a first stay in Beirut. After living in the USA in 1832-33, he returned to Beirut in 1834. Thanks to his new press, Smith soon started printing documents in Arabic, including textbooks, Biblical passages, a hymnbook, catechisms, translations of religious standards and his and other missionaries' works. He also published Arabic classic texts. With a view to improve the quality of the materials, he created a new typeface known as “American Arabic”. He preached every day and took part in the mission's diverse activity. He undertook a field trip in the Hauran in 1834 and travelled further in 1838 and 1852 with Edward Robinson, author of Biblical Research in Palestine.

Lebanese poet born in Al-Muhaydithah, now part of Bikfaya. He migrated first to Egypt then to the United States and settled in New York in 1916, there to launch the review Mirat al-Gharb (Mirror of the West) and the paper Al-Samir (The Entertainer). In 1920, he joined al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya, (Pen League).

German zoologist who studied under J. Müller. Although trained as a physician (thesis in Vienna in 1857), Haeckel abandoned his practice in 1859 after reading Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He became interested in anatomy and comparative embryology and studied under Carl Gegenbauer in Jena for three years before becoming a professor of comparative anatomy in 1862. Between 1859 and 1866, he worked on many "invertebrate" groups, including radiolarians, poriferans (sponges) and annelids (segmented worms). He named nearly 150 new species of radiolarians during a trip to the Mediterranean.

"Invertebrates" provided the fodder for most of his experimental work on development, leading to his "law of recapitulation". Haeckel postulated the existence of a "gastraea"—an organism that resembled the gastrula and was, by extension, the ancestor of all the vertebrates.

He was the leading populariser of Darwinian evolustionist theories in Germany and Europe notably with his Natürlichen Schöpfungsgeschichte (The History of Creation, 1868) and Anthropogeny, 1874. He promoted a form of monism which some assimilated to materialism. Haeckel's speculative ideas and possible fudging of data, plus lack of empirical support for many of his ideas, tarnished his scientific credentials.

French philosopher, historian and orientalist. He first studied Catholic theology to become a priest but renounced priesthood as doubts beset him. A professor of Semitic languages at the Collège de France he represents the trend known as “scientisme" at the end of the 19th century. He took particular interest in the origins of Christianity, the history of the ancient kingdom of Israel, the history of languages and the relations between science and religions, to name but a few. He authored a great number of works, among which a Life of Jesus (1864), which scandalized Christian society as Jesus was presented as a humanist preacher without a supernatural aura and The future of Science (1891).

Ernest William Barnes (1874-1953): Anglican bishop. He taught mathematics at Cambridge before opting for a career within the Church of England leading to his appointment as bishop of Birmingham. He counted among the leaders of the modernist movement within that church and was, among other things, active in the Modern Churchmen's Union which published The Modern Churchmen. In the twenties, he delivered in London a series of sermons on evolution which became known at the “Gorilla Sermons”.

Born in Hasbaya, he also studied in the Syrian Protestant College (currently the American University of Beirut) . His championing of Darwin's theory forced his resignation. He published a novel, Animat (1908) and several translations. A Christian intellectual born in Hasbaya in Mount Lebanon, he was a co-founder of the review Al Muqtataf later transferred to Cairo where he also founded Al-Muqattam.

François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1854). Major French author. His 1802 Genius of Christianity is a paean to Christianity whose moral value he stresses as well as extolling its civilising powers. Chateaubriand thus intended to mount a defence of Christianity against the onslaughts of Enlightenment and the 1789 Revolution.

Christian thinker born in Hadath near Beirut. He studied at the Syrian Protestant College that was to become the American University of Beirut where he later taught. In the early twenties he joined his uncle at the helm of Al Muqtataf. He set up a high-brow popularising collection about scientific progress. He was also interested in literature and has left valued observations on famous Lebanese and Egyptian 20th century writers. The Lebanese government honoured him with several decorations, as did some foreign academic institutions.

French prehistorian and politician. He was an MP for the Radical party and mayor of St Germain en Laye in the 1980s. He used archaeology in support of his militantly anticlerical positions.

italian mathematician and astronomer. Galileo defended the Copernician system according to which the earth is not at the centre of the universe and extends it by stating that the universe does not have a centre (see previous chapter).

Canadian self-taught geologist and amateur scientist. A Seventh Day Adventist, he is mainly known for his creationist positions.

Born in Lebanon 6 January 1883 in Becharre, he died 10 April 1931 in New York, USA where he spent the best part of his life. His mother was the daughter of a Maronite priest. He did not receive any formal education as the family lived in poverty due to his father's improvidence. It is thanks to priests visiting his home that he studied Arabic and Syriac along with the Bible. His mother decided to remove her family to Boston where her uncle lived in what was then the most important Syro-Lebanese community in the United States. There, he attended a class designed to support the immigrants' study of English where, discovering his natural gift for drawing his teachers introduced him to Fred Holland Day. The artist encouraged him, opened his mind to ambient culture and got some his work printed. A first exhibition of his drawings took place in Boston in 1904. Gibran then returned to Lebanon to be grounded in his home culture and master written Arabic. He would later travel to Paris where he studied with Rodin. Gibran's best-known work is The Prophet. Made up with 26 Poetic texts, the book has been a notable hit with Counterculture of the sixties and with New Age sympathizers.

German philosopher, among the leading exponents of Enlightenment before Kant.

French priest and scientist. Ordained in the Catholic Church in 1900, he pursued his scientific career and became a world authority on Palaeolithic cave (parietal) art in the first half of the 20th century.

Belgian theologian and geologist. Foregoing his study of geology at the Catholic University of Leuven, he became a doctor in theology in 1885. In 1903, he became professor of geology in this same university. He devoted the bulk of his thinking to the question of evolution. In 1921, he published Darwinism and Catholic Thought, which was translated into English 1925.

British scientist. Specialised in comparative anatomy, he was one of Darwin's supporters. His contribution to some heated debates following the publication of On the origin of Species earned him the moniker of “Darwin's bulldog”.

Sheikh from Mecca. The term ‘sharif', meaning noble in Arabic denotes members of the descent of the Prophet wherein responsibility for the holy sites of Islam is placed. In 1916 Sharif Hussein formed an alliance with the British against the Ottomans in the belief that he had been granted the required guaranties for the establishment of a kingdom whereas neither its borders nor its nature had been defined. He was acknowledged king of Hejaz from 1916 to 1925 when, let down by his British allies he was ousted by clan chief Ibn Saud founder of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Great Muslim scholar, historian considered by many as the father of sociology. Born in Tunis in 1332, died in Cairo in 1406. His best known works are Muqaddimah (Prolegomenon) followed by Kitābu l-ibār, (Book of Lessons).

Ibn Taymiyyah ( b.1263 in Harran, Turkey, d. 1328 in Damascus): Sunni Muslim theologian and jurisconsult from the Hanbali school. He lived during the troubled times of the Mongol invasions and organised resistance against this threat in Damascus. He was firmly opposed to all innovation in religious practice and to some aspects of Tasawwuf and Sufism represented by Ibn Arabi. Some of his pronouncements went beyond the thinking in the Sunni schools and brought him into confrontation with Muslim scholars (fuqaha) with the result that he was oftentimes sent to jail where he eventually died.

His quest for purity often misrepresented as inflexibility had him associated to Wahhabism and Salafism but those who have delved into his complex thought rate him more nuanced.

Born in Jaffa in British Mandate Palestine, he was classically educated by his father who was a Muslim jurist before receiving a modern education in a Catholic establishment. In 1948 when the State of Israel was proclaimed, he left for Lebanon there to study at the American University of Beirut (AUB, earlier the Syrian Protestant College – see Chap I B of this course). One year later he received an MA from the University of Indiana (US). He also received an MA from Harvard for a dissertation entitled Justifying the Good : Metaphysics and Epistemology of Value; but he returned to Indiana to submit his thesis towards a Ph.D (1952). He went on to study Islam at Cairo and Christianity at Montreal. He taught in several North American universities as well as in Egypt and in Pakistan. From 1968 to 1986 He taught in the USA, in Temple University's Department of Religion.

As a philosopher, McCosh sought to reconcile Darwinism and Christianity. He is the author of Religious Aspects of Evolution (New York, 1888) among other works.

writer scholar and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland.

Originally a navy officer, he was taken with the desire to fly after Bleriot achieved the first flight across the Channel. From 1911, he took part in races and attempted “air firsts”. He contributed to the development of early seaplanes, leading the first seaplane squad in 1915 during WWI. Returned to civilian life, he worked in the budding aeronautic industry.

Enrolled in the army in 1920, he joined the air force and took part in the Levant War in 1922. Employed by Latécoère two years later, he was given the task in 1927 to expand the company's links in South America. Mermoz accomplished the first crossing of Southern Atlantic between Dakar and Natal on 12 and 13 May 1930, then the link Paris-Le Bourget/ Buenos Aires in January 1933. He joined the nationalist far-right leagues and became vice president of the Parti Social Français that emerged from their action. He went missing during a Southern Atalantic crossing on 7 December 1936.

French naturalist, curator and professor of invertebrate zoology at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Renowned specialist of the classification of invertebrates , he was among the first to frame a theory of the transformation of species by adaptation to the environment. It can be found summed up in his 1809 Zoological Philosophy.

English botanist and geologist, professor of botany at Cambridge University where he taught Darwin (whom he would later recommend to take his own place on board the Beagle).

German theologian and Archbishop of Munich and Freising and made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being elected pope (2005-2013) under the name of Benedict XVI. He is the third pope to have resigned his position.

Dutch writer and polemicist. Born in Germany, he studied at Cologne theological college and joined the Jesuit order in 1835. He taught dogmatic theology before becoming director of studies at the scholasticate for three years. he was sent to Beirut in 1865 to study Eastern languages for three years, after which he was granted permission to remain with the Syrian Mission in order to take part in the Arabic translation of the Bible towards which he made a significant contribution. He continued to work as a writer and copy-editor, as well as confessor for the next twenty years. The two last year of his life were beset with illness. He died after a stroke and is buried in Zahlé.

Pope from 1878 to his death. Leo continued in Pius IX footsteps but also developed an interest in social in social doctrine.

Lebanese Jesuit priest of Chaldean tradition. Renowned theologian, writer and Orientalist, he was the driving force behind the scientific studies of Arabic paleoChristian texts. He founded the review Al-Mashrîq which numbered 72 volumes on its first centenary in 1998. Al-Mashrîq is currently under the editorship of Father Salim Daccache.

Journalist and medical doctor, he is known for his popularising work both as editor of La Science illustrée and as the author of a set of works dealing with scientific techniques.

One of the founding fathers of modern biology, specifically bacteriology. His scientific research led to the development of several major disciplines in life sciences, namely metabolic biochemistry and microbiology, the study of pathogenic virus and bacteria, immunology. His “germ theory” and practice of vaccination have revolutionised the medical and veterinary sciences.

Catholic, member of the Franciscan Third Order at the end of the 1860s. When in 1868 she displayed stigmata, she became an object of interest far beyond the borders of her native Belgium. Journalists, religious and medical figures congregated around her. A church enquiry then an enquiry lead by the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine were set up which concluded to the authenticity of the phenomena they observed. A plea for the beatification of Louise Lateau was rejected in 2009.

professor at Boston University and an author of theological and historical works.

he studied under Galileo in Pisa. Become pope under the name of Urban VIII, he reigned from 1623 to 1644. He is remembered as a prominent patron of the arts.

professor of theoretical physics, emeritus at the time of the event under review.

cf. part2 of course I D

German theologian, professor and churchman. A member of the Augustinian religious order he rebelled against the Roman Catholic church for essentially theological and mystical reasons, asserting the primacy of Scripture (the Bible) and of faith. The turning point in his revolt is the publication in 1517 of the 95 new “theses” from which the beginning of the Reformation is dated. Luther's main writings were published in 1520 and his theories spread everywhere in Europe but gained a strong foothold mostly in the Holy Roman Empire's territory. His divergence with Rome mostly revolved around the gratuitousness of divine grace and the understanding of the Last Supper. A range of Protestant trends have their roots in his teaching. In 1525, he did not support the Peasant Revolts which drew their inspiration from his views on Christian freedom and he opposed Erasmus' humanism. From 1530 to his death in 1546, Luther was the guide of Protestant Christendom, way beyond the Holy Roman Empire.

Still a student in 1910, he watched Roland Garros fly. He enrolled as a pupil in the pilots' school in Pau and obtained his licence on 23 March 1911. A regular attender of air meetings, he completed in 1913 many “firsts”, the most famous of which remains his tour of European capitals between 10 June and 2 July 1913 Paris-Warsaw-Dwinsk-Saint-Petersburg-Reval-Stockholm-Copenhagen-La Hague-Paris, that is over 4 800 km, winning along the way the Pommery cup for the first longest flight between sunrise and sunset with his 1450 km flight between Paris and Warsaw. The youngest chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1913, he pursued a sportsman career before enrolling in 1914. He contributed to the Marne counter-offensive's success thanks to the information he passed back. He was shot down by friendly fire in 1916.

Moroccan philosopher, professor at the University of Rabat, he was a specialist of thought in the Arab and Muslim world from its origin to the present and well versed in 18th century European philosophic tradition. The necessity of critical thought, both as a methodology and as a mentality, convey Al Jabri's project in its entirety. In 1984, he published the first of four volumes of his Critique of the Arab Mind. In that same year Mohammed Arkoun published his Critique of Islamic Thought.

born in Kabylie in the French colony of Algeria. He follows in the Enlightenment tradition while adopting a critical approach of 18th century French philosophy. Enjoying international fame, as attested by his invitation to deliver the Gifford Lectures in 2001, he chose to discuss the “Inaugurating a Critique of Islamic Reason”. He taught the history of Islamic thought and “applied Islamology”, a discipline he created as an extension to Roger Bastide's applied anthropology, in a range of American and European universities (notably at the Sorbonne). He showed particular interest in the unthought in in classical and contemporary Islam

Born in a village of the Egyptian Delta, he studied at Al Azhar where he met Al-Afghâni and became his disciple. Forced into exile following the enforcement of the British protectorate, he settled in Beirut then in Paris where he founded with his master the review al-Urwah al-Wuthqa ("The Indissoluble Link") in 1884. Back in Egypt he was appointed to the highest religious posts without succeeding in bringing about the reform he wished on Al-Azhar. He is the author of many theological works among which a “Treatise on the oneness of God;” (1897)

Muslim scholar belonging to the Banu Tamim tribe settled in the Nedj in the centre of the Arabic peninsula, educated in the Hanbali school of jurisprudence. He studied in Basra, Mecca (where he opposed mufti Ibn Humaydi) and Medina. The earliest and most telling expressions of his singularity were his rejection of the cult of “saints” which he deemed idolatrous. He ceased being an outsider when he formed an alliance with a tribe leader in the person of Muhammad ibn Saud on the basis of an oath of loyalty (bay'ah) supposedly exchanged in 1744. Henceforward both families' destinies would be closely connected in all their ups and downs. He wrote several books among which Kitab at-Tawhid (The Book of the Unity of God). See also Module 2 of this course Chap. II C 2

Born in a village from northern Lebanon, Muhammad Rashid Rida went to Cairo to study. There he cofounded the review Al-Manar (1898-1940) with Muhammad ‘Abduh whose intellectual heritage he would claim in its integrity after his death. During the twenties he sought to establish a new kind of caliphate after its abolition decided by Atatürk in 1924; He clashed with other “reformist” clerics such as Ali Abdel Raziq whose condemnation he called for. He enjoyed financial backing from Ibn Saud towards the promotion of his works and warned against the ideology ferried by the Muslim Brotherhood the first unit of which was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna.

c.f. I A 1 Note 6

Exegete of the Quran born in an Egyptian village near Tanta. He was sent to Nasser's jails aged twelve on suspicion of sympathies with the Muslim Brothers. Trained as an electrical engineer he worked for the National Communications Organization in Cairo. At that time, he started studying Arabic at the University of Cairo where he graduated with a BA then an MA in 1977. Four years later, his studies on Quranic interpretation earned him his PhD in Islamic studies. In 1982, he joined the faculty of the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Cairo University as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor there in 1987. However the nature of his teaching and research resulted in attacks from ulama and fundamentalist elements: in a hisbah trial they started against him, he was declared an apostate (murtadd), and consequently was declared to be divorced from his wife and denied full professorship. With his life at risk, he fled with his wife and settled in the Netherlands where he continued to teach until his death.

Polish priest, physician and astronomer who set forth the theoretical bases of heliocentric cosmology.

professor of theology and philosophy at the university of Messina.

Austrian philosopher of science who disputes the importance of a strict metholodgy for scientific progress and stands for an anarchist approach to sciences.

French priest and palaeontologist. An Oratorian father he received Holy Orders in Rennes in 1872. On the advice of his hierarchy, he undertook the study of palaeontology and prehistory in order to be in a position to defend the Bible and the Catholic faith against the attack it sustained. He was one of the upholders of the French Concordist apologetics at the turn of the century and opposed the Evolutionist theory.

Pierre Theillard de Chardin (1881-1955): French Jesuit and paleontologist. Ordained in the Catholic Church in 1911, he studied geology and paleontology at the Musée d'histoire naturelle and undertook a scientific and philosophical reflection leading to a theory of evolution compatible with Christian spirituality. Forbidden by his hierarchy to publish on this subject, he was made to leave France. He conducted paleontological research of major significance in China. His most important work, The Phenomenon of Man, was published in 1955, after his death, on the initiative of a lay Catholic friend whom Theillard had entrusted with his manuscripts in order for them to be published uncensored.

Founder in 1918 of the Compagnie générale aéropostale which was taken over in 1927 byPierre Bouilloux-Lafont, the major of Etampes and conseiller général for Seine-et-Oise, then by the French State en 1931. Two years later, it would become part of the national carrier Air France. Originally that French airline had specialized in airborne postal services. The leading line was pushed towards Senegal via Spain and Morocco (Toulouse-Casablanca, Casablanca-Dakar); it went on to establishd itself in south America, creating a network that linked Brasil to Chile via Argentina. Antoine de saint-Exupéry has described its pilots' daily life in his 1931 novel Night Flight.

cf. I B 2 note 14

Pope from 1846 to his death. Pius IX epitomises the Roman Catholic Church's attempts to resist modernity. He answers for the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception, the first Vatican Council (which defined papal infallibility in 1870) and the 1864 Syllabus, namely a catalogue of 80 errors relating to rationalism, the scientific approach, liberalism or freedom of conscience (viz. http://www.piustheninth.com/apps/app36.htm).

Scottish naturalist, publisher and populariser. He is the author and publisher of many texts aimed at the masses. In 1844 he had Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation published anonymously. The book was very well received in the United Kingdom where it launched a broad debate on the evolution of living things even before Darwin's On the Origin of Species had come out.

Italian Jesuit theologian. Leading light among apologetics specialist in the confessional debates at the turn of the 17th century; canonized as a doctor of the Catholic Church.

An all-around sportsman (cycling, football, motor racing), he attended the 1909 Aviation week. With an Ae.C.F. licence gained in 1910, he took part in countless “air firsts” and races (circuit d'Anjou, Vienna meeting). Contracted to Morane-Saulnier, he achieved the feat of linking for the first time two continents, Europe and Africa in 1913. Called up in 1914, he invented a deflecting system enabling him to shoot through his propeller and became one of the Great War's flying aces before being killed in a dogfight in 1918.

Bishop in the Church of England (Oxford then Winchester), he was a high churchman, that is belonging to a current resistant to the modernisation of dogma and rites. An outstanding public speaker, he is remembered for his opposition to Darwinism.

Al-Afghani was a scholar trained in the Shia tradition but seeking to promote a united Muslim front against external threats. He deployed considerable activity from Cairo, Istanbul, Paris Teheran. He kept up relationships with influent actors. One time member of a Masonic lodge, he no less proposed to fight European domination at political, military and cultural level. He wrote a Refutation of the Materialists (Al-Radd 'ala al-Dahriyyi, 1881) and co-founded the review al-Urwah al-Wuthqa ("The Indissoluble Link") with Muhammad Abduh in Paris in 1884. He is considered as compulsory reading in reference to “Islamic reformism”, a term diversely and sometimes contradictorily understood.

British biologist, protestant converted to Catholicism. He taught natural history in the Catholic universities of London (the short-lived London Catholic University College) and Leuven. In On the Genesis of Species (1871), he endeavored to reconcile the evolutionary theory with Catholic doctrine. Articles published in the review Nineteenth Century in 1892 and 1893 on the question of relations between science and religion were put on the Index. He was excommunicated for other articles in 1900.

Indian Muslim reformer called “modernist” by friend and foe. Born in the Mughal aristocracy and son to Mughal Akbar's chief adviser, he accepted British colonization and took a leaf of British institutions, discipline and methodology in his life work.

He was loyal to the English during the Great Mutiny but no less wrote The Causes of the Indian Mutiny which was critical of the British policies in India. Visiting England in 1869 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. Promoting co-operation with British authorities, Sir Syed founded a modern schools, notably in Muradabad and Ghazipur, religious schools which also imparted scientific education. Sir Syed also worked on social causes. Upon his transfer to Aligarh in 1864, Sir Syed began working wholeheartedly as an educator developing the university. He founded the Scientific Society of Aligarh, the first scientific association of its kind in India. Modeling it on the Royal Society Sir Syed assembled Muslim scholars from different parts of the country.

American philosopher and historian of science. He took a particular interest in the historical development of scientific theories.

young teacher made famous throughout the world by the 1925 court case.

Danish astronomer who developed a cosmology according to which the earth retained its place at the centre of the universe whilst the planets revolved around the sun.

three times Democratic candidate to the US presidency, W.J. Bryan had been secretary of state under President Wilson. He retired from political activity in 1917 to protest the United States joining the war. Before and during his retirement he was a noted public speaker, much in demand to expound the Evangelical viewpoint.

Anglican priest, theologian and philosopher. He was one of the leading proponents of “Natural Theology” in the 19th century.

American dentist famous for setting up the first public demonstrations of ether's anesthetic effectiveness after testing it on a few patients on 1846.

was born near Beirut and studied at the Syrian Protestant College (currently the American University of Beirut) where he also taught. The publications he founded with his colleague Faris Nimr took a pro-British stance and ruffled some feathers among Egyptian independentists. AJOUTER: A Christian intellectual, he was a co-founder of the review Al Muqtataf later transferred to Cairo where he also founded Al-Muqattam

Born in Sidon, he studied Islamic jurisprudence for seven years at Al Azhar University. He went on to teach Arabic at Abeih American Seminary then at the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut and the Maronite Collège de la Sagesse. He acted as public prosecutor in Beirut and Acco then worked as chief corrector of Arabic public publications at the Ministry of education in Istanbul. He also published a collection of poems in Beirut in 1888 and treatises on Islamic law. He counts among the pioneers of the 19th century Arabic revival.

Egyptian geologist, a graduate of the University of Cairo and the University of Wales (UK). a member of the Geological Society of London and the Geological Society of Egypt, he quit his academic career in order to preside over the Committee of Scientific Notions in the Qur'an, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Egypt. In 1989, he co-founded the International Commission on Scientific Signs of the Quran and Sunna. He claims a) that the Quran is not a scientific textbook or a record of scientific discoveries but b) that a survey of its 1000 or more verses relating to the cosmos, man and his surroundings, can be one of the most patently miraculous aspects of the Quran. He has written over 40 books among which The Geological Concept of Mountains in the Quran (2003).