Renan, Heschel and Race

Heschel’s Thesis: Although Heschel finds Renan’s arguments about Judaism inconsistent, Heschel argues that Renan provides a “vocabulary and logic” for the racialization of Christian theology.

Renan’s Thesis: Renan develops a fluid race theory in order to advance his argument that Jesus evolved out of the Semitic race, allowing for the complete divorce of Judaism and Christianity.