Jewish identity shaped Goldziher’s orientalism in direct reaction to Renan’s racial theories

Evidence

Rather than view orientalism as a homogenous Christian cultural enterprise, we should note that Goldziher’s views on Islam and cultural transmission in general were profoundly shaped by his Jewishness and his intense disagreement with Ernest Renan, the most significant scholar of the French school of orientalism. Renan’s delineation of Aryan and Semitic peoples—he claimed that the latter were creatively and imaginatively barren compared to the former—led Goldziher to assert the adaptability of ancient Hebrew culture and the extent to which ancient Israelites borrowed elements of culture from surrounding peoples to create something entirely new. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 397 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A Jewish scholar’s orientalism directly opposed Renan’s Aryan-Semite hierarchy — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 397

Broader Connections

• A Jewish scholar’s orientalism directly opposed Renan’s Aryan-Semite hierarchy #corroborates (0.95) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 397