{"id":3492,"date":"2026-05-05T12:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hosting2.northumbria.ac.uk\/reason-religion-ottoman-syria\/?page_id=3492"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:04:11","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hosting2.northumbria.ac.uk\/reason-religion-ottoman-syria\/?page_id=3492","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Reason and religion in Ottoman Syria<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The project is centred around a close microhistorical study of one remarkable individual, Mikha\u2019il Mishaqa (1800-1888). He was raised as a Catholic in Mount Lebanon, but in his youth became a deist and sceptic. After playing important roles in the rapidly changing politics of Ottoman Syria, Mishaqa converted to Protestantism in 1848, and re-emerged as a pamphleteering defender of his newly-adopted Evangelical faith. His personal trajectory, and the voluminous archive of manuscripts, printed tracts, and correspondence he left behind, provides a unique entry-point into the changing religious politics of Ottoman Syria, and wider debates around the roles of religion and reason in the Middle East.<\/p>

Another strand of the project moves out from Mishaqa to examine the transformation of the role and status of religion in the Arab-Ottoman world over the long nineteenth century. This period saw the beginnings of a secular tradition of critical thinking in Arabic, often associated with the \u2018Nahda\u2019 or cultural \u2018revival\u2019. Yet it also saw the origins of modern sectarian politics \u2013 which Mishaqa himself, notably, experienced in the Damascus violence of 1860 \u2013 and of religious revivalist movements, Christian and Muslim. The project examines the intertwined roots of these two apparently opposed phenomena.<\/p>

A further strand aims to bring these historical investigations into dialogue with contemporary debates over religion and critical thinking in the Arab world. Polarities between religious identity and secularism continue to shape Arab politics, society, and culture. The project aims to stimulate a conversation between such debates and a reconsideration of the entangled historical origins of the secular and religious revivalist traditions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reason and religion in Ottoman Syria<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Reason and Religion in Ottoman Syria was a research project organised by Peter Hill<\/a> (Northumbria University) and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) via a Research, Development, and Engagement Fellowship (2022-24).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Sources of images used on this website:<\/span><\/p>\n

Khalili Collection, Islamic Art mss 0300, fol. 108b-109a. Wikimedia Commons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Khalili Collection, Islamic Art mss 1164, fol. 19b-20a. Wikimedia Commons.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Description de l\u2019Egypte.<\/i> 1. Vue d\u2019un village situ\u00e9 sur le Nil pr\u00e8s de Damiette; 2. Vue de Belbeys. New York Public Library, Wikimedia Commons.
Description de l\u2019Egypte<\/i>. 1. 1-3. Vues de trois villages situ\u00e9s sur la branche de Damiette; 4. Vue de la p\u00eache sur le lac Menzaleh. New York Public Library, Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Amulet. Sudanese, 19th century. Wellcome Collection, Wikimedia Commons.<\/span><\/p>

Mikha’il Mishaqa: photograph from American University of Beirut.<\/span><\/p>

Cover image of Prophet of Reason<\/i> (Oneworld Publications).<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Letter from Mikha’il Mishaqa to Eli Smith. Syria Mission Records, UPCUSA, Presbyterian Historical Society.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Beirut from the American University. American Colony (Jerusalem), c. 1900. Library of Congress.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reason and religion in Ottoman Syria The project is centred around a close microhistorical study of one remarkable individual, Mikha\u2019il […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3492","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - 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