Renan’s 1883 lecture “Islam and Science” reflects these assumptions, though the achievements of the Enlightenment inform his insights as well. Renan portrays Islam as a monolithic religion possessing a fixed essence and set of cultural traits that make it inferior to European civilization:

DEFINE: This illustrates the concept of essentialist Orientalism—treating a complex religion as having a single unchanging nature. XREF: Connects to Edward Said's critique of Orientalism and the broader tradition of Western intellectual framing of non-European cultures.

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 194