Manufacturing Huguenot identity (Cabanel)

Patrick Cabanel (EPHE-PSL) is the most prolific Historian of Protestantism in today's France, with many major contributions. His last book deals with identity making.

At the beginning of the XIXth Century, the French Huguenots had emerged very weakened from centuries of persecution. But still alive ! These Protestants became specialists in commemoration, in the making of places of memory, of museums, emphasizing heroes and heroines. In doing so, they transformed the identity of the group: it was no longer just religious, as it has been the case for three centuries; it became historical, memorial, cultural.

It is increasingly disconnected from practice and belief, even from endogamy, and capable of being transmitted over generations.

A must-read book, which would deserve a translation in english.

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Evangelical missionary & accusations of souperism in Ireland

Good news ! Under the title of "Education, Famine, and Conversion: Evangelical missionary strategies and accusations of souperism in Ireland, 1800-1853", Karina Wendling (PSL / EPHE, GSRL) completed her PhD.

It will be defended on the 13th of June, 2022.

Professors Peter Gray and Patrick Cabanel directed the thesis.

In the particular context of Protestant Ascendancy, Catholics perceived Protestant charity during the Great Irish Famine (1845-51) not as genuine relief but as Souperism - or the bribing of souls. This thesis comes within the framework of preceding research that has focused on the cultural and political implications of this fight for souls and examines overlooked aspects of the context in which these accusations appeared to better understand how missionary strategies disrupted the religious territoriality in a time of growing Irish nationalism.

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Non-violence in French Protestantism and its literary translations

The French website CAIRN is an amazing ressource, including an international edition which allows many scholars to have an insight into top-level publications in french.

Here is an example with Patrick Cabanel's article about Non-violence in French Protestantism during World War One.

"French protestants played a part in the emergence of radical pacifism and non-violence during the First World War. The values and actions of Bertin Aguillon and Jules-Philippe Guiton, two young methodist ministers who died in 1914 and 1917, are well documented, the latter having kept a diary that has recently been published. This is not the case of Cévenol Roux and the Berthalon du Dauphiné brothers who, for many years, took refuge in the mountains. (...)  Patrick Cabanel suggests opening this chapter on protestant radical pacifism, between history and literature."

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