Sacred Rivals: Catholic Missions and the Making of Islam in Nineteenth-Century France and Algeria

2022·3.4 MB·English

by  Joseph W. Peterson

Sacred Rivals

Sacred Rivals
Catholic Missions and the Making of Islam in
Nineteenth-Century France and Algeria
•
Joseph W. Peterson
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Portions of Chapter 1 are adapted from Joseph W. Peterson, “‘Admiration . . . for All That Is
Sincerely Religious’: Louis Veuillot and Catholic Representations of Islam and Empire in July
Monarchy France” in French Historical Studies Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 475–507. Copyright, 2017,
Society for French Historical Studies. All rights reserved. Republished by permission of the
publisher. www.dukeupress.edu
Portions of Chapter 2 are adapted from Joseph W. Peterson, “Honor, Excrement, Ethnography:
Colonial Knowledge Between Missionary and Militaire in French Algeria,” Journal of Modern
History, Volume 93, Number 1, March 2021, pp. 34–67. © 2021 by The University of Chicago.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Peterson, Joseph W., author.
Title: Sacred rivals: Catholic missions and the making of Islam in
nineteenth-century France and Algeria / Joseph W. Peterson.
Description: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022000787 (print) | LCCN 2022000788 (ebook) | ISBN 9780197605271
(hardback) | ISBN 9780197605295 (epub) | ISBN 9780197605301
Subjects: LCSH: Catholic Church--Missions--Algeria--History. | Catholic
Church--Relations--Islam. | Missions, French--Algeria--History. |
Islam--Relations--Catholic Church. | Islam--Public opinion--History. |
Algeria--Religion--19th century. | Algeria--Foreign public opinion,
French. | Algeria--Relations--France. | France--Relations--Algeria.
Classification: LCC BV3585 .P48 2022 (print) | LCC BV3585 (ebook) | DDC
266/.20965--dc23/eng/20220315
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000787
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000788
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
“Sincerely Religious”: Louis Veuillot and Catholic Representations of Islam
and Empire 15
Chapter 2
God and Caesar: Missionaries and Militaires in Colonial Algeria 41
Chapter 3
White unto Harvest: Religion, Race, and the Jesuit Mission Arabe at
Constantine 66
Chapter 4
Crusade of Charity: Liberal Catholic Roots of the Civilizing Mission 89
Chapter 5
Conspiracy to Massacre: Liberal Catholics and the Invention of
Pan-Islamism 113
Chapter 6
Worthy of His Hire: Charles Lavigerie, Algerian Muslims, and Missionary
Fundraising 141
Chapter 7
Compel Them to Come: Algerian Students and Colonial Racism between
France and Algeria 175
Epilogue 201
Notes 209
Bibliography 255
vii

Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to recognize some of the people who helped make this book a
reality. I am thankful to John Merriman at Yale University, not only for his
scholarly guidance but also for his friendship. John passed away as this book was
making its way through production. He was a deeply generous person—gener-
ous with his time; generous in facilitating contact with his innumerable friends
in the field of French history; generous in offering his understanding and sup-
port. He was well-known across the historical profession and beyond for being
a captivating lecturer and a clear and prolific writer. He was also known for his
devotion to family, kindness, and lack of pretension. In me, he took a chance
on a relatively inexperienced historian of France and faithfully supported me
throughout my studies and afterward. I owe him more than I can express. Like-
wise, Maurice Samuels and Jay Winter at Yale University, and Thomas Kselman
at Notre Dame University offered encouragement and constructive suggestions
at crucial moments throughout the process of writing this book. I owe them each
a debt of gratitude. Adam Tooze and Charles Walton were both also a source of
encouragement and support. Miranda Sachs and Grey Anderson both carefully
slogged through portions of what became this book and gave valuable feedback.
Many other scholars have offered perceptive comments on individual chap-
ter drafts, at various conferences and workshops—too many thoughtful inter-
ventions to recount. An interdisciplinary workshop with other Social Science
Research Council dissertation research fellows introduced me to concepts and
scholars that became useful in my work. Chapter 1, in particular, benefited from
the help of Chantal Verdeil, Carol Harrison, and the reviewers of French His-
torical Studies, where an earlier version of this chapter (as well as portions of
the introduction and epilogue) appeared. Parts of the introduction, chapter 2,
and chapter 3 have previously appeared in the Journal of Modern History, where
Jan Goldstein and the outside readers made many suggestions for improvement.
Some lines and research from chapter 2 also appeared in the Los Angeles Review
of Books. Todd Shepard graciously invited me to workshop a section with the
history department at Johns Hopkins University, where comments by Faisal
Abualhassan and others were thought-provoking and led to some last-minute
ix