Darwin and the Crisis of 1882 in the Medical Department: And the First Student Protest in the Arab World in the Syrian Protestant College

by Shafik Jeha, Helen Khal (Editor), Sally Kaya (Translator)

When chemistry professor Edwin Lewis praised Darwin's methods in his 1882 commencement speech at Beirut's Syrian Protestant College, he set off a fierce and extended battle over freedom of expression between liberals and conservatives that over the next few years caused nearly half the senior faculty to resign, many students to be suspended, and enrollment to plunge. Although the conservatives initially won adoption of a Christian "Declaration of Principles" mandatory for all faculty, it was repealed by 1902.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 30, 2005

Reviews

[Avempace]

I read this book in the original Arabic. It is hard to appreciate nowadays how much the Darwinian theory resonated with key figures in the Arab cultural renaissance of the late 19th century. The upheaval amongst students and faculty at the Syrian Protestant College (the precursor to the present day American University of Beirut), related to the sacking in 1882 of a professor sympathetic to the Darwinian theory was symptomatic of the larger ferment among the Arab intellectual circles at the time. The exodus to Egypt of the some of the figures involved is of importance in the subsequent emergence of Cairo as a pan Arab cultural center. The book is an authoritative documentation of the events and their aftermath, written by a well known Lebanese historian. Recommended.

[Medhat Siddik]

As a medical graduate from AUB, this book gave a very interesting overview into the history and founding figures of my alma mater. Even thought I did my undergraduate in biology, this entire turbulent period in the history of the university was never mentioned when talking about evolution!