Jules Ferry and Henri Maret: The Battle of Church and State at the Sorbonne, 1879-1884

Abstract

This dissertation examens the battle between church and state at the University of Paris, 1879-1884. Jules Ferry, the Minister of Public Instruction for the French Third Republic, wished to secularize education in France through a series of legislative actions in order to modernize France, as he understood the term. Henri Maret, the Dean of the Theology Faculty at the Sorbonne, sought to prevent this. This dissertation explores the ensuing conflict between Ferry and Maret in order to analyze the strategies and rationalle uitlized by each in order to illustrate ongoing ramifications for larger church and state issues, not only in France, but throughout Europe.