author
Carl Heinrich Becker
1876–1933
A pioneering German scholar of Islam and the modern Middle East, he also helped reshape higher education in the Weimar era. His work moved easily between academic research and public life, giving him an unusual place in early 20th-century intellectual history.
1 Audiobook
Christianity and Islam
by Carl Heinrich Becker
About the author
Born in Amsterdam on April 12, 1876, and later active in Germany, Carl Heinrich Becker became known as an orientalist with a strong interest in Islam and the contemporary Middle East. He is widely described as one of the founders of a more modern, present-focused approach to Oriental studies rather than a purely classical one.
Becker was not only a scholar but also a public figure. He served as Prussian Minister for Culture in 1921 and again from 1925 to 1930, and he is remembered as an important reformer of higher education during the Weimar Republic.
That combination of scholarship and policy makes him especially interesting today: his career joined research, education, and government at a moment when European universities and ideas about the modern Middle East were both being reshaped.