author
George Bethune English
1787–1828
A Harvard-educated writer who moved from early American religious controversy into a far more unusual life of travel, diplomacy, and military service in the Middle East. His books mix sharp argument with firsthand experience, making him a strikingly unconventional figure of the early 1800s.
4 Audiobooks
A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy
by George Bethune English
The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the Old
by George Bethune English
Five Pebbles from the Brook
by George Bethune English
About the author
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1787, George Bethune English studied at Harvard and first became known through religious debate. His best-known early work, The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing the New Testament with the Old (1813), challenged orthodox Christian arguments and helped establish his reputation as a bold and combative writer.
English later took his life in a very different direction. Reliable biographical sources describe him as an adventurer, diplomat, soldier, and a convert to Islam. He is also remembered for A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar, a firsthand account connected to Muhammad Ali's Egypt and the campaign into Nubia and Sennar.
That combination of scholar, polemicist, traveler, and participant in major events gives his writing a distinctive energy. He died in 1828, leaving behind a small but unusual body of work that stands at the crossroads of American religious history and early nineteenth-century encounters with the Middle East.