How did Ernest Renan apply positivist methods to the study of religion?

Ernest Renan applied the principles of positivism—a school of thought emphasizing observed facts and a scientific spirit—to the study of religion by shifting the focus from theology to historical analysis.1

His most notable application of this method was in his work Life of Jesus (1863), where he placed Jesus within a strictly historical perspective rather than a theological one. By treating religious figures and events as subjects of historical inquiry, Renan sought to demystify religious origins. He further developed this approach in his series The History of the Origins of Christianity, which examined the spread of Christianity among the urban proletariat of Asia Minor.12

Renan’s work often presented a "mythical" account of how religious movements were shaped by popular imagination. Through this scientific, empirical lens, he aimed to reconcile the growing antagonism between science and religion that characterized 19th-century intellectual life.23