Admiration for Muslim civilization intensified Christian theological opposition to Islam

Evidence

Riccoldo feels the attraction of Muslim civilization—its wealth, culture, learning; indeed, this attraction makes it all the more necessary for him to affirm his Christian identity, to argue for the superiority of Christianity over the “Saracen perfidy.” Christendom is in peril, and Riccoldo needs to reassure his reader (and himself) that God is still on the Christians’ side. To do so, he has to explain Islam’s role in Christian history and to define it theologically. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 46

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds the genealogical claim already held via Anidjar/Aziz about how proximity and interpenetration, not mere ignorance, fuel anti-Muslim polemic — the harder the attraction, the sharper the repulsion.
• SEED: Contrarian angle for an essay: the closer and more attractive medieval Christians found Muslim civilization, the more fiercely they polemicized — Islamophobia’s intensity tracked intimacy of contact, not ignorance of it.