Aquinas held Muslims convertible by argument and opposed forced conversion
Evidence
In the Summa Theologica, Aquinas specifically allows for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. Only he argued that they should not be compelled to convert. The chief aim of another of his books, the Summa contra Gentiles, was precisely to provide theological ammunition for debates with Muslims, Jews and heterodox Christians. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 596
Categorization
- QUESTION: Worth chasing the fuller context of Aquinas’s missionary strategy toward Islam as compared with actual medieval practice of coercion.
Related
- Aquinas aimed the Summa contra gentiles at multiple non-Christian audiences (similarity 0.80)
- Aquinas attacked Muhammad for lacking miracles, a core trope of anti-Islamic polemic (similarity 0.80)
- Aquinas wrote against Islam on direct Dominican request via MartĂ (similarity 0.79)
- Aquinas advocated compelling Jews to hear sermons since that coercion was politically feasible (similarity 0.78)