By 830s Christian apologists accepted Islam’s permanence and dropped apocalyptic hope
Evidence
Sophronios looks forward to the imminent destruction of the Saracens, whose role in the divine scheme of history he limits to a brief cameo appearance as divine chastisement, an unpleasant but necessary interlude in the reign of the Christian Roman empire. Over the next several years, the Muslim invaders showed no signs of going away. Sophronios himself had to surrender Jerusalem to the caliph ‘Umar; in the last of his sermons to come down to us, he bewails the desolation wreaked by the Saracens and predicted by the prophets; the Saracens, he complains, boast that they are subduing the whole world. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 298 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
The prophecy of Methodius foretold that the Arabs, for the sins of the Christians, would leave the desert in such numbers and strength as to dominate the world until a king should arise to free the Christians and subdue the Ismaelites in their turn. This seemed to have been realised when merciful God scattered the Arabs by Charles the Great; if the prophecy were to be trusted, it could not happen again. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 721 (
#qualifies, via linked claim)
It is not usually fair to mock at the outmoded science of a past age; but in the present case it must be said that if some of these arguments now seem particularly ridiculous, their authors were to blame for using ‘reason’ so lightly and almost irresponsibly. They should have known that reason is no basis to attack faith, and that ridicule is dangerous. There does not, however, seem to be the slightest sign that Muslims heard and understood such arguments as these; if they had Ricoldo would have been bound to mention the sort of reaction they provoked. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2419 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Christian apologists framed Islam as an incremental subtraction from Christian doctrine — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1542; Medieval Christian theologians branded Muslims irrational while abandoning rational proof of their own faith — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1234; Medieval Christian polemics could only read Islam as affirming or negating Christianity — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1457 (+11 more)
Broader Connections
- Christians expected a brief divine chastisement that instead became permanent Muslim rule
#corroborates(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 298 - Christian thinkers consoled themselves that Islam’s rise was prophesied
#qualifies(0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 721 - Medieval Christian polemic against Islam was ineffective self-consolation since Muslims never engaged it
#complicates(0.90) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2419 - Medieval Christian leaders reinterpreted Islam through apocalyptic biblical prophecy
#complicates(0.85) - Medieval Christians imagined Islam as a Christian apostasy born from lost provinces
#complicates(0.85) - Medieval Christians believed prophesied rise of Islam predicted its imminent end
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1047 - Medieval Christians understood Islam only as a distorted copy of Christianity
#complicates(0.80) - Medieval Christian polemic began treating Judaism and Islam as parallel irrational faiths
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 833 - Medieval Christians saw Islamic Christology as true yet fatally uncomprehending of key terms
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 923 - Medieval Christians doubted Islam’s truth yet marveled at its success
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 168