Defeated Christian authors recast subordination as spiritual virtue

Evidence

A socially subordinate role for Christianity could be shown to make sense: by tapping into ascetic traditions, these authors could portray Christianity as the otherworldly religion, its adherents, unconcerned with the city of man, neither rich nor powerful. It is unsurprising that Eastern Christian authors from this period wrote few chronicles of world history: having rejected pseudo-Methodius’s apocalyptic vision of history, what vision could they now comfortably adopt? — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 405 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Thus the army of legitimate authority can say to the army of the rebel chief, ‘Are we not all Muslims? It is not permissible to fight among ourselves. Let only he who rebelled against his lord be given up, and let us all be in peace.’ To this Ricoldo remarked: “Indeed, they so nourish harmony and love among themselves that they really do seem to be brothers; for talking among themselves, also, and especially to strangers, one says to another, O son of my mother …’ Again, this was an exaggeration; he said that a Muslim might always travel with safety among Muslims; but the basic fact that he asserted was true. His purpose was constantly one of edification: ‘they who have a religion of killing and death do not wish to kill each other, and wretched Christians, who have a religion of life and commandments of peace and love, kill each other without any mercy’. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1089 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian authors reframed worldly subordination as otherworldly superiority — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 405; Religious justifications for subordination were recycled across successive immigrant groups; Religious observance rather than worldly struggle can drive novelistic transformation (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Christian authors reframed worldly subordination as otherworldly superiority #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 405
• Religious observance rather than worldly struggle can drive novelistic transformation #complicates (0.85)
• Medieval Christian writers idealized Muslim solidarity to shame Christian infighting #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1089