Dominican missionary strategy followed a two-phase destroy-then-expound sequence
Evidence
Martí did produce a diptych of texts for the evangelization of Muslims: De seta Machometi (composed before 1257) and the Explanatio symboli apostolorum (written in 1257). The differences between the two texts reflect the two phases of mission, according to the Dominican strategy: the De seta Machometi furnishes missionaries with arguments with which to attack Islam; and the Explanatio symboli apostolorum, with an explication of the truth of Christianity. First destroy error, then expound truth. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1193 (
#expands, via linked claim)
In the newly (re)conquered areas of Spain, of course, not only Jews but also Muslims were numerous. They indeed provided a large captive audience for those who were more interested in converting the infidels than in winning the palm of martyrdom. Thomas’s strategy will be applied to these “captive” Jews and Muslims by the Dominicans in the Crown of Aragon. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1178 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: St Francis’s Rule institutionalised silent witness as a missionary method; Dominican missionary strategy separated demolishing error from expounding truth — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1193; Dominicans applied coerced-listening missionary strategy to Spanish Muslims and Jews — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1178 (+18 more)
Broader Connections
- Dominican missionary strategy separated demolishing error from expounding truth
#expands(0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1193 - Dominicans applied coerced-listening missionary strategy to Spanish Muslims and Jews
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1178 - Missionary ‘defence of the faith’ rhetoric paralleled Crusade justifications
#complicates(0.80) - A missionary spirit coexisted with a tradition treating force as a duty
#complicates(0.80) - Dominican missionaries sought to prove Christianity through rival scripture exegesis
#complicates(0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1272 - Missionaries pragmatically adopt their rivals’ polemical methods despite prior criticism
#complicates(0.75) - Missionary zeal coexisted with a duty-of-force doctrine in medieval Christendom
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 667 - Medieval mission strategy fused conquest with compelled Christian education
#complicates(0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1342 - Missionary expeditions scripted local converts as guided investigators
#complicates(0.75) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 356 - Missionary failure was blamed on the infidels’ supposed irrationality rather than on the missionaries
#complicates(0.75) - Medieval missionaries often converted preaching into deliberate provocation of violence
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 683 - Dominicans shifted missionary targets to protected Jews and Muslims to avoid martyrdom
#complicates(0.75) - Religious sound signaling correlates with missionary intent.
#complicates(0.75) — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 894 - Dominican mission strategy required Arabic language schools and written polemics
#complicates(0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 75 - Thirteenth-century missionary strategy demanded formal training in infidel languages and scriptures
#complicates(0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1330