Failed missionary arguments turned Muslim image from rational to irrational in Christian Europe.

Evidence

The bitter experience of thirteenth-century missionaries was that the Saracens were unimpressed by their “rational” arguments; increasingly, they will conclude (as Peter the Venerable did for the Jews) that these Saracens must be irrational. This will indeed become the predominant stereotype in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1258 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Ramon Martí, in particular, sought to deploy the tools of logic and scholastic theology to decimate the rival religions and prove the truth of Christianity. Yet the missionary efforts of Martí and his associates had only limited success, and increasingly, Christian theologians, like Dominican Thomas Aquinas, affirmed that it was impossible to prove the truth of Christianity through reason alone. Yet when missionary Riccoldo da Montecroce failed to convert Muslims of Baghdad, he attributed his failure to the irrationality of the Muslims. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1181 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

At the same time that Christian theologians began to admit that they were unable to prove their doctrines through reason, in part in reaction to the works of Muslim and Jewish philosophers, they increasingly lambasted Muslims (and Jews) as “carnal” and “irrational.” This tendency is nowhere more blatant than in the works of Dominican missionary Riccoldo da Montecroce. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1234 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Failed missions, not failed crusades, produced the stereotype of the irrational Oriental; Christian missionaries branded Muslims irrational when rational arguments failed to convert them. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1258; Failed missionary efforts produced blame of Muslim irrationality rather than self-criticism — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1181 (+21 more)

Broader Connections

• Christian missionaries branded Muslims irrational when rational arguments failed to convert them. #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1258
• Failed missionary efforts produced blame of Muslim irrationality rather than self-criticism #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1181
• Failed conversion attempts led to labeling Muslims irrational rather than questioning Christianity #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1215
• Medieval polemic attacked Muslim aspects that scandalized Christian observers #corroborates (1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1472
• Medieval Christian theologians branded Muslims irrational while abandoning rational proof of their own faith #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1234
• Christian thinking forced Islam into Christian analogical categories, misrepresenting it #complicates (0.90)
• Missionary failure gave birth to the admirable-yet-unconvertible Muslim stereotype #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1256
• Medieval missionaries saw Christian disunity as the main obstacle to Muslim conversion #complicates (0.80)
• Christian optimism about converting Muslims faded as crusades and missions failed #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 898
• Islam was judged deficient for differing from Christian structures #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1266
• Christian anti-Islamic polemic was a defensive reaction to Muslim power and prestige #complicates (0.80)
• Perceived Muslim rejection of secularism eroded European faith in multiculturalism #complicates (0.70) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 359
• Muslim anti-Christian polemics emerged as reactions to crusade and mission #complicates (0.70)
• Crusading ended a prior era of routine Christian-Muslim negotiation #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 656
• Christian views of Islam shifted from chastisement to Antichrist as Muslim power grew. #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 335