Llull’s readers valued his method, not his Islam mission

Evidence

It would be easy to write off Llull, this phantasticus, as a quirky footnote in the development of Christian images of Islam: Llull, despite occasional success at getting the ear of a Pope or king, is largely a lonely outsider, while Dominicans such as Penyafort, Martí, and Aquinas are among the key shapers of church policy and orthodox theology. Llull’s works indeed attracted a small and devoted group of followers, “Llullists,” over the following centuries, most notably among fourteenth-century Parisian academics and fifteenth-century Italian humanists. Yet these readers in general were interested in Llull’s systematic approach to knowledge and not directly in Islam. Conversely, those who were interested in Islam did not read Llull, preferring works such as Petrus Alfonsi’s Dialogues, Riccoldo’s Libellus contra legem Saracenorum, or Robert of Ketton’s translation of the Koran. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1352

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘Llullism’ as a reception phenomenon was a methodological interest, not a missionary one — the man for whom Islam was central is read for everything except Islam.
• XREF: The fate of Llull — read for method, ignored on his own primary mission — is analogous to how reception history routinely reframes figures (e.g., Ortega y Gasset read for style rather than his political essays).