Llull imagined sustained interfaith dialogue ending in one religion without individual conversion.

Evidence

Llull, Liber de fine, CCCM 35:266. Llull is in fact describing the scenario of one of his own works, the Liber de quinque sapientibus, where a Muslim comes to doubt Islam because of his reading in philosophy and wishes to become Christian; he affirms that many other Muslims will be ready to follow him, if only the Christians could agree among themselves. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1967 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Yet the serene tone and apparent evenhandedness do not stand up to close scrutiny: they comprise, for Llull as for Theodore Abû Qurrah, a strategic posture for the defense of Christianity against its rivals. The four characters in the Libre del gentil all accept without question that only one of the three religions can lead to eternal bliss, that the adherents of the two erroneous religions are bound for hell. And while Llull never explicitly announces which religion the gentile chooses, the dialogue clearly indicates that it is Christianity. When (for example) in book 2, the Jew explains that his people have been in captivity for the past twelve hundred years, the gentile responds that perhaps it is because the Jews have unwittingly sinned against God, a clear reference to the Christian notion that the destruction of the temple and the subjugation of the Jews was punishment for the killing of Christ. The gentile later exclaims that he would in no way wish to become a Jew if that meant he would have to suffer servitude with the Jews on account of their sins. Clearly, Judaism will not be the religion the gentile chooses at the end of the debate. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1319 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Llull’s interfaith dialogue departed strikingly from polemical norms; Llull imagined religious unity achievable through rational proof rather than authority — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1311; Llull’s disputation ends without declaring which religion the gentile chose — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1316 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Llull believed philosophical doubt could lead Muslims to convert to Christianity. #complicates (0.84) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1967
• Irenic medieval dialogues still presupposed exclusive salvation through one religion #complicates (0.79) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1319