Many early medieval Christians drifted out of Christianity passively without formal conversion
Evidence
Bacon was right that Avicenna rejected the more literalist interpretations of the sensual pleasures the Koran ascribes to paradise; he is wrong in thinking that this led Avicenna and other “Saracen” philosophers to reject Islam and seek a better law, any more than Bacon’s embrace of science (which was subsequently to put him in prison) entailed a rejection of Christianity. It is tempting to think that, as he sat in his Franciscan prison cell, Bacon felt a certain solidarity with Avicenna (as he imagined him): both rejecting the certainties of their contemporaries in search of higher truths, both misunderstood and persecuted by an ignorant cadre of clerical purists. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1157 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
The obduracy of Muslims, who throughout the ages have proved almost unconvertible, was several times stressed, and both theory and missionary practice recognised it. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 742 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Yet when he describes the contents of the Koran, in the following chapters of his tract, he emphasizes the common points between Christian and Muslim doctrine. He is particularly interested in the Koran’s praise of Christ and the Virgin Mary; much more frequent, he says, than any praise of Machometus. This shows, he says, that Saracens in their hearts believe in the goodness of Jesus Christ, his doctrine and his Gospels, his Virgin mother, and that they are “close to the way of salvation.” The author goes on to describe what he sees as the main errors in their doctrine: the belief in carnal delights in heaven and the failure to believe in the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the divinity of Christ. Yet bringing the Saracens to the truth should not prove difficult: “By virtue of the simple word of God, without philosophical arguments or military weapons, they ask for baptism of Christ and cross over into the God’s sheep pen. This was said and written by one who through God has already baptized a good thousand. Amen.” … The anonymous author claims that converting Saracens to Christianity is easy and that he himself has baptized “a good thousand.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1069 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Early medieval Christians saw invaders as divine scourges, not religious rivals worth studying; Medieval Christians saw Muslims as stubbornly resistant to conversion — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 742; Early Christian responses to Islam aimed to slow conversions away from Christianity — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 314 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Early medieval Christians saw invaders as divine scourges, not religious rivals worth studying
#expands(1.00) - Medieval Christians saw Muslims as stubbornly resistant to conversion
#expands(1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 742 - Early Christian responses to Islam aimed to slow conversions away from Christianity
#responds-to(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 314 - Some medieval Christians saw Muslims as near-conversion-ready believers close to salvation
#expands(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1069 - Medieval Christians conceived of religious identity as a changeable status akin to nationality.
#complicates(1.00) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 106 - Medieval religious disputation tracts almost always ended in conversion
#expands(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1318 - Thirteenth-century Christianity repeatedly fantasized mass Muslim conversions that never happened
#complicates(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1037 - Medieval scholastic missionary polemics produced almost no conversions
#expands(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1271 - Medieval Christian praise of Muslims often promoted conversion theory.
#expands(1.00) - Rejecting literal readings of scripture did not entail rejecting religion in medieval thought
#complicates(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1157 - Forced conversion can reanimate a faith that was quietly fading away
#expands(1.00)