Martyrdom imagery of Muslims functioned to reinforce Christian resurrection belief

Evidence

These Renaissance scenes display the suffering and martyrdom of the saints through decapitation, fire, and dismemberment, functioning in a similar way to the medieval theme of Saracen cannibalism. Both images reinforced the Christian narrative of the resurrection. Such scenes relate that even after torture, death, and decay, the eventual restoration by the hand of Christ will take place: 66 MuSl iMS in T he W eS T ern iM aginaT ion Figure 3. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 264

Categorization

• XREF: Directly continues the reader’s guiding question of what the monster lets its makers avoid seeing — here the torture scenes serve the makers’ own resurrection hope rather than describe any real Muslim.