Medieval Christian texts deemed Islam convertible but Judaism unconvertible
Evidence
Though both Islam and Judaism are condemned for their understanding according to the letter of the law rather than the spirit, they differ crucially with regard to the potential for conversion. For the author of Mandeville’s Travels, the prospect of the conversion of the Muslims is extremely promising; the conversion of the Jews, by contrast, is not even suggested. They are presented as a threat not only to the spiritual welfare of the righteous, but to their physical health as well: in the course of his travels, the narrator claims to have encountered a highly poisonous tree, the “venym” of which the Jews had sought to use “to enpoysone alle Cristiantee” (21; 139.34–35). — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 297 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Talmud and Qur’an might be paired as sources of error; a manuscript of Peter de Pennis contains consecutively his treatise contra Judaeos, nomine Thalamoth and his contra Alchoranum.* Finally, the ‘Rabbi Samuel’ literature, translated by Alfonso de Buenhombre, conceived anti-Judaic and anti-Islamic polemic as essentially interwoven. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1051 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
From this brief account, it is clear that Judaism was used as the template with which a distorted representation of Islam could be constructed. Yet, as we shall see in the case of the Siege of Jerusalem, the template could be applied the other way: Muslim identity could be used, at least in part, as the basis for the representation of Jewish identity. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 235 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Anti-Jewish proof texts were recycled wholesale into Christian missions to Muslims; Medieval Christian texts deemed Muslims convertible but Jews a fixed physical threat — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 297; Medieval Christian texts distinguished Jews from Muslims rather than equating them (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Medieval Christian texts deemed Muslims convertible but Jews a fixed physical threat
#corroborates(0.92) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 297 - Medieval Christian polemic intertwined refutations of Judaism and Islam as twin errors
#complicates(0.82) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1051 - Medieval Christians constructed Islam and Judaism as mutual templates
#complicates(0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 235 - Medieval Christian polemic framed Islam alongside heresy and Judaism
#complicates(0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1045 - Medieval Christians saw Islam as doubly heretical, overlapping both their faith and Judaism
#complicates(0.78) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1059 - European anti-Islamic polemic derived Islam from Christian and Jewish heresy
#complicates(0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 481