Medieval theologians reframed Scripture to justify killing infidels in war

Evidence

Among arguments rejected by Holcot are that God desires not the death of the sinner but his conversion; that God is as merciful now as in the Passion when He prayed for the Jews and bade Peter put up his sword; that Aristotle warned Alexander to shed no blood because when creature kills creature the heavenly powers are moved to vengeance; again, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; pagans ignorant of Christian law deserve better than bad Christians; pagans cannot believe till God takes away the veil from their hearts. Against these points he argues that the death that God does not desire is that of the soul, not that of the body; Christ rebuked Peter because he chose the wrong time to draw the sword; what Aristotle reproved was taking pleasure in cruelty, and the Christian must not delight when he sheds blood; the Lord may take His vengeance through His servants; we daily see bad Christians, thieves, traitors, heretics and many others killed by proper authority; God will remove the veil from the heart of whoever desires it. Thus the right to kill remains intact. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2510 (#expands, via linked claim)

What purposes did these medieval Christian constructions of Islam serve? Christians increasingly saw in Islam a formidable threat to Christianity’s claims of superiority and hegemony in Europe and beyond. Faced with the Muslim world’s competing theological claims, impressive military accomplishments, expanding empire, and superior intellectual and scientific advancements, medieval Christian authors responded polemically and aggressively. In the context of the Crusades and the Reconquista, theologians depicted Islam initially as idolatry and ultimately as heresy in order to justify violence and aggression against Muslims. In those circumstances in which Christians lived under Muslim rule, these same depictions were aimed at providing Christian dhimmis with the ideological tools to resist converting to Islam or, in the case of ninth-century Cordoba, to embrace martyrdom. By the end of the Middle Ages, centuries of military aggression, political hostility, and anti-Muslim discourse had taken their toll. Muslims became the feared “Other” in the European Christian imagination. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crusade apologists justified the war as divinely authorized collective punishment; Medieval Christian theology could glorify enemy deaths as service to Christ; Scholastic method presupposed Scripture as the supreme authority in all debate (+10 more)

Related

• Medieval theologians used scriptural exegesis to justify killing heretics and sinners (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Christian theology could glorify enemy deaths as service to Christ (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval theologian Holcot justified killing Muslims while sparing Jews for prophetic reasons (similarity 0.84)
• Crusade apologists justified the war as divinely authorized collective punishment (similarity 0.83)
• Theological explanations blamed Christian corruption and cast Muslims as God’s punishing instrument (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval proselytizers advised defending reasonableness over attacking the rival faith (similarity 0.81)
• Crusaders justified conquest by recasting Muslims as pagan Roman idolaters (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval canonists set Jews apart from Muslims by their prophesied conversion (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christian polemicists projected their own violence onto a monolithic Islam to justify crusade (similarity 0.78)
• The crudest Muslim-idol beliefs flourished among the illiterate (similarity 0.78)
• A medieval polemicist conceded that bad Christians violated Gospel pacifism (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Medieval theologians used scriptural exegesis to justify killing heretics and sinners #expands (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2510
• Medieval theologian Holcot justified killing Muslims while sparing Jews for prophetic reasons #exemplifies (0.88)
• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion #expands (0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139
• Medieval wars killed infidels rather than converting them #exemplifies (0.80)
• Medieval Christian polemicists framed Islam as a religion of compelled violence #expands (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 710
• Medieval Western Christians framed heresy as an Oriental import justifying crusade #exemplifies (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 786
• Medieval proselytizers advised defending reasonableness over attacking the rival faith #qualifies (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1011
• Christian treaty law with infidels coexisted with new justifications for war #qualifies (0.75)
• Medieval anti-Islamic polemics aimed to fortify Christians rather than convert Muslims #qualifies (0.75)