Medieval thinkers blamed Christians’ own divisions and vices for Islam’s refusal to convert

Evidence

I have heard a certain man, who is worthy of credence, say that he heard among the pagans and Saracens that there were three causes for their not wishing to be converted to the faith of Jesus Christ: firstly, the diversity and contradiction of opinion among Christians in various sects and on various subjects; secondly, the evil lives of the Christians; and thirdly, the ill-faith of the Christians, and especially of the Venetians and Genoese. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 466

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of self-critique as a response to interfaith failure, echoing the ‘evil lives of Christians’ motif found in later Reformation critiques. — connects to: Medieval Christian praise of Muslims often promoted conversion theory.

Related

• Medieval Christian praise of Muslims often promoted conversion theory. (similarity 0.85)
• An introspective self-critical turn marked a new era in Christian thought about Islam (similarity 0.82)
• Late medieval thinkers grew newly anxious to include unbelievers in salvation (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christians saw Muslims as stubbornly resistant to conversion (similarity 0.81)
• Some medieval Christians saw Muslims as near-conversion-ready believers close to salvation (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian theologians branded Muslims irrational while abandoning rational proof of their own faith (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians held an irreducibly equivocal attitude toward Qur’anic Christology (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval polemicists deemed Muslims rational while branding Jews unreasoning beasts (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval critics framed Islam as offering an easier, more indulgent path than Christianity (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christians respected Islamic civilization even while they knew Muslims as others. (similarity 0.79)
• Failed conversion attempts led to labeling Muslims irrational rather than questioning Christianity (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christians held genuinely conflicted feelings about Muslim reverence for Jesus and Mary. (similarity 0.79)
• Immediate political motives, not ideology alone, drove medieval representations of Islam (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christian distaste, not ignorance, distorted portrayals of Islam (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christian missionaries reconceived Muslim doctrines as partial truths to bridge toward conversion (similarity 0.79)