Missionary ‘defence of the faith’ rhetoric paralleled Crusade justifications
Evidence
In The Mohammedan Missionary Problem, published in 1879, the Presbyterian missionary Henry Jessup depicted Muslims in present-day Lebanon as wild beasts and thirsty for the blood of Christians. Jessup presciently declared that “in the conflict between civilization and barbarism Islam must be the loser.” The same narratives would resonate among Americans in the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 512 (
#expands, via linked claim)
St Bernard: Ep. 458; cf. 457 and de laude 111. Vitry: one MS (Paris, B. nat., lat. 6244) presents the biography of Muhammad specifically in juxtaposition to the Islamic aggression and the Christian defence, i.e. Crusade: ‘Vita Machometi, qualiter seduxit terram sanctam, sive ecclesiam orientalem’. There was, as for all Christians always, a special mystique of Jerusalem: ‘umbilicus est terrarum, quasi alter Paradisus deliciarum’ (Robert, loc. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2106 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
It is an agreeable irony to read the Christian justification of the First Crusade; Robert the Monk speaks of the destruction and murder of Christians and concludes the passage, ‘quid dicam de nefanda mulierum constupratione, de qua loqui deterius est quam silere?’ — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2116 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century missionary rhetoric predicted a civilization-versus-barbarism framing of Islam — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 512; Depicting Muslims as idolaters supplied the first textual justification for crusade — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 600; Christian writers justified crusader atrocities through rhetoric. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2116 (+2 more)
Related
- Nineteenth-century missionary rhetoric predicted a civilization-versus-barbarism framing of Islam (similarity 0.89)
- Medieval Latin writers framed the Crusade as Christian defence against Islamic aggression (similarity 0.85)
- Christian writers justified crusader atrocities through rhetoric. (similarity 0.81)
- The Crusades were less coherent religious triumph than convenient enemy-making (similarity 0.78)
- Thirteenth-century Muslims proved impervious to both Christian arms and missionaries (similarity 0.78)
- The Crusades as holy triumph is a myth masking internal massacres (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Nineteenth-century missionary rhetoric predicted a civilization-versus-barbarism framing of Islam
#expands(0.85) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 512 - Medieval Latin writers framed the Crusade as Christian defence against Islamic aggression
#corroborates(0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2106 - Christian writers justified crusader atrocities through rhetoric.
#expands(0.82) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2116 - Depicting Muslims as idolaters supplied the first textual justification for crusade
#expands(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 600 - A missionary spirit coexisted with a tradition treating force as a duty
#expands(0.80)