Polemical literature served as in-group apologetics rather than inter-faith debate

Evidence

In all these cases such authentic information was provided as would enable Christians to preserve their already existing attitude to Islam. It may have been intended for debate, but there is no evidence that it was intended for formal debate, as distinct from arguments that might naturally arise in mixed communities. It is far more likely that it was to give Christians arguments that they might themselves believe, in explanation of what they heard Muslims say. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1429

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: ‘Debate as self-reassurance’ — how ostensibly inter-faith argument in many eras actually functions to harden in-group belief; parallels modern political argument.