Post-Reformation theology weaponized monstrous births against rival sects and Muslims

Evidence

The Reformation’s effect on monsters was situated in theological explanations of causality. Monsters and other strange phenomena were explained as having different causes or origins, but the results were the same. After the Reformation, some theologians ruled out the possibility of miracles, instead proposing that “special providences” continued to be seen in the world, one example being the birth of monstrous beings. In some cases these providential acts were viewed positively, and in other cases, negatively, but they were often used as ammunition, by Protestants against Catholics, by Catholics against Lutherans, and by many Christian sects against Muslims. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 588

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes ‘special providences’ from miracles as the new post-Reformation category that kept monsters theological.
• XREF: Monsters as theological ammunition internal to Christianity and aimed outward connects to the scapegoat/projection dynamics the reader is mapping.