Reformation polemics redeployed medieval constructs of Islam unchanged

Evidence

In most Catholic and Protestant theological writings of the Reformation, we do not encounter efforts to nuance or move beyond medieval depictions of Islam. With the extension of the Ottoman Empire into Europe and the fracturing of Western Christianity in the Reformation, older medieval constructs of Islam are redeployed to respond to new circumstances. However, the underlying fear in Christian Europe remains the same—fear of the power and expansion of Islamic territories. It is only with the period known as the Enlightenment that we witness some of these fears subside, even if temporarily, while more significant efforts to depict Islam sympathetically come to the fore. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 157

Categorization

• XREF: This is the hinge the reader asked about: where rivalry stays religious and the underlying fear is territorial expansion, not yet racialized. — connects to: Medieval theological justification for opposing Muslims has faded in Europe. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 88; Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139; Accurate knowledge of Islam did not soften early Christian hostility toward it — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 132 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval theologians constructed Muslims as a degraded race descending from the slave Hagar #expands (0.60)
• Medieval Christians used Islam’s marital norms to claim moral superiority #expands (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 67
• Islamophobia scholarship often treats medieval Christianity as a united whole against Muslims #corroborates (0.50) — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, 25