Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks

4. RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES AND INTERPRETATIONS

4 Religious Influences and Interpretations WHILE HUMANISTS FOCUSEDMUCHATTENTION on the Turkish advance as a secular problem, they were also concerned with its impact on the Christian faith. After all, the Turks practiced a faith that was, in many ways, antithetical to Christianity, and crusade was, in theory, a "holy war." From simple descriptions of the Turks as "enemies of the faith" to more detailed theological discussions of Islam, humanists underscored religious concerns that accompanied the Ottoman conquests of Christian lands. Hence the classical and secular discourse on the Turks created by humanists was employed alongside religious rhetoric; the two approaches were often interwoven in the same works. To be sure, humanists were inspired by medieval religious thought on Islam and incorporated some aspects of it into their works, but they blended these traditions with distinctly different rhetorical approaches and classical concepts. As a result humanists added some surprising new twists to Western views of Islam. These religious interpretations of the Turks and crusade could vary substantially. Just as religious thinkers in the Renaissance disagreed on ecclesiastical, doctrinal, and spiritual issues, humanists reflected that diversity in their religious interpretations of the Turks and crusade. Some humanists were heavily influenced by more-traditional forms of medieval polemic against Islam. In harangues against the Turks they echoed tall tales about the Prophet and the rise of Islam, reducing the rival faith to idolatry, Satanism, or a cult of carnal pleasure. Combining religious polemic with cultural critiques, such as the charge of barbarism, humanists endeavored to strip the Turks of any sense of decency or goodness. Religious polemic was even employed as a means to minimize the intellectual foundations of Islam and, hence, the great scholarly achievements of Muslim scholars. Other humanists were drawn to apocalyptic thought and attempted to pinpoint where the Turkish advance fit into the trajectory of sacred history. Given the variety of apocalyptic schemes already in circulation, the Chapter 4 answers to this question could take radically different forms. Some creative thinkers envisioned the Turks as potential converts and saviors of Christendom , while some thinkers depicted the Turks as God's scourge on Christians. The latter suggestion offered humanists and other writers an opportunity to criticize Christian society for its failure to live up to its own religious standards. The Turks might be an evil force, they argued, but the Christians were to blame for inciting God to justly punish them. Still other humanists applied peaceful religious principles to the Turks, embracing the Gospel virtue of proselytization. By combining aspects of medieval conversion treatises with humanist rhetoric, they hoped to persuade the Turks to accept the enlightened path of Christianity. Hence religious approaches to the Turks could and did take on many different forms. They all, however, underscore how important the divine continued to be in discourses of the Muslim East. Whether they were applying Christian principles or a flawed understanding of Islam, their belief that theology offered a key to solving the Turkish problem is apparent. Background: Medieval and Renaissance Thought on Islam Medieval approaches to Islam ranged from hostile propaganda to morelearned theological treatises.' The latter was more influential for humanists who wished to understand Islam on a deeper level-if only to deconstruct it. Christian theological treatises on Islam usually took one of three forms: learned polemic regarding the Prophet Muhammad and Islam; efforts to convert the Muslims; or eschatological works. To make matters more interesting (and confusing), many thinkers wrote on more than one theme, sometimes in the same work. All three of these tendencies led scholars to seek more information on Islam. As Southern argues, the period from 1140 to 1290 saw improvement in Western understanding of the religion. Knowledge of Islam came from two sources: increased contact with Muslim areas and study of the Qur'an. The earliest serious attempt at Qur'anic studies in Western Europe began with Peter the Venerable, the abbot of Cluny. On a visit to Spain in 1141 Peter witnessed "the progress and power of the Saracens" and determined to learn more about their religion in the hope of converting them." Like many of his contemporaries, Peter appears to have perceived Islam as a Christian heresy that could easily be righted." To achieve this goal he commissioned Robert of Ketron to translate the Qur'an into Latin, which was completed in 1143. Though expensive for Religious Influences and Interpretations 137 Peter and full of errors, this translation...