Jewish Muslims: How Christians Imagined Islam as the Enemy.

This article discusses the book "Jewish Muslims: How Christians Imagined Islam as the Enemy" by David Freidenreich. The book explores the use of vituperative rhetoric by Western and Eastern Christians towards Muslims from the 7th to the 17th centuries. Freidenreich argues that Christian polemicists consistently used anti-Jewish tropes and reference points to target Muslims, while actually addressing fellow Christians. He traces the origins of this rhetoric to the Apostle Paul's allegory in Galatians, which equated Jews with Hagar's slavery and ejection. The article acknowledges that while Christians were aware that Muslims were not Jews, the rhetoric of treating Muslims as if they were Jews persisted. The author suggests that the book's generalization in its title may not fully capture the complexities of medieval Christian attitudes towards Muslims and Jews. [Extracted from the article]