The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Reformation (Allen Lane History S.)

by Richard Fletcher

Hardcover, 2003

Status

Available

Call number

261.2709

Collection

Publication

Allen Lane (2003), Hardcover

Description

A short account of the relations between Islam and Christianity from Muhammad to the Reformation. The author argues that though there were trading and cultural interactions between the two during the period when Arabs controlled most of the Mediterranean world, neither side was remotely interested in the religion of the other. Christian and Moslem lived side by side in a state of mutual religious aversion. Given these circumstances, if religious passions were to be stirred up, confrontation would probably be violent. Fletcher shows how religious misunderstanding and antagonism between the peoples of the book has been present since their earliest encounters.

User reviews

LibraryThing member blackjack000
The book gives a broad sweep across the subject of Christian-Muslim relations from Mohammad to about 1500. I do not mind that the book takes a superficial look at the subject, considering it's compact size. However, the author presents a lot of conclusions, makes a quick citation as to where this
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conclusion was reached from, then moves on. It gets rather annoying when he doesn't explain how a certain conclusion was reached, if it is by academic consensus, or anything else that can lend credibility to the claim. It's hard to take much of this book seriously. I do not know this author, and I find it hard to accept the conclusions reached in this book without a little more explanation.

However, the book does give a good introduction into the topic. I would like to read more into this history, but from a source with more depth.
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Awards

PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize (Shortlist — 2004)

Language

Physical description

208 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

0713996862 / 9780713996869
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