Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on Christian nonconformist writings, those produced by the heirs of what George H. Williams called the Radical Reformation, and especially the spiritualists who emphasized piety, love, and forbearance over doctrinal precision. It examines how Christian writers portrayed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and the origins of his faith in ways that they believed would confirm the veracity of the Christian story of Jesus Christ. The book discusses the Dutch and English publications on the Muslims of North Africa and the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609. It explores the fascinating dreamscape crafted by millenarian Christian and Jewish writers. The post-conversion writings of Christians were, of course, triumphalist, measured with a clear sense of relief that God was still Christian, rather than Jewish.