ABSTRACT THE CRUSADE OF RAMON LLULL: APOLOGETICS AND EVANGELISM TO MUSLIMS DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY Numa Ulisses Gomez, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2018 Chair: Dr. James A. Parker III Ramon Llull was a thirteenth-century Franciscan monk who lived during a tumultuous period in Spain’s history. Those who have studied missions believe Llull is the first and greatest missionary to Muslims. He is recognized as the greatest Catalan mystic and poet whose writings helped influence Neo-Platonic mysticism throughout Medieval and seventeenth-century Europe. He believed love for Christ and love for the lost should be the only motivating factors to evangelize and teach the lost. Many modern missionaries and historians believe Llull understood salvation by grace in the blood of Jesus Christ. Llull was always in good standing with the church during his lifetime. Chapter 1 gives an overview of Llull’s life, calling, missionary zeal, writings and apologetic work, and the reasons why he taught the truths of Scripture. Chapter 2 offers a historical background and setting for Llull’s work and his calling into ministry. Chapter 3 explains his theology and philosophy of ministry, giving a panoramic view of his ministry. Chapter 4 digs deeper into his apologetic, specifically, his refutation of Averroes philosophy. Chapter 5 looks at his apologetic work in the Jewish community and evangelism of Jews. Chapter 6 looks at his apologetic work within his own faith community and introduces some of his literature aimed at refuting pagan philosophy in his culture. Chapter 7 reviews at his travels and missionary journeys and impact in society. Chapter 8 is some concluding thoughts on his work in discipling others and in society. Llull’s aim in his writings and his ministry was the conversion of Muslim and Jews “that in the whole world there may not be more than one language, one belief, and one faith.” Soon after his conversion, Llull concluded he should evangelize Muslims, who were numerous in southern Spain. He was inspired by the writings and actions of St. Francis of Assisi who lived earlier, and had reached out to Muslims in hopes of converting many to Christianity. Llull’s apologetic work focused on refuting the philosophy of the Muslim philosopher Averroes. Llull’s purpose was to show Muslims the error of this philosophy so that they could not fail to see the truth. The strength of the Muslim religion in the age of scholasticism was its philosophy, and with this in mind, Llull developed a system or logical machine (Art) where theological propositions could be arranged in circles, squares, triangles, and other geometric figures so that opponents could not reject his arguments. Llull exalted the doctrine of the Trinity as central to evangelism, spiritual formation, and apologetic work. Llull believed personal testimony was far superior to any philosophic argument because it testified to the power of the gospel and not to a system. Llull took into account faith and reason as acceptable (in terms of belief) to all three religions. This dissertation explored his spirituality and how it influenced not only his personal life, but also apologetic and evangelistic work.

This dissertation avers that the circulation of manuscript copies and printed editions of the works of Ramon Llull had a key role in Iberian cultural history and signaled a shift from a Christian logic of conversion to a universal key for organizing all the disciplines of knowledge. As copies of Ramon Llull’s manuscripts traveled from the Black Forest, Majorca, and Paris to be housed in the libraries of early modern institutions, such as the Colegio de San Ildefonso and the Monastery of El Escorial, they formed what I call portable archives of the Art. By reading the inventories of the libraries of these institutions, along with copies of the works of Ramon Llull preserved at the Escorial, the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, and the University of Freiburg, my dissertation combines the study of the place of Ramon Llull in the medieval history of ideas and the material features of said portable archives. My dissertation contributes to history of the book studies as it examines a unique case among medieval traditions and shows that the compilation of manuscripts and the elaboration of printed editions repurpose the original idea of the Art. I work with primary sources in Latin, Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese, attributed to Ramon Llull and to other authors, to trace his influence on early modern authors, such as Pedro de Guevara, Juan de Herrera, Diego de Valadés, and João de Barros.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T14:12:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_3986_Tatyana_Nunes_Lemos.pdf: 1199779 bytes, checksum: 4a078a5403a73f306c825a873025fa10 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-30 / No século XIII, os muçulmanos ainda eram um grande problema para a Cristandade. Com o fracasso das Cruzadas passagium generale para os medievais surgiram novas propostas para o confronto com o Islã, entre elas o uso da pregação. Nesse período, as controvérsias públicas eram habituais, tanto no Cristianismo quanto no Islamismo. As ordens mendicantes eram uma grande força nesse tipo de debate. Em Maiorca, um pensador também se ocupou desse problema, Ramon Llull (1232-1316). O catalão criou um novo método apologético baseado em sua Arte para ele revelada diretamente por Deus. Mesmo defendendo a pregação como principal forma para se conseguir a conversão dos muçulmanos, Llull não abdicou do uso da força. Reformulou o conceito de Cruzada, colocando-a a serviço das missões, sem, contudo, abdicar da coação. O maiorquino desenvolveu suas idéias em variadas obras. Analisaremos alguns de seus poemas fontes ainda inexploradas pelos principais historiadores para o assunto em questão para entender como Llull construiu seu projeto apologético.

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