LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

FRANCISCO: POLEMICAL WORKS AGAINST ISLAM, 1529-43 47
readers would come to understand that Muslim Turks were “simultaneously
empty of true faith and full of the most disgraceful crimes, abominable
before God and man.” 29
The text of the Booklet on the Turks is quite remarkable. In addition to its
detailed description of Turkish society ranging from wandering, naked sufis
to the sultan’s military forces, from their architecture to their dress, there is a
fairly extensive description of Islamic theology and religious practices. The
author explained throughout the work how these appealed to certain
Christians and even mentions witnessing several conversions, admitting how
he almost converted himself. For Luther’s purposes, though, the fact that
Muhammad (and Turkish Muslims) “denies that Christ is the son of God,
denies his death for our sins, denies his resurrection for our life, denies that
by faith in him sins are forgiven and we are justified, denies that he will
come as judge as the living and the dead (although he believes in the
resurrection of the dead and the day of judgement), denies the Holy Spirit,
and denies his gifts” was sufficient to demonstrate the errors of Islam to his
readers for the present time. 30 However, he concluded that he wanted to read
the Qur’ân as soon as he could get his hands on it so that he could deal
directly with the source of the problem.
While Luther waited to get his hands on a copy of the Qur’ân, his
colleagues began studying the history of the Turks. They acquired an Italian
work written by Paolo Giovio (1486-1552) in 1531 (Commentario delle cose
de’ Turchi), which chronicled the history of the Turks from their origins up
until the time of the present sultan (Süleyman). By 1537 they had it
translated into Latin and published in Wittenberg. In the preface,
Melanchthon stressed the need to learn more about the affairs of the Turks.
He warned his readers that they threatened the basic principles of a Christian
society. Furthermore, a study of their history not only demonstrated that they
sought to extend their religion and form of government throughout Europe,
but how they had “carried out war with God, His laws, reputable doctrine,
and with the entire human race.” 31 To further publicize this verdict, Jonas
translated the Commentary on the Affairs of the Turks into German under the
title, Origin of the Turkish Empire up until the Time of Süleyman in 1538.
There were developments in the study and critique of Islam outside of
Wittenberg as well. Already in 1530, according to a letter from 1542, one of
Zwingli’s successors named Theodor Bibliander began to collect whatever
texts he could get his hands on in order to “obtain a thorough knowledge of
29 Luther, Libellus, 4; WA 30.2:208.
30 Luther, Libellus, 4; WA 30.2:207-8.
31 Melanchthon, Turcicarum rerum commentarius, trans. Negri (Wittenberg: Klug, 1537),
A7v.