"In talking of the Christian world, in English and, I suppose, in all the other languages of the Christian world we use two terms: Christianity and Christendom. Christianity means a religion, in the strict sense of that word, a system of belief and worship and some clerical or ecclesiastical organization to go with it. If we say Christendom, we mean the entire civilization that grew up under the aegis of that religion, but also contains many elements that are not part of that religion, many elements that are even hostile to that religion. Let me give one simple example. No one could seriously assert that Hitler and the Nazis came out of Christianity. No one could seriously dispute that they came out of Christendom. In talking of Islam, we use the same word in both senses, and this gives rise to considerable confusion and misunderstanding. There are many things that are described as part of Islam, which are indeed part of Islam, if we take the word as the equivalent of Christendom, but are very much not part of Islam are even alien or hostile to Islam if we take the word Islam as the equivalent of Christianity. I think this is a very important point, which one should bear in mind."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from EnglandAcademics from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesAcademics from the United KingdomNon-fiction authors from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Lewis
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British historian specializing in oriental studies.
42 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Bernard Lewis →
Related Quotes
"On 8 June 632, according to the traditional biography, the Prophet died after a short illness. He had achieved a grea…"
"You know the expression "My country, right or wrong." Well, these days, Americans are apt to think, "My country, wrong.""
"The attitude to black Africans remains on the whole negative. Some Muslim authors give balanced and factual accounts,…"
"The evidence for the growth of anti-black prejudice comes in the main from two groups of sources. The first of these …"
"The whole question of blackness was discussed in a special essay by Jahiz of Basra (ca. 776-869), one of the greatest…"
"As medieval Christian man could only conceive of religion in terms of a trinity, so his modern descendant can only co…"
"To the modern Western mind, it is not conceivable that men would fight and die in such numbers over mere differences …"
"The three major Middle Eastern religions are significantly different in their relations with the state and their atti…"
"In classical Arabic and in the other classical languages of Islam there are no pairs of terms corresponding to lay an…"
"The overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists [i.e., specialists in the hadith] . …"