Jews and Muslims in Seventeenth-Century Discourse From Religious Enemies to Allies and Friends

Jews and Muslims in Seventeenth-Century Discourse explores for the first time the extent to which the unusual religious diversity and tolerance of the Dutch Republic affected how its residents regarded Jews and Muslims.

Analyzing an array of vernacular publications, this book reveals how Dutch writers, especially those within the nonconformist and spiritualist camps, expressed positive attitudes toward religious diversity in general, and Jews and Muslims in particular. Through covering the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) and the post-war era, it also highlights how the Dutch search for allies against Spain led them to approach Muslim rulers. The Dutch were assisted in this by their positive relations with Jews, and were thus able to shape a more affirmative portrayal of Islam.

Revealing noticeable differences in language and tone between English and Dutch publications and exploring societal attitudes and culture, Jews and Muslims in Seventeenth-CenturyDiscourse is ideal for students of British and Dutch early-modern cultural, intellectual, and religious history.

1. Introduction; 2. Jews in England and the Netherlands, 1550-1620 – Anti-Semitism, Religious Polemics, and Realpolitique; 3. Christian Nonconformists and Jews, 1540-1650; 4. Muhammad: Christian Fantasies of the Prophet and the Qur’an; 5. Moors and Moriscos, 1550–1620; 6. Europeans and the Ottomans: Fantasy and Reality, 1610-1648; 7. Millenarian Dreams, Ecumenical Prophets, and the Lost Tribes Found, 1648-65; 8. The Sabbatai Zevi Experience: Jews, Christians, and Muslims, 1666-1700; 9. Conclusion

Gary K. Waite is a professor of early-modern European history at the University of New Brunswick. He has published widely on religion, drama, and culture in the Low Countries, on Anabaptism and spiritualism, witchcraft and demonology, and is currently preoccupied with seventeenth-century Dutch religious nonconformists and the early Enlightenment.