Esoteric Universalism and Crusader Evangelism in the Work of Ramon Llull

In contribution to the Esotericism Unit's panel on esoteric violence and nonviolence, I wish to examine the tensions between “esoteric universalism,” or the larger concern with detecting a hidden unity among the apparent diffusion of the Abrahamic faiths in medieval and early modern Europe, and the desire to deploy this universal theology towards the conversion of Jews and Muslims in the work of Ramon Llull. This is part of a larger research project to chart the intellectual history of esoteric universalism, with particular attention to the ways it has been deployed towards violent ends. I will pay special attention to Llull’s apologetic writings, *The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men* and the collection of writings known as the “Art,” which attempt to collate the truth claims of the Abrahamic faiths in a way that shows their conformity to the truth claims of Christianity. Influenced by the work of intellectual historian Tomoko Masuzawa, I hope to contribute to the discussion on the impacts of Euro-Christian universalism, for better or worse. While Masuzawa primarily engages 19th century philology and comparative theology, esotericism remains relatively unexplored in the scholarship on Euro-Christian encounters with religious difference.  

Ramon Lull is an extraordinary figure as both a Christian apologist and a collator of the various streams of knowledge converging in medieval Spain. He was deeply influenced by Arab-Muslim philosophy and published much in Arabic, including his “Art.” Llull was uniquely situated in the newly Christianized Island of Majorca, with access to Arabic philosophy, mysticism, and occult science. I will also briefly treat his Jewish influences, though as the bulk of his evangelistic efforts were directed at "Saracens," I will spend more time considering his Arab-Muslim influences. I will discuss how his engagement with non-Christian philosophy fueled his evangelistic efforts, examining his works *The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men*, the “Ars” corpus, and others as I conduct further research. Llull also exercised an outsize influence on early modern intellectual culture, both in exoteric and esoteric spheres. I will consider the influence of his universalism on proponents of Christian magical theology, namely Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and John Dee, the latter of whom played an important role in the ideological formation of the early British Empire and its nascent colonial efforts in America.

In brief, I hope to discuss the variegated sources of Llull’s universalism, especially the Arab-Muslim philosophers Ibn Arabi, Al-Ghazali, and Jabir ibn Hayyan, and others, highlighting the ways that Llull’s syncretistic philosophy was deployed towards evangelistic efforts that included support for further crusades in the Holy Land. I will then discuss the ways that Llull influenced others in both benign ways (especially Pico della Mirandola and Agrippa) and less than benign ways (especially John Dee). Llull's legacy of esoteric universalism is continued on vicariously through the extraordinary legacy of Theosophy-influenced fin de siecle occultism, attempting to subvert (and renew) Christendom through the infusion of and comparison with "eastern" sources.