As already seen, many authors viewed Christian division and degradation as the cause of the successful rise of Islam. How better to reconcile the triumphant truth of Christianity with its historical setbacks beginning in the seventh century than to portray the conquered churches as corrupted? Prideaux viewed Muslims as a tool used by God to punish the sinful Eastern churches. God raised “the Saracens to be the Instruments of his Wrath, to punish them for it.” 75 Simultaneously such an explanation chastised contemporary dissenting Christians with the threat of God’s possible punishment and explained the loss of Christendom’s heartland while denigrating Islam.

DEFINE: Explains Prideaux's interpretive framework: Muslim victories framed as God's tool to punish corrupt Eastern churches, reconciling Christian truth with historical setbacks.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 166