The identification of light skin with Christianity is found through the centuries in tales of Muslim monsters and monstrous births that follow the medieval formula of conversion and healing, the restoration of humanity to the true believer. For medieval Christians, there was no community of "white people," per se, even though foreigners were often represented with dark skin. Certainly, "race" as I am speaking of here is not constructed or politicized in the medieval mind in the same way as we find it in the modern imaginaire. However, in the Middle Ages we see the foundations of the ways in which "whiteness," race, and Christianity become connected over time.

XREF: Connects to modern critical race theory and the historical construction of whiteness; useful background for understanding how race and religion intertwine across eras. QUESTION: How exactly did the medieval light-skin-as-Christian formula evolve into modern racial categories? The author notes the shift but leaves the precise mechanism to explore.

Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imag…, loc. 111