Islands in the Sea
From Turtledove
"Islands in the Sea" is a short story written by Harry Turtledove. It originally appeared in Alternatives, edited by Robert Adams, in 1989. It was reprinted in Departures and The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century.
In "Islands in the Sea," Constantinople and thus the Byzantine Empire fell rapidly to Muslim invasions in the 7th Century, leaving Western Europe without a buffer state.
Half a century later, Muslim and Catholic emissaries visited a heathen Bulgar Khan named Telerikh whose land was between both religions, in an attempt to convert him to their respective religions. The Catholic delegation includes a priest of Byzantine origins, one of the many Greek refugees now in communion with the Pope. After much prosyletizing, the Khan converted to the Muslim faith because the Caliphate commanded a stronger empire than the Pope. The participants realized that Christianity was doomed to remain in an isolated part of the world without a powerful empire to support it.
[edit] Criticisms
In "Islands in the Sea," one Catholic emissary makes the statement that Jesus stated that no more prophets would follow after John the Baptist. This statement is not recorded in any of the Gospel, nor is there any indication that it was part of Christian dogma during the 700s AD. When asked about this statement, Turtledove stated that it was not a Christian belief, yet in the story he attributes it as one. Within the story the statement may have been a doctrinal development against the the Prophet Muhammed.
Additionally, the Great Schism between the Latin and Greek churches had not occurred by 700 AD, so there should not have been such great animosity between the western and eastern branches of Christianity.
"Islands in the Sea" is based on the Khazars, who are believed to have converted en masse to Judaism following a similar debate.
