Opera Latina XXXVI (10-11): Liber Contra Antichristum; Liber de Gentili Et Tribus Sapientibus

Volume XXXVI of the Raimundi Lulli Opera latina contains critical editions of Ramon Llull’s Liber contra Antichristum (edited by Pamela M. Beattie) and Liber de gentili et tribus sapientibus (edited by Oscar de la Cruz Palma). The Liber contra Antichristum (op. 10) is the Latin version of the original Catalan Llibre contra Anticrist (c. 1274-1276), written nearly twenty years later (sometime between 1290 and 1294). The treatise is decidedly not sensational; it contains no apocalyptic timetables and makes no attempt to equate contemporary figures or movements with specific apocalyptic figures or events. On the contrary, it reflects Llull’s intellectual and evangelical desires to articulate rational proofs for the basic doctrines of Christianity. The Liber de gentili et tribus sapientibus (op. 11) is the Latin version of Ramon Llull’s Llibre del gentil e dels tres savis, produced only a few years after the Catalan original (c. 1271). It is a dialogue in which a gentile listens to the expositions of three wise men - a Jew, a Christian, and a Saracen - each of whom is trying to explain the main doctrines of his own religion. The objective is the conversion of the gentile to the best of the three religions, but the result remains undisclosed by the author in order to leave the choice up to the reader.