Nichtchristen in der Geschichte des kanonischen Rechts

The article deals with the question of how non-Christians were represented in premodern Canon law, under which aspects historical research (especially as regards the history of Canon law) has dealt with them so far and how or on under what conditions did it arrive at its conclusions. First, the current state of research as regards the history of Canon law, in general, and the status of non-Christians, in particular, are considered. Then, the focus turns to the semantics and the concept of the infidel in the legal as well as theological tradition of the Catholic Church. As a third step, the project of a bibliography on the status of non-Christians in the normative culture of the Catholic Church between Antiquity and modern times as well as some insights into the history of research gained in the course of the respective bibliographical studies will be presented. The last part of the article takes a closer look at two methodological aspects of research, namely the problem of anachronistic terms and contemporary aspects of valuation.