Stark treatment of the Crusades Peter Bolt

Hi Peter

I agree with the need to do serious history and unmask propaganda (though, as I’m sure you’re aware, if one is serious about the task then one will read more than just Stark on the crusades).

But I’m not sure about the relevance of the crusader’s violent actions to the gospel of Jesus, except that these were people who presumably misappropriated Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God (with its nonviolent ethic and its path of suffering leading to vindication) under the influence of Constantinianism.

Rob

While I carry no particular brief for various of the Crusaders, someone like St Isidore of Seville seems more relevant to the formation of their political views than Constantine (who for one thing I doubt would be all that keen on the sacking of his eponymous city.)

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