Essay on The Crusades Significance for Christianity Today

Give a brief account of The Crusades. What significance do they still have for Christianity today? What should contemporary Christians learn from them? In this essay, this writer will give a brief account of The Crusades, demonstrate the significance they still have for Christianity today and what lessons contemporary Christians should learn from them. The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched between 1095 and 1291 by the Christian states of Europe against the Saracens who were Moslems. The name Crusade is derived from an old French word ‘crois’, meaning ‘the cross’. The idea was to urge Christian warriors to go to Palestine and free Jerusalem and other holy places from Muslim domination (Internet Source 1). The first Crusade†¦show more content†¦Therefore, the reports are probably only very approximate ideas of what the Pope actually said. The Pope’s impassioned speech in which he demonises the Moslems, appears to be a mastery in flattery, hyperbole, and misuse of Scripture. On the other hand, Haag (2011: 75-78) strongly argues that the Pope would never have stooped to lurid rabble rousing, neither did he intend to whip up a mass movement of peasantry because his desirable instruments for the Crusade were the knights. Also, it looks to me that the Pope took it as his di vine duty to forcibly remove from the holy places of Jerusalem those who had profaned them, similar to the way Jesus drove the money changers from the holy Temple. The Pope promised the warriors immediate entry to heaven if they died on The Crusade, doing away with any necessity of penance after death (MacCulloch 2009: 384). These papal grants are unquestionably similar to the later papal indulgences that were a bone of contention by Martin Luther during the Reformation. However, it seems that the warriors believed The Crusades to be a spiritual war to purify their souls of sin. For why else would a person risk everything by travelling to a distant land were they may never return? Of course, the desire to better one’s economic prospects in a land flowing withShow MoreRelatedThe Medieval Period Essay1167 Words   |  5 PagesCertainly within British/English history we have a huge heritage in the medieval world and so it is quite easy to look for how aspects of this period de velop through time but still retain relevance for people today. New technologies came to light during the medieval period, which are still in place today – new trade routes meant trade with the east was possible and items such as spices and silk were introduced to the western world, however with great possibilities and explorations, came dark times. PopulationsRead MoreThe Roman Catholic Church in Medieval Times Essay1295 Words   |  6 Pages In the Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church played a great role in the development of England and had much more power than the Church of today does. 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