With Due Respect: What about the Crusades?

[The editor and author of this post is not a history major. He also does not endose violence against people with differing views, nor seek to justify the Crusades. The purpose of this post is to encourage deeper thinking on whether Christianity is an inherantly violent religion that led to terrible atrocities, in this case the Crusades.]

Map of Medieval Europe, Asia and Africa from the game, Medieval 2:Total War

I often heard from my friends that Christianity is violent. They point out that during the Crusades, the Christians rode into the Middle East unprovoked and slaughtered both Jews and Muslims. This seems to concur with Richard Dawkins's (2006) assertion that Christianity is a violent religion For instance, King Richard I mercilessly executed 2,700 Muslim soldiers captured at Arce in 1191.

For this post, I will be focusing on the Crusades of the Middle East, and not other campaigns, such as the Northern Crusades and the Reconquista.

What are the Crusades?
The Crusades were a series of Christian military expeditions to the Middle East that started in 1095 to 1272. These soldiers were blessed by the Pope and aimed to return capture the Middle East for Christianity.


How do you justify such violence?
I don't. The Crusades was a horrific event that happened and etched the horror of Christianity in the minds of its opponents.

I do not deny that the Crusaders did in their zeal and greed led to the massacre the residents of Jerusalem and the sack of Constantinople.

Misconceptions of the Crusades

A) The Crusades were an unprovoked attack on the Middle Easterns
In 1095, much of the Byzantium Empire (aka the Eastern Roman Empire) had fallen to the Muslim Arabs. Looking at the map, this included cities like Nicaea, Antioch, Arce, Alexandria, Damascus and of course, most importantly, Jerusalem. Facing anniliation, the Byzantium Emperor Alexois I appealed to Pope Urban II to aid him in the interest of Christian brotherhood (The Byzantines were Orthodox Christians, while the Pope was the head of the Roman Catholic Church). This kicked off the First Crusade, where Pope Urban II's rousing speech (and promises of instant paradise for those who perished in the expedition) convinced a force of 35,000 men to embarked on this venture.

Furthermore, Western Europe was not untouched by the Arab aggression. In fact, Arab pirates had threatened Rome (where the Pope resides) before. To the Western Europeans, the Arab attackers were not far away, but near.

In other words, the Crusades were a response to the aggression against Christians in the once-Byzantium lands. 

French Medieval armour, taken at the French Imperial War Museum in 2011

B) The Crusades was a period of constant warfare
The Middle Eastern Crusades lasted from 1095- 1272. This seems to suggest that the Christian soldiers were actively attacking the Holy Lands for about 200 years. However, about 90% of those years were spent organising and travelling.  For instance, the Third Crusade (the longest campaign) lasted for six years (1187 to 1192), but the actual fighting in the Middle East only started in 1189 (with the Siege of Arce).

C) The Crusader Kingdoms mistreated the non-Christians
Another criticism is that the Crusader Kingdoms that were established abused and mistreated the non-Christians inhabitants. The Crusaders did segreate their community from Jews, Muslims and Eastern Christians (Prawer, 1981). While slavery of non-Christians was allowed, Crusaders had to free slaves who chose to convert to Roman Catholicism.

However, it has to be stated that the Crusaders generally allowed a degree of autonomy among the non-Christian inhabitants. Ibn Jubayr (an Arab Muslim chronicler) complained

"Many Muslims are sorely tempted to settle here when they see the far from comfortable conditions in which their brethren live in the districts under Muslim rule. Unfortunately for the Muslims, they have always reason for complaint about the injustices of their chiefs in the lands governed by their coreligionists, whereas they can have nothing but praise for the conduct of the Franks [Crusaders], whose justice they can always rely on."  (Pernoud, 1963)

In fact, the Crusaders relations to the non-Christian inhabitants was not regarded as especially special for that time period. It was "neither friendly, nor hostile" (Ellenblum, 2006)

Conclusion
The Crusades were an example of the misuse of Christianity. In fact any idea can be manipulated to violence. Even the belief in no God (i.e. atheism) had led to the despotic regimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot (Mcgrath , 2004).

To pretend that the Crusaders were particularly worse than their contemporaries is misleading.


References
Dawkins, R. (2006) The God Delusion

 Ellenblum, R. (1998) Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem

Mcgrath, A. (2004) Twilight of Atheism

Pernoud, R. (1963) The Crusaders

Prawer, J. (1981) Crusader Institutions

For further readings

Aren't Christians responsible for most wars?

My Confessions: Reflection on Esther 4

One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place. -- GK Chesterton

One of the Bible's heroes I admire is Esther. After all, she was queen, had a book (and possibly a sweet-smelling chemical compound) named after her and was the beauty of the land. When i was young, I thought she was pretty brave to stand up to the king to save the Jews.

Recently, I had the privilege of reading it again. While not diminishing her bravery, I realised that she was initially reluctant to save her people from governmental persecution when first informed of a conspiracy by her cousin Mordecai. In fact, she only moved to action after she was told that she would be an eventual target. In Esther 4: 12 -14,

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

I began to realised that God had placed Esther in a position of power not because she was particularly courageous or moral, but so that she could be used for a divine purpose.

What I learnt
Despite my current predicament or situation (no matter how bad it is), I know that God can use me. Not because I am particularly talented, but because of God's foresightedness and love.

Alternative Culture: Yours Scotland

John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation

When I think of Scotland, I think of tough individuals amplified by the movies of Brave, Outlaw King and Braveheart. Even more so, I admire Scotland for John Knox, the theologian who led the reformation of Scotland.

Yet, recently the Scottish government put out this ad below.




Although seemingly an inclusive message, the Scottish government has made its stand clear: if you disagree with the way they define gender, sexuality, discrimination and religion, you are not welcome to Scotland.

Ironically, their message of tolerance only tolerates people who agree with their message. If Christians stand up for the exclusivity of the Gospel message, they could be charged for a hate crime. What a drastic change from the Reformation!

My deep concern is that this will bring Christianity to the forefront of scruinity. Will the Scottish Christians stay true to the Gospel, and what Christ has done for us? Or will they follow the ways of the world?

Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”  -- Acts 5: 29 - 32

For further reference

Christian Concern

Alternative Culture: Elizabeth Warren and genetics

After being taunted by American President Donald Trump about her alleged Native American heritage, American senator Elizabeth Warren showed the world her DNA results. She had expected praise and support from the public based on being 1/64 to 1/1024 Native American), but only received more ridicule.

In this post, I will briefly talk about why people play up their heritage. If you are looking for Democratic or Republican support, you came to the wrong blog.

Why is it important?
Knowing one's heritage can be a matter of life and death for many people. After all, claiming to be part of a powerful family may lead to great wealth, control and other privileges down the line. Even in today's day and age when we allegedly removed the nobility and caste, many still feel ancestry claims are important.


Adoption
Yet in Christianity, our past claims are not important. What is important is the offer that Christ extends to us by virtue of his mercy to to claim to be part of his family.


As in Hebrews 12: 22-24,

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 

And what is beautiful about this is that this offer is open to everyone.

With Due Respect: Jesus's death was misdiagnosed!

One area that non-Christians highlight is on the reality of the death of Jesus. After all, if Jesus did not really die and come back to life, it would mean that he was not divine and thus could not take the sin of mankind. This would invalidate the core of Christianity.

One common argument I hear that when Jesus was crucified, he was misdiagnosed as dead. Even today, there had been such errors. Could the ancient people be mistaken about the death of Jesus?

Blood and water
The first thing to note is that in that it was recorded in John 19: 33-34

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’s side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 

This is consistent with the unusual build up of fluid in the pericardium. Such build up is due to hypovolemic shock (low blood volume) or asphyxiation (suffocation). Regardless of this cause of the "sudden flow of blood and water", this is diagnostic of death.

Buried for days
Even if Jesus was not dead then, he was sealed in a tomb for days. With heavy injuries sustained and lack of food and medical treatment, it would be impossible for anyone to survive.

Intention to kill
With most cases of misdiagnosis, there was no one seeking to execute them. Jesus however was sentenced to death. The Romans were professional executioners and would have checked thoroughly if Jesus was dead.

Conclusion
Asserting that Jesus did not die would be going against a mountain of evidence.

For more information

Alternative Culture: Fire Emblem: Fates

Fire Emblem Fates

One of the best game series I played is the Fire Emblem series. Not only does it is a turn-based strategy game (just think of it as a glorified version of chess), it also has the mechanic of permadeath (permanent death), in which if your teammate dies, they are permanently out of the storyline.

This forces the player to think strategically about placement and equipment of his team, lest they fall victim to the enemy. This would result in a downward spiral of having even less team members to bring to the next chapter.

In this post I want to focus on Fire Emblem Fates, in which the the player has to choose to side with Hoshido (fantasy medieval Japan) or Nohr (fantasty medieval Europe).

Birthright or Conquest?
The player character (whose default name is Corrin) was born to Hoshido royal family. Corrin was then kidnapped by the Nohr king and raised by Nohr royalty. Early in the game, Corrin has to choose between following his birth or his adopted family.

What did I choose?
After thinking about it, I realised there are similar implications in Christianity. Although born in Hoshido, the Nohr royal family chose to treat Corrin like Nohr royalty.

Similarly, being a Christian and hence part of God's family is an adoption, rather than a birthright (Hebrews 12: 22-24).

This practice extends to government policy of Nohr. For instance, the retainers of Nohr come from different backgrounds. Some of them like Peri are nobles, while others like Arthur are commoners. Hoshido retainers on the other hand follow the traditions of their ancestors by inheriting their jobs. The most telling is Kaze and Saizo who inhertied their jobs (protecting the royal family) from their fathers.

Reflections
In a time where culture clashes, we can thank God that he made Himself cross-boundary.

My Confession: An uncurable disease

One of my students awoke one morning and found she could not unclench her fist, nor straighten her leg. During her hospitalisation, she was diagnosed with myotonia.

Myotonia is a genetic disease that affects the muscular and the nervous system. Patients will find relaxing their muscles to be difficult. For most patients, the symptoms only manifest themselves at age 18-20. There is no known cure.

How can I bear to explain to her this: the life that she once knew no longer applies. From now on, her movements will be limited and her odds of starting a family have fallen way below average.

Why this is happen? In my head, I know the answers. Scientifically, the disease is autosomal dominant and thus was inherited. Her parents do not have the symptoms so it appeared that some epigenetic trait saved them.

Theologically, I know that this is a recognition that sin had infected the world and the disease is a manifestation of that.

Practically, I could advise her how to adjust her lifestyle to aid herself.

Yet, these are not answers she needs yet.

I only can pray. Despite how desperate the situation it, I can trust God is in charge.

"Yet at the same time Christian faith is more absurdly, outrageously more hopeful than liberal rationalism, with its unhinged belief that not only is the salvation of the human species possible but that, contrary to all we read in the newspapers, it has in principle already taken place. Not even the rose-tinted Trotskyist believes that." -- Terry Eagleton

Theology 1.0: What were the crusades?

What were the crusades?

Every now and then, one must deal with the question of the Crusades. The Crusades were a military expedition sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church to invade and annexed territory from Muslims, pagans and heretics. Due to horrific atrocities committed during such expeditions, the Crusades are often used as a sore point to show that Christianity promotes violence.

The word "Crusades" have a negative connotation till this day. The Campus Crusade for Christ changed their name to Cru to avoid the controversy. The Roman Catholic and Orthodoxy churches had bad blood with each other because of the actions of the Fourth Crusade (the Crusaders sacked Orthodox churches during that Crusade).

For this post, I will be focusing the expeditions to the Holy Land (Judea and the surrounding territory) that lasted from 1095 to 1291.

Whose land?
Judea (roughly Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt) once belonged to the Christian Eastern Roman Empire.

With the rise of Islam, Judea fell to Muslim armies during the 600s and 700s. In 1095, the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I asked Pope Urban II for military aid. Stirring religious emotion, many knights, nobles and even peasants committed to the cause.

Due to the success of the First Crusade (against overwhelming odds), the attractiveness brought more and more adherents to the cause. This resulted in escalation of violence, which included the massacre of 60, 000 Jerusalem inhabitants during the First Crusade and execution of 2, 000 Muslim prisoners during the Third Crusade,

Points to think about
While the Crusades left a dark stain on the perception of Christianity, let us note the following:

1) The Crusades was a military response to the loss of land
2) Wars have been fought in the name of religion, and Christianity is hardly immune to it
3) Atrocities were committed by all sides.

For further reading:

wikipedia