tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5328993133397649838.post7848068246926101128..comments2023-10-25T09:45:40.318-04:00Comments on The Politics of the Cross Resurrected: The Truth About the Crusades: A Review of "God's Battalions" by Rodney StarkCraig Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10209954891388905090noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5328993133397649838.post-78404419972927672312010-05-14T17:30:38.553-04:002010-05-14T17:30:38.553-04:00Stark's book might seem to make a plausible ca...Stark's book might seem to make a plausible case to the non-specialist, but critical analysis shows it is riddled with errors, full of convenient use of selective evidence and undermined by flawed arguments. He manages to debunk a few myths about the Crusades, but his apologetic argument simply does not work.<br /><br />For detailed critical analysis see:<br /><br />http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/gods-battalions-case-for-crusades-by.htmlTim O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00292944444808847980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5328993133397649838.post-75549669059877419832010-01-01T23:47:24.378-05:002010-01-01T23:47:24.378-05:00Like Josh and Charlie, Dan at City of God pretty m...Like Josh and Charlie, Dan at City of God pretty much falls in line with what is described as the conventional wisdom, while responding to this post: "Well, it was nice of the religious and political hierarchy of Christian Europe to look up from their burning of witches, putting of Jews in ghettos, and holding of inquisitions for the Cathars just long enough to remove the mote of religious persecution from their neighbour’s eye." His assessment of the West is about as fair as NPR's view of capitalism (Dr. Carter's second post following this one). Yet the faults of the Muslim aggression are completely overlooked. I respond by saying, among other things: "There is no revisionism in saying quite historically that the Crusades were a counterattack against a very real threat that continues into our own time. Let me see, was the Battle at Tours before or after the First Crusade?"<br /><br />Craig, thanks for pointing out this book.Peter W. Dunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160703257731149376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5328993133397649838.post-29391751157300787142009-12-30T13:08:19.843-05:002009-12-30T13:08:19.843-05:00Craig,
I'm with Josh—I'm unfamiliar with ...Craig,<br /><br />I'm with Josh—I'm unfamiliar with this "conventional" wisdom. I'm also troubled by your unqualified support for this particular revisionist thesis at this particular time. After all, the "sitz im Leben" of Stark's thesis is a violent conflict involving radical forms of Islam and Western militarism. Indeed, in the present conflict, Islam has arguably radicalized because of—or been precipitated by—the imperialistic brutality of Western expansionism (of both the communist and capitalist varieties). The stationing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf War in and around Saudia Arabia, and thus near Islam's holiest sites, is one of the reasons given for 9/11.<br /><br />So Stark's version of "reaching back" here would seem perilously close to the politics of the war on terror, and thus very, very far away from the politics of the cross—a politics, as you know, in which the evil enemy was conquered by the scandalous power of weakness.<br /><br />Moreover, why are those in the West who engage in self-critique caricatured as hating all things Western? I imagine that those who are most critical of the Crusades in the West are so because they think of and prize a "West" free from imperialism and expansionism and brutality. This thought may well be delusional, but it's a far cry from hating all things Western. It strikes me as deeply Western, in fact—this sort of forgetfulness about the history that has brought us to where we are.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18239691011178418701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5328993133397649838.post-87937231274718334152009-12-30T01:34:03.678-05:002009-12-30T01:34:03.678-05:00"Stark sums up the conventional wisdom of the..."Stark sums up the conventional wisdom of the contemporary world as follows: 'During the Crusades, an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam.'"<br /><br />I have never heard the crusades summed up in this way. I've always heard (and read) that they were examples of "holy" wars in which both sides were in the wrong. In any case, the most disturbing part of this history for me is the pope's involvement. It seems to me that here is one reason to be thankful for the separation of church and state.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11823464329012635376noreply@blogger.com