In 1187, Pope Urban III received news so startling that he died from hearing it. Across the Mediterranean, in the Crusader-controlled Kingdom of Jerusalem, a great battle had been fought between Christian knights and the forces of the Muslim leader, Saladin. On a rocky plain formed by an extinct . . . . Continue Reading »
Outlandish Knight: The Byzantine Life of Steven Runcimanby minoo dinshawallen lane, 784 pages, £30 No events in medieval European history are more discussed today than the wars fought under the banner of the Cross of Christ known to us, but not to those who fought them, as the Crusades. Originally . . . . Continue Reading »
Perhaps a better title would be something like Don’t Allow the Crusades to be Thoughtlessly Added to a Parade of Christian Horribles without Knowing More about It, but I wanted to get your attention.Rodney Stark’s God’s Batallions is an outstanding book designed to help the . . . . Continue Reading »
There was a post below on whether Christians should fast during Ramadan. The answer is clearly no. We should proclaim the gospel and why we believe it (See Resurrection, The).But the other question comes from Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz (which, as I’ve said before, I . . . . Continue Reading »
God’s War: A New History of the Crusades by christopher tyerman belknap, 1,040 pages, $35 Not too many years ago, single-volume histories of the Crusades were a rarity. Bookstores were crowded with volumes on the Civil War or World War II, but there was little on medieval battles fought in . . . . Continue Reading »
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