Christian View Of The Crusades Essay

The Crusades were known as a series of battles launched by Europe against the Islamic religion to take back the holy land of Jerusalem. When the First Crusade was launched, Jerusalem churches were under the Muslim rule. When Pope Urban II was elected, he found himself the head of a reformed movement to win back the holy land of Jerusalem, and relieve churches of the Muslim rule. Emperor Alexius, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, requested help from Pope Urban because the Muslims were killing his Christian people. Since the Muslims were in command of Jerusalem, the violent acts happening in the Byzantine Empire by the Muslims were happening in Jerusalem as well.

Religion influence the funding and development of New England Colonies because it was one of the main reasons why the people wanted to break away. The Church of England believed that everyone should praise God, but only on their terms. The people of the church believed that only certain people could interpret the word of God and this made a group of people angry. This group of people wanted to ‘purify’ the church, which is where they got the name the Puritans. Puritans believed all catholic based beliefs should be taken out of the church and that it was not required to worship God.

As the Reformation started Luther he started to preach with lectures and teaching them the right way to follow Christ Jesus. “In 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. He was ordered to appear before leading authorities at the Diet of Worms”(Forster 3). The Diet of Worms was sent to him commanding Luther to deing nay the many things he said about the catholic church. But he stood strong and said “I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

How did it effect the people of the middle ages directly? The Magna Carta had a strong effect on the English people of the middle ages; it protected them from corruption of the king as well as other law officials. To understand the Magna Carta, we must first look at what was happening before it was composed, that lead up to the making of this document. The Crusades, also known as the “Holy Wars” were taking place during this time. King Richard preferred to fight in wars over dealing with the governmental side of ruling a country, and he went out to join the fighting.

“May the Lord array thee in the garment of salvation and surround thee with the cloak of happiness” (196). Born a powerful and assertive man Rodrigo de Borja y Doms, more commonly known as Pope Alexander IV, mastered the art of ruling Christians spiritually, while maintaining order in the church. During his papacy Pope Alexander was flawed in setting and example for others to follow. Although he did many things popes generally shy away from such as allowing his children to have an advantage in politics, and bribery, Pope Alexander used his power and motivation to make a name and place for the Catholic Church. Pope Alexander IV created political policies, helped strengthen the Catholic Church, and fought against Manfred, King of Sicily.

In a nutshell: The 3 R’s: Reformation, Royalty & Renaissance The first R: The Reformation The reformation of the Christian Church had a huge effect on history, causing a major schism and centuries of sectarian violence. In England and other countries many were to die for being the wrong religion. In the early 1500s in mainland Europe, a huge religious upheaval started in reaction to Roman Catholicism, the existing Christian church. Martin Luther, and many others wanted reform – hence the term Reformation. They sought a simpler kind of Christian worship, with the emphasis on the individual’s own conscience and direct relationship with God, without the intervention of the Virgin Mary and all the saints, never mind about the control of priests, cardinals and the Pope, who were seen as being too powerful, too wealthy and too corrupt.

In addition, Protestantism helped a lot during this movement because its belief is that God saved everyone by His faith to Jesus Christ, himself. Martin Luther was strict about these rules of the Protestant Reformation. He felt that people should confess their sins, and depending on how bad the sin is, he thinks that God should judge it. Simultaneously, he didn’t believe that “indulgences,” or state of satisfaction, can pay off the price for one’s sin because he believes that it is not holy nor righteous (“Martin Luther”). In the end, this movement was spread to many countries of Europe such as Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and many

Martin believed that the long tradition of papal and ecclesiastical authority was unfounded in the Christian Scripture, and was thus immoral to exercise over the laity. It was the long standing belief in the Catholic Church that the Christian population was led by the pope, who was the direct connection between God the earthly world; this philosophy was known as the Gregorian “Two Sword Theory.” According this theory, spirituality and secular life were two edges of the same sword, a sword wielded by the pope; in this sense, the pope was not only the final say in matters of salvation, but also in matters of society and legality. Luther’s true goal was to replace this shameless and dishonest hierarchy within the Church with his “Two Kingdom Theory.” According to the turbulent monk, the Kingdom of Heaven was distinct from the secular world of earth. He believed that all men and women were called upon my God to share in the Faith and come to live in eternal glory based on his or her own personal belief. Luther aimed to separate the papacy from its former self-entitled power to grant salvation to believers based on the collective sum of their humanly deeds over the course of their lifetime.

Facing persecution in Europe, the Puritans came to America in order to create a society that lived according to the Bible’s demands. They were a separatist group who believed in purifying the Church of England by eliminating all aspects of Catholicism, like the Pope, for instance (“Puritan New England; Plymouth”). They also believed in predestination. This means that God chose whether or not a person would be saved or condemned at birth. However, the Puritans did not know whether God chose them to be saved or condemned, therefore, they lived through strict policies laid out in the “Covenant of Works” and the “Covenant of Grace.” The “Covenant of Grace” declares that “nothing people do can erase their sins nor earn them a place in heaven.” Consequently, the “Covenant of Works” states that “God’s elect must do good works…to earn their salvation” (Henretta).

The new state is a patriarchal, conservative state, whose ideology is based on a certain religion. All other religious groups (such as Quakers, Baptists, Catholics or Jews) and other minorities such as homosexuals or Blacks are not only treated in an intolerant way but they are also persecuted. Everyone else has a certain role in society and has to pretend to believe in the state if they want to survive. A very significant characteristic of the state that Offred describes is that the new ideology is based upon biblical ideas from the Old Testament. The new regime uses the literal interpretation of the Bible as a pretext to suppress the population.

2. Assess the role of the Crusades in the idea of Europe. The Idea of Europe had a very extreme aim to form “a common European identity,” and their base principles were “Christianity and democracy.” In this manner, the ones having this idea were violent to other nations, religions, regimes, and states, such as Ottomans, Islam, Empire, and Communism. This discrimination emerged from thinking differently and selfishly against other beliefs, religions, and “cultural practices.” Especially, Islam was the problem for Christians, and in this manner, “the military needs of the crusader states placed the papacy in a situation of normative antagonism toward the Islamic powers of the Middle East.” Then, the Crusaders shaped themselves and found their

The conflict causing the schism in 1054 was known as an investiture controversy. An investiture controversy describes a dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Empire over who held ultimate authority over the bishops in imperial lands. Popes of this time were corrupt and desired power. They started the Crusades to establish their power over the rightful rulers of Western Europe. The Crusades were armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim Rule.

The crusades have provided some of the most frequent arguments against the Christian faith. Some Islamic terrorists even claim that their terrorist attacks are revenge for what Christians did in the crusades. First of all, the crusades should not be referred to as the “Christian crusades.” Most of the people involved in the crusades were not truly Christians, even though they claimed to be. The name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many of the crusaders. Second, the crusades took place from approximately A.D. 1095 to