Science and historyDraft · awaiting advisor review
What about the Crusades?
In short
The Crusades (1095–1291 in the eastern Mediterranean) were wars called by popes to win and hold Jerusalem and other lands. They came after centuries of conflict and a plea for help, but they included massacres of Muslims, Jews and fellow Christians that contradict Jesus’ teaching. Christians should admit this honestly, neither excusing it nor exaggerating it.
The Objection
The Crusades show what Christianity does with power. Popes promised spiritual rewards for fighting. Crusaders massacred Jews in the Rhineland, slaughtered Jerusalem’s Muslims and Jews in 1099, and sacked Christian Constantinople in 1204. This was not a fringe movement but the church’s official cause for two centuries. If Christian leaders could bless holy war, the claim to be a religion of love looks hollow, and that memory still harms relations with Muslims and Jews.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Historical evidence
The Crusades had a context. Arab armies conquered Christian Syria, Egypt and North Africa in the 600s. After the Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071, Emperor Alexios I asked the West for help. Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade at Clermont in 1095. Context helps explain why the Crusades happened. It does not excuse what was done.
- Historical evidence
Real atrocities happened. Crusaders murdered Jewish communities in the Rhineland in 1096. Christian and Muslim sources both describe a massacre when Jerusalem fell in 1099. Constantinople was sacked in 1204. Yet some church leaders resisted: some bishops tried to shelter Jews in 1096, and Bernard of Clairvaux opposed attacks on Jews in 1146. When Saladin retook Jerusalem in 1187, there was no comparable massacre.
- Scripture
Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. He said his kingdom was not of this world, so his servants would not fight for it. He taught love for enemies, and Paul forbade taking revenge. Many Christians see crusading violence as a betrayal of this teaching, not an expression of it.
- Philosophical argument
It is fair to judge any movement by its founder’s teaching as well as by its followers’ conduct. The strongest case against the Crusades’ cruelty comes from Jesus’ own words. The same fairness should apply to every faith: no tradition should be judged only by its worst moments, or only by its best.
- Christians differ
Some Christians hold to a ‘just war’ tradition, which goes back to Augustine and Aquinas. They think defensive war can sometimes be right, though they still condemn the massacres. Others, such as Mennonites and many Quakers, reject all war. Historians also differ: some stress the crusaders’ sincere devotion and defensive aims, while others stress conquest, greed and intolerance.
- Historical evidence
Some Christian leaders have publicly expressed repentance. In 2000 Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness for Christians’ use of violence in the service of truth. In Athens in 2001 he asked forgiveness for Catholic sins against the Orthodox, and spoke of the ‘disastrous sack’ of Constantinople.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The ‘defensive war’ argument works best for the First Crusade’s background. It is much weaker for the sack of Constantinople, the crusade against the Cathars in southern France and the Baltic crusades. It does not touch the massacres of Jews at all. Saying crusaders were ‘not real Christians’ is also weak: many were sincerely devout, and popes promised them spiritual rewards. That makes the Crusades a failure of the church, not just of a few individuals.
Arguments to Avoid
- Portraying the Crusades as unprovoked attacks on a peaceful Muslim world, or as purely defensive and therefore justified – both ignore much of the evidence.
- Claiming crusaders were mostly landless younger sons after loot – crusading was costly, and many sold property to go.
- Blaming Muslims, Jews or Christians today for what people did 800 years ago.
- Inflating the death toll or treating the Crusades as the defining story of Christian–Muslim relations.
Read for Yourself
Matthew 5:38–48
38Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 26:47–54
47And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 49And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. 50And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 51And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 52Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
John 18:33–37
33Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 34Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? 35Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Romans 12:14–21
14Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Further Reading
- God’s War: A New History of the Crusades · Christopher Tyerman (2006)A detailed, balanced history by a leading Oxford historian.
- The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land · Thomas Asbridge (2010)
- The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives · Carole Hillenbrand (1999)How medieval Muslims experienced and remembered the Crusades.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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