Rehabilitating the Crusades

I was so pleased and surprised, while looking at Relased Catholic today, to find a historical summary of the Crusades which didn't follow the conventional wisdom of "Christians bad people, Moslems good chess players".

Until the 1960s, the CW on the Crusades had been just the opposite. All was mighty King Richard and Errol Flynn fighting hoards of bad guys who all somehow resembled Basil Rathbone in the popular imagination. Airplanes, athletic teams, and consumer brands were inspired by the great enterprise to rescue the Holy Land from Moslem Rule. This version, of course, was somewhat rosier than the reality.

For the last 40 years, however, an exaggerated opposite view has prevailed in the study of these wars. I believe this late 20th century, anti-Crusader version of the story has been prompted primarily by lefty academics who despise everything associated with the rise and growth of western civilization. I think there is a terrible irony in the fact that Evangelical Christians, in their enthusiasm to promote reformed religion, have bought into this view which is every bit as much anti-Christian as it is anti-Catholic.

Based on the advance publicity, I fully expect the upcoming movie "Kingdom of Heaven" to become an archetype expression of the anti-western take on the Crusades. I also expect the upcoming movie to be supported by a multi-media educational campaign of the sort I encountered here.

The Crusades failed in their immediate goal of establishing a secure Christian presence in the Holy Land. At times, the Crusades provided horrible examples of how Satan can bring great evil out of what has begun as a good enterprise (see the sack of Constantinople in 1204).

Still: if it weren't for the Crusades and those knights willing to travel to another continent for their faith, I do not think there would be a Catholic or a Christian Church today.