In the same way, anyone that took it upon them to forsake the goods of this world, in order to crusade in the Holy Land would be able to inherit eternal life. Pope Urban reportedly also promised a complete remission of their sins to whoever promised to undertake and take part in the First Crusade to liberate the East from libels and heathens. He said, "...advance boldly, as knights of

The bottom line was that it was mandatory for people to put aside their miserable goals with the purpose of choosing a greater goal. Not only did the pope tries to influence people by appealing to their dedication to the Church, but he also used stories relating to Constantinople and Jerusalem with the purpose of emphasizing the fact that these lands were filled with riches. It is very likely that

high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misinformation, so much so that I have even heard people defend the idea that knowledge of the historical church is irrelevant to modern Christianity. Reading through the class material, I

Justo L.Gonzalez, The Story Christianity, 1 volume (preferably 2010 edition) ii. The Crusades -- interpretation and history There is much controversy regarding Crusades, their purpose, and the general effect that they left on society. Largely accepted as conflicts that started with the purpose of protecting the Byzantine Empire and Christianity as a whole, Crusades have taken place over the course of several centuries and have had a strong influence on religious

The Battle of Hattin, as it has come to be known, was a very decisive event in the history of the Crusades. After destroying the Christian army, Saladin and his Muslim brothers quickly conquered almost every Frankish city and on October 2, 1187, the Holy City of Jerusalem fell which signaled the beginning of the Third Crusade, "a reaction to the fall of the Holy City of Jerusalem to the

These characters possess freewill, such as Ganelon and his plotting against the Franks. But the God in the epic does intervene to make sure that good really comes out victorious in the end, such as when he makes Thierry win over Pinable in a duel. The unknown author of the epic presents the Muslims as unquestionably and inherently evil and base, the reverse of the Christians (Bouneuf 2005). Although the