Crusades

[Scott]

Are crusades justified under the Law? Do the holy wars of Israel provide any model for holy wars conducted by Christian countries (such as those of the Middle Ages)?

 

[satz]

I think governments have the right to wage defensive and even offensive wars in defense of their countries and (when soberly and prayerfully considered) in pursuit of other appropriate goals.

However, I do not see any justification whatsoever for 'holy wars' or wars undertaken to advance religion per se. There is not a word on such things anywhere in the new testament and i think christians have far different priorites for their time rather then such pursuits.

I think others mentioned on another thread that the crusades definitely had political and practical aspects in addition to the religious ones.

 

[Scott]

What relevance, if any, do the holy war laws and narratives of the Bible have for warfare conducted by Christian countries?

 

[Scott]

I am note sure that the Crusades are best characterized as being defensive wars. One theological justification of the Westerners was the importance of capturing and defending lands and locations believed to be holy and have theological significance. Jerusalem is the prime example of that. This was one of the prime motivators in the preaching for Crusades by the pope and his clergy.

 

[Puritanhead]

Last time I checked-- God hasn't given marching orders to anyone regarding holy wars in good little while, and God is not in covenant with the United States Government like he was ancient Israel-- I know some in U.S. military like to invoke the holy wars of Israel to rationalize Uncle Sam's zeal for war.

X. Bad Christian theology regarding the "Holy Land" contributed to the tragic cruelty of the Crusades in the Middle Ages. Lamentably, bad Christian theology is today attributing to secular Israel a divine mandate to conquer and hold Palestine, with the consequence that the Palestinian people are marginalized and regarded as virtual "Canaanites." This doctrine is both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and a violation of the Gospel mandate.40 In addition, this theology puts those Christians who are urging the violent seizure and occupation of Palestinian land in moral jeopardy of their own bloodguiltiness. Are we as Christians not called to pray for and work for peace, warning both parties to this conflict that those who live by the sword will die by the sword?41 Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring both temporal reconciliation and the hope of an eternal and heavenly inheritance to the Israeli and the Palestinian. Only through Jesus Christ can anyone know peace on earth.
--The Wittenberg Door, An Open Letter to Evangelicals and Other Interested Parties: The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?"
-James 4:1

Christianity and War by Laurence Vance.

 

[raderag]

Originally posted by Scott
Are crusades justified under the Law? Do the holy wars of Israel provide any model for holy wars conducted by Christian countries (such as those of the Middle Ages)?

I guess it boils down to how you see the Kingdom of God. With the Middle age view, it was probably necessary. I wonder how reconstructionist see this? This is one reason I can't get away from being amillennial, and don't tend to be that "optimistic".

 

[Scott]

"Last time I checked-- God hasn't given marching orders to anyone regarding holy wars in good little while"

The larger question I think is can moral principles on war can we derive from these passages. Paul used a passage on not muzzling oxen to justify the salaries of pastors. See 1 Cor. 9, for example. If his casuistry can produce that, it is not hard to see how the holy war passages in the Bible can lead to holy wars. I am not advocating holy war, crusades, or anything, but it is interesting to see how Christian cultures in the past how viewed these issues.