The Crusades: Time for Another?

Two of Christendom’s favorite hymns, often used at services of Holy Communion, are “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” and “Jesus, King Most Wonderful.” Both were written by the great medieval monk and theologian, Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153). Not many of those who sing Bernard’s hymns know the name of their author, and even fewer know that he was the leading agitator behind the Second Crusade (1147-49). The thought might make them uncomfortable.

The Crusades do not enjoy a good press in the modern West—although the very existence of the modern West owes a great deal to them. Even among Christians the Crusades have a poor reputation. Of those bloody wars fought between 1096 and 1270, chiefly but not solely in the Holy Land, Jerry Falwell, for instance, has said that they were “bloody aberrations . . . in no way representative of Biblical Christianity.” He even goes so far as to classify them with some of the far-out cults and the “Jim Jones tragedy” as “aberrations of Christianity.” Many Christians share Reverend Falwell’s distaste.

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Harold O. J. Brown

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Religious Persecution

Two of Christendom’s favorite hymns, often used at services of Holy Communion, are “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” and “Jesus, King Most Wonderful.” Both were written by the great medieval monk and theologian, Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153). Not many of those who sing Bernard’s hymns know the name of their author, and even fewer know that he was the leading agitator behind the Second Crusade (1147-49). The thought might make them uncomfortable.

The Crusades do not enjoy a good press in the modern West—although the very existence of the modern West owes a great deal to them. Even among Christians the Crusades have a poor reputation. Of those bloody wars fought between 1096 and 1270, chiefly but not solely in the Holy Land, Jerry Falwell, for instance, has said that they were “bloody aberrations . . . in no way representative of Biblical Christianity.” He even goes so far as to classify them with some of the far-out cults and the “Jim Jones tragedy” as “aberrations of Christianity.” Many Christians share Reverend Falwell’s distaste.