Exploring the good news of the kingdom of God
As I prepare to write and experience a new travel journal, I thought it might be fun to look back at the other travel journals I’ve done here on GSB. If you’ve not followed GSB through one of these trips this will give you an idea of what to expect as we prepare to head to the … Continue reading “Past GSB Travel Journals”
The trip is over and we are back home. I’ve had a few days to reflect. If there is a common thread between the First Crusade and the Carolingian Renaissance that is applicable today for Christians it is the importance of Christian leadership to the kingdom of God. But for the Church, the Middle Ages … Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Epilogue”
Today was our last day to tour in Paris, and it was a full day. After beginning at Rue Cler, we made the short walk to Les Invalides, which is, among other things, a museum of French military history. Les Invalides’s collection of suits of armor was fascinating. I was struck by the difference between the … Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 10”
If you are like me, most of what you were taught in school regarding the motivation for the First Crusade is wrong. It’s wrong because it is based on biased anti-Christian Enlightenment writers like Gibbon and Voltaire. Voltaire, for example, wrote that the crusaders were motivated only by “the thirst for brigandage” and that “Christianity is the … Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 7”
Today we began at Mont St. Michel, one of the most visited and photographed sights in the world. Mont St. Michel is a monastery built in the 8th century on a rock off the coast of Normandy, France. It is completely surrounded by water and is connected to land only by a causeway. The monasteries were … Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 4”