Tag: History

Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Introduction

The GSB 2012 summer travel journal theme has been decided and the destination set.

The time period is 750 A.D. through 1100 A.D. (The Carolingian Renaissance through the First Crusade).

The place is the former Carolingian Empire (France, Germany, Belgium).

The people are Charlemagne & Godfrey de Bouillon (and others).

If you live in the West, Charlemagne is the reason you are not saying “Allahu Akbar” today. Charlemagne unified what is today Europe and facilitated the spread of Christianity there when Europe was threatened by an imperialistic Islam. His rule also spawned the Carolingian Renaissance. Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Introduction”

Book Review: God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark

If you’ve ever wondered what the Crusades were all about this is the book.

I’ve read many books on the Crusades, including those by the major players like Sir Steven Runciman and Jonathan Riley-Smith, but if I were to recommend one book on the Crusades it would be this one by Rodney Stark.

In God’s Battalions Stark debunks the inaccurate characterizations of the Crusades propagated by biased Enlightenment historians like Gibbon and Voltaire, as well as modern secular historians turned Muslim-apologists. Stark does so, as any good historian should, through the application of logic to fact. The book is also amply footnoted and sourced.

Stark demonstrates the Crusades were a just and necessary response to militant Islamic aggression and Islamic persecution of Christians in the Levant. He is also convincing in his argument that the cultural achievements of Islam have been exaggerated and in any event were largely attributable to the Christians and Persians who were conquered and subjugated in Muslim society.

Continue reading “Book Review: God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark”

On The State Of The Union

It being the Fourth of July, it seemed appropriate to comment on the state of the Union, i.e. the United States of America.

It’s been common among Christians to talk about American decline as if it was obvious and irreversible. I’m not convinced it is either. As I’ve discussed here before, I believe many Christians have the wrong philosophy of history, which leads them to the wrong conclusions from current trends.

As to whether apparent declines are irreversible, imagine you were a Christian living in Europe in the mid 700’s A.D. Christianity had spread throughout the Roman Empire but in the last 100 years, the militant Muslims had taken back the Middle East from Christians encroached on the Byzantine Empire and attacked Constantinople, had take all of North Africa, moved into southern Italy and Spain and was threatening what is modern day France from the south. Continue reading “On The State Of The Union”

Why The Resurrection is Important

“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” (Matt. 28:6).

This was the invitation given to the first women to arrive at the tomb on Easter morning, “Come, see the place where He was lying.” It is an invitation God gives to all.

The empty tomb is God’s exclamation mark on history. It is His Exhibit A to the world that Jesus was the Son of God and Savior of the world.

As the Apostle Paul told the Athenian Supreme Court, God has “furnished proof to all men” by the resurrection. (Act. 17:31). As Paul told King Agrippa, the resurrection did not happen “in a corner” where no one could see. (Acts 26:26). Continue reading “Why The Resurrection is Important”

Of Empires And The Kingdom

Many Christians are concerned about the possibility of America’s decline and the effect it would have on the kingdom of God. I’m not so worried.

God chose to send His Son to establish the kingdom of God on earth during the reign of the Roman Empire. On its face, this would seem odd timing.

Why not rather choose a time when leadership is more fractured and the kingdom of God could spread with less opposition?

We know in retrospect the Roman Empire through its network of roads and trade routes became the means through which Christianity spread throughout the known world. Continue reading “Of Empires And The Kingdom”