Which book on the crusades?

[lewlo]

One of my brothers has strayed from the Church and is even questioning the existence of God. He’s a lifetime military man ready to retire and has seen some hard things that he can’t square with a loving God. Recently he has brought up the crusades to me as a sticking point about the Church. I want to get him a good book to read from the Church’s perspective. Any suggestions?

 

[ironmonk]

Check this out… ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ421.HTM#The%20Crusades

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Peace be with you!

The Crusades by Hilaire Belloc. Belloc is a Catholic historian. You can check it out here: shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-B0184.html?L+scstore+dlsb0024ff151d15+1146922365
Also, anything by Thomas Madden should be pretty good.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[lewlo]

Thank you both–good stuff!

 

[ironmonk]

Also check out Peter Kreeft… not about the Crusades, but great philosophy proofs…

peterkreeft.com/audio.htm

peterkreeft.com/featured-writing.htm

and “The Reasons to Believe”
catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0002.html

It’s natural to question, but we need to seek answers from the people who know. If we were to just come up with them out of our own reasoning we might not realize some key points.

 

[Wisdom]

Tell him to watch the news today concerning Radical Islam and tell that’s the reason the catholic church called the crusades and the same reason the western world is till at war with this religion. I can understand one questioning the necessity of the Crusades some time ago but gee the last 5 years have demonstrated more than ever the necessity of confronting this religion in a military manner. Remember the church was attacked milirily for 600 years before it finally had enough.

 

[doomhammer]

lewlo:

He …has seen some hard things that he can’t square with a loving God.

…but with the Devil, the Prince of Darkness…
Regarding a book: History of the Crusades by Sir Steven Runciman.
Glory to the Crusaders, Glory to all of those you died because of Christ.

 

[rossum]

The two books on the Crusades I have found most useful are :

Steven Runciman A History of the Crusades (3 volumes).

Amin Maalouf The Crusades Through Arab Eyes.

rossum

 

[lewlo]

doomhammer:

…but with the Devil, the Prince of Darkness…

Yes, great point!

 

[doomhammer]

lewlo:

doomhammer:

…but with the Devil, the Prince of Darkness… Yes, great point!

Funny: To Blame God because the sin of Man…
Old story: Adam was the first in doing that. He disobeyed God, but was God’s fault! “The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me - she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.””