Recently, I taught a college-level class called "The Story" that reviewed 2,000 years of church history to a
very bright group of adults.
It was the
last class of nearly an 18-month journey that included classes on the Bible,
leadership and ministry. It was a
favorite class of many of the students and we tried to not just inform but to
challenge as well.
My co-instructor and I enjoyed teaching this Church
history class, particularly with the fast pace that we had to journey through
the early church, the rise of monasticism, the Middle Ages and
Reformation. In addition, each year we
also spent some time on the various Crusades from the 11th to the 15th century.
The Crusades don't have the best reputation, likely deservedly.
At the same time, we tried to be faithful to tell the whole story
including the rapid expansion of Islam beginning with their prophet Mohammed.
Soon after the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, there were many military
expeditions and a more aggressive posture interpreting the Jihad of Islam to be
necessary. Islam very quickly acquired
territory militarily from Arabia into Egypt, the Middle East, all of North
Africa and into the heart of Europe.
Regardless of the endless criticisms of the Crusades
and/or the defense of the 'peaceful
rule' of Islam the fact
remains that by the time of the first Crusade in 1095 AD, Christianity had
become strictly a European faith as three-quarters of what had been Christian
territory in Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, North Africa and Hellenized Byzantium
(Modern Turkey) had been wiped out by Islam.
Most scholars agree that other than the First Crusade,
the remaining Crusades were largely unsuccessful. Nearly all scholars forget to mention that
Christianity had been fighting and losing a defensive war against Islam for
more than 450 years. Islamic Caliphates
controlled more territory than Rome at its greatest expansion and the last and
largest caliphate of Islam, the Ottoman Empire, wasn't dissolved until after World War I.
The most important lesson however is that this history
lesson is still fresh in the minds of ISIS, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram
and others of the same mind. Note that
the propaganda announcements by these groups often refer to vengeance against "Rome", "People
of the Cross", and the "Crusaders."
When Islamic radicals use these terms they are meant to
be broad. It's meant as a reference to the entire West. In addition, it includes People of the Cross wherever they may be found leading to the brutal persecutions of Christians in Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Indonesia.
Jews are not forgotten in Islamic radicals hatred and persecution and
are often singled out and murdered.
While scholars and historians may argue about the means
of the expansion of Islam from the 7th through the 14th centuries, we are
presently seeing the cruelest resurrection of Islamic barbarism. This is truly the "Clash of Civilizations" framed by political scientist Samuel Huntington back in 1992. It is also the worst representation of a
religion that appears to be hijacked by those committed to evil and fueled by
ill-informed ancient memories of religious wars best forgotten.
