Teflon Antichrist: How Did a President Who Fit the Role So Well Avoid the Label?
One of the more unexpected developments of Donald Trump’s presidency was his metamorphosis into an…
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The Case Against Rebuilding Notre Dame
If we do rebuild it, will we keep the supersessionist imagery that was fundamental to medieval Christianity—and to anti-Semitism as well? At the very least, artists, architects, historians, theologians, and—yes—politicians ought to grapple with, rather than unthinkingly follow, the instincts of one deeply unpopular president.
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The Lethal Mix of Religion and War, Or, Why the World Ended in 1099
The biggest misconception about the crusades is the belief that everyone understood them as religious wars between Christianity and Islam. Latin Christians understood it in that fashion, but for Greek Christians, the crusaders were essentially mercenaries employed against a rival empire. Both the Sunni Turks and the Shi‘i Egyptians probably understood the crusades in similar terms. It would take the Muslims several decades to learn to think of the battles against the Franks as religious wars rather than as conflicts over the control of frontier settlements.
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