Page 58 - God's Church through the Ages - Student Textbook

what makes something sinful is a wrong intention behind the action. Thus, except for God, no one can
objectively categorize any action as either right or wrong. This view can be seen as an attempt on Abelard’s part
to justify his affair with Héloïse—if his intentions were right, then his affair with his pupil cannot be called wrong.

In his theological works, Abelard spent much time analyzing the Trinity from a philosophical standpoint, and he
was continually rewriting and revising in order to update his lecture notes and, after his censure by the church,
bring them into greater conformity with orthodoxy. Abelard taught that the purpose of Christ’s death was not to
satisfy God’s justice or appease God’s wrath; rather, Christ died to demonstrate God’s love and induce us to love
God and become better people in return. This unbiblical doctrine is now called the moral influence theory of the
atonement. Besides his straight theological treatises, Abelard wrote commentaries on Romans, the Lord’s
Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and Genesis 1–2. His life story is told in the autobiographical Historia
Calamitatum (“History of My Troubles”), and he also wrote poetry, composed the words and music for over a
hundred hymns and love songs, and of course penned letters to Héloïse.

Peter Abelard was a highly gifted man with a natural magnetism and a fierce intellect. His teaching set the
course of philosophical thought for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, “knowledge puffs up” (1
Corinthians 8:1). Abelard’s pride was his downfall, and his theology was questionable. His conflicts with the
Catholic Church were not based so much on theology or practice as on philosophy and the place human reason
holds in the discussion of theological matters.

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The Crusades - 1095-1204

The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched by the “Christian” states of
Europe against the Saracens. The term 'Saracen' was the word used to describe
a Moslem during the time of the Crusades. The Crusades started in 1095 when
Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade at the Council of Claremont. The
Pope's preaching led to thousands immediately affixing the cross to their
garments - the name Crusade given to the Holy Wars came from old French
word 'crois' meaning 'cross'.

The Crusades were great military expeditions undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of
rescuing the holy places of Palestine from the hands of the Mohammedans. They were nine in number, the first
four being sometimes called the Principal Crusades, and the remaining five the Minor Crusades. In addition there
was a Children's Crusade. There were several other expeditions which were insignificant in numbers or results.

The Objectives of the crusades was at first to release the Holy Land, in particular Jerusalem, from the Saracens,
but in time was extended to seizing Spain from the Moors, the Slavs and Pagans from eastern Europe, and the
islands of the Mediterranean.

The word "crusade" literally means "going to the Cross." Hence the idea at the time was to urge Christian
warriors to go to Palestine and free Jerusalem and other holy places from the Saracens. The first crusade was a
grand success for the Christian armies; Jerusalem and other cities fell to the knights. The second crusade,
however, ended in humiliation in 1148, when the armies of France and Germany failed to take Damascus. The
third ended in 1192 in a compromise between English king Richard the Lion-Hearted of England and the Muslim
leader Saladin, who granted access to Christians to the holy places. The fourth crusade led to the sacking of
Constantinople, where a Latin Kingdom of Byzantium was set up in 1204 and lasted for about 60 years. The
Children's Crusade of 1212 ended with thousands of children being sold into slavery, lost, or killed. Other less

47 https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/crusades

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