How Misinterpretation of the Bible Helped the Justification of the Crusades.
The Crusades were a series of expeditions undertaken by Christian holy men in the hopes of delivering holy places from Islamic tyranny (Douglas J. Potter). The popes felt that Europe should be under Christian unity, and the pressure that they felt from the Byzantine Empire threatened said unity, so they decided to send troops of men to free the land of the Byzantine Empire once again for the Christians. One would think that for a religion that is supposed to promote the teachings of Jesus, who said “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)” that these wars would be going against the teachings of God. Since the bible had been translated so many times and had been written to directly appeal to the people of the time of the translation, the interpretation of the Bible could be debated and used to justify any of one 's actions. Because there were so many different Latin versions of the bible Pope Damasus asked Saint Jerome to revise the bible into one standard version in 382 C.E. …show more content…
This standardized bible was called the Vulgate, which was translated from the original languages it was written in, Greek and Hebrew, into the language of the scholars, Latin. The Vulgate became the bible that all literate Christians used during the middle ages. In 1320, John Wycliffe believed and taught that the bible was full of irrefutable truths, and that anyone should be entitled to read it, not just the rich who could afford to study Latin. Wycliffe believed the bible should be used to guide the religious and political government, and thus began to translate the bible yet again in the 1380’s into the language of the peasants and middle class, which is known as Middle English. When the new English Bible came out during a period of political and religious unrest, it was seen as a symbol of heresy, and in 1409 was forbidden by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be read or even owned. For the next 130 years, the Bible was left in the Latin form, but in the 16th century, William Tyndale wished to translate the Bible into English after being inspired by Martin Luther’s German translation in 1522. When Tyndale could not get approval to translate the Bible into English from the English religious authorities, he moved to Germany and began work on his own English translation. In 1526 Tyndale began to smuggle his illegal English copies of the new testament into England. After years of smuggling in translations of the new and old testament, Tyndale was arrested and tried for heresy. He was found guilty and was executed in August of 1536. After King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, he ruled in 1538 that translations of the Vulgate were crucial for his new church of England. Work began on a new Bible translation and this time it was endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The new translation was based on the work of Tyndale and his successor Myles Coverdale and was released in 1539 and became known as the Great Bible. Catholicism was reinstated as the official religion of England during the reign of Mary I, so a group of protestants fled to Switzerland and …show more content…
The verse from the bible stating to love ones neighbor as oneself was misconstrued and used to justify the constant fighting. Pope Innocent III stated it best when he said “How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them?” The idea that one can not love their neighbor when said neighbor is holding ‘brothers in faith’ hostage became the basis that the fighting was based on. Fighting and bloodshed became the norm, and lasted for hundreds of years with almost no progress being
The Crusades were a series of expeditions undertaken by Christian holy men in the hopes of delivering holy places from Islamic tyranny (Douglas J. Potter). The popes felt that Europe should be under Christian unity, and the pressure that they felt from the Byzantine Empire threatened said unity, so they decided to send troops of men to free the land of the Byzantine Empire once again for the Christians. One would think that for a religion that is supposed to promote the teachings of Jesus, who said “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)” that these wars would be going against the teachings of God. Since the bible had been translated so many times and had been written to directly appeal to the people of the time of the translation, the interpretation of the Bible could be debated and used to justify any of one 's actions. Because there were so many different Latin versions of the bible Pope Damasus asked Saint Jerome to revise the bible into one standard version in 382 C.E. …show more content…
This standardized bible was called the Vulgate, which was translated from the original languages it was written in, Greek and Hebrew, into the language of the scholars, Latin. The Vulgate became the bible that all literate Christians used during the middle ages. In 1320, John Wycliffe believed and taught that the bible was full of irrefutable truths, and that anyone should be entitled to read it, not just the rich who could afford to study Latin. Wycliffe believed the bible should be used to guide the religious and political government, and thus began to translate the bible yet again in the 1380’s into the language of the peasants and middle class, which is known as Middle English. When the new English Bible came out during a period of political and religious unrest, it was seen as a symbol of heresy, and in 1409 was forbidden by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be read or even owned. For the next 130 years, the Bible was left in the Latin form, but in the 16th century, William Tyndale wished to translate the Bible into English after being inspired by Martin Luther’s German translation in 1522. When Tyndale could not get approval to translate the Bible into English from the English religious authorities, he moved to Germany and began work on his own English translation. In 1526 Tyndale began to smuggle his illegal English copies of the new testament into England. After years of smuggling in translations of the new and old testament, Tyndale was arrested and tried for heresy. He was found guilty and was executed in August of 1536. After King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, he ruled in 1538 that translations of the Vulgate were crucial for his new church of England. Work began on a new Bible translation and this time it was endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The new translation was based on the work of Tyndale and his successor Myles Coverdale and was released in 1539 and became known as the Great Bible. Catholicism was reinstated as the official religion of England during the reign of Mary I, so a group of protestants fled to Switzerland and …show more content…
The verse from the bible stating to love ones neighbor as oneself was misconstrued and used to justify the constant fighting. Pope Innocent III stated it best when he said “How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them?” The idea that one can not love their neighbor when said neighbor is holding ‘brothers in faith’ hostage became the basis that the fighting was based on. Fighting and bloodshed became the norm, and lasted for hundreds of years with almost no progress being