Educational Media Reviews Online

This three-part series on religions that "preach peace, but wage war" begins with the Crusades. The Holy Wars: In the Name of Christ presents a rapid overview of the Crusades, with attention to the motivations and attitudes of the Crusaders. Two German scholars, Dr. Klaus Herbers and Dr. Patrick Franke, give their analysis, and some movie footage here and there livens things up a bit. The film has its bias, referring to the "unholy mixture of faith and military service," and it regards "warrior monks" as a "bizarre invention," in spite of their prevalence in Buddhism and other religions that "preach peace."

The second tape, The Holy Wars: In the Name of Allah, is itself bizarre. It begins with the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 (no respect for the Mongols here - they have "no culture"). The tape flits back in time to discuss the Crusades, where, we are told, the Muslims picked up the notion of holy war. The tape also discusses the use of slave-soldiers, the scientific discoveries and intellectual ferment of medieval Islam, and the obscure but interesting sect of the Assassins. The much more historically significant ghazi, soldiers dedicated to the killing of the infidel and progenitors of the Ottoman state, receive no mention. That may be because the Assassins were viewed as heretics, and so fit better with the tape's conclusion that "then as now, terror in the name of Allah is an abuse of Islam." That may also be why there is almost no mention of the explosive military conquest that followed the death of Mohammed. Instead, after a brief recap of Mohammed's life and teaching, we are told the new faith "spreads," and a few minutes later we learn that jihad does not mean "holy war." It's downright weird to try to explain "war in the name of Allah" without any reference to the amazing military expansion of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries.

The final tape, The Holy Wars: Christian vs. Christian, presents the story of the Thirty Years' War. A different German scholar, Dr. Helmut Neuhas, provides some of the commentary. As in the other two tapes, the treatment of large events and time spans is so rapid that students unfamiliar with the story may get lost. But the movie footage should help hold their attention, and even the confused should come away knowing the important personalities and the main ideas. All three tapes have no technical problems, and in spite of the complaints above, they are worthwhile introductions to these episodes taken from the long history of religious war.

Recommended for classes on Islam, Christianity, or the history of either.