Rodney Stark's God's Battalions

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  • #16626
    cenglish211
    Member

    I saw that Stark’s book was one of the recommended readings for the Crusades–Foreign lecture, so I picked it up on Amazon. But I’ve seen one very critical review of God’s Battalions from a source that I trust. James Hannam has also been critical of Stark’s earlier work.

    With that in mind, can I trust that God’s Battalions is generally trustworthy?

    #16627
    Jason Jewell
    Participant

    Benson, to put the Stark recommendation in context, let me share a personal anecdote. In 15 years of teaching at the university level, the most common reaction I get from people when I suggest that Western Civilization has on the whole been a good thing is this: “But what about the Crusades?” The popular (mis)understanding of this episode is so lopsided that I’ve come to think reading almost anything taking the opposing viewpoint is a healthy thing.

    My recommending Stark’s book is not a blanket endorsement of his scholarship or his conclusions, but rather an attempt to bring some balance to the discussion, and this book is most easily accessible work that does that. The hostile reviewer you link does concede that Stark provides useful correctives to distortions promulgated by Runciman and others. His criticism of “he’s not saying anything new here” doesn’t seem to wash since Stark is obviously writing on a popular level for readers who probably will never encounter the scholars the reviewer cites. Moreover, his criticism is mostly confined to the first third of the book; he thinks the later chapters are much better.

    FWIW, my understanding is that Stark is some sort of theist but not actually a Christian.

    Just a few thoughts off the top of my head. I hope this helps.

    #16628
    cenglish211
    Member

    Just a few thoughts off the top of my head. I hope this helps.

    Yes, thank you, that’s very helpful. I never doubted that there was useful information to glean from Stark’s book, but I didn’t want to walk away from it believing things that aren’t true. You seem like a careful scholar, so I thought you’d be able to confirm what I read in that review.

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