o But if Christians died in a state of grace without making full
repentance for their (venial) sins, they went to purgatory,
a place of temporal cleansing from sin after death that was
just as painful as hell but only temporary and offering hope
of reprieve.o Indulgences were, in effect, “time off” from such punishment;
plenary indulgences represented a “full pardon.” Therefore,
participation in the Crusades could mean, even if one survived,
a direct ticket to heavenly bliss.• All present-day historians agree on this point: From the start and
increasingly, the Crusades represent a deeply ambiguous expression
of Christian identity.
o There is no question that many of the crusaders were men
of genuine piety who accepted generously the cost of such
expeditions: separation from home and family and the
possibility of suffering and death for the sake of an ideal of no
benefit to them personally.
o Yet the idea of a holy war was certainly—however much it had
become familiar over the centuries—a corruption of original
Christian ideals, which advocated peace and the acceptance of
violence toward the self rather than its imposition on others.o Not all crusaders had purely religious motives, especially not
those most responsible for the missions. Some were probably
avid for political and economic gain through booty and through
access to lucrative trade routes, although this motivation was
probably not dominant.o Perhaps most problematic was the equation of “defense of the
faith” with the killing of “infidels” (“the unfaithful”), including
both Saracens and Jews, without acknowledgment of them as
humans, much less as people of genuine if different faith in the
same God.