Holy War and Its Long Legacy

S1, E6: Track the various factors that gave rise to the medieval concept of “holy war,” undergirding the call to arms of the Crusades. Begin with the phenomenon of divinely sanctioned wars in the ancient world. Then, grasp the Greco-Roman and Christian theories of “just” war, fought for a holy cause, offering the remission of sins for soldiers, and its analogies to the Muslim concept of jihad.