The concept of ‘holy war’ is defined and distinguished by two core ideas: First, by the idea that warfare is arbitrarily justified as divine order, i.e. command; second, that warfare is perceived and propagated as a means of religion employed against infidels or heretics, thus granting the believer-warriors absolution and sanctification. Continue reading “The negative Eastern Roman (‘Byzantine’) attitude towards a conception of warfare as a divinely ordained means of religion” →