saladin – VoVatia (original) (raw)

Famous Monsters of Bookland

The Folded World, by Catherynne M. Valente – The sequel to The Habitation of the Blessed has John‘s daughter arrive in Pentexore to tell the inhabitants about the Crusades, and John’s subjects go off to fight in Jerusalem for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, Catherynne M. Valente, Christianity, Crusades, Families, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, History, incryptid, Islam, Magic, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Poetry, Relationships, Religion, Rick Riordan, Russian, seanan mcguire, Television | Tagged a dance with dragons, a dirge for prester john, a drop of venom, a song of ice and fire, abuse, aftermarket afterlife, alexander the great, antimony price, arthur harrington, baba yaga, bran stark, cryptids, dragons, dreaming of you in freefall, finding baba yaga, george r.r. martin, ghosts, jane yolen, john de mandeville, koschei the deathless, mary dunlavy, medusa, moxy früvous, nagas, pentexore, perseus, prester john, rick riordan presents, sajni patel, saladin, sarah zellaby, the folded world, the habitation of the blessed, vasilisa the fair, verity price, witches |

Rambam-a-Ding-Dong

One theme that constantly arises in theology is whether reason and philosophy conflict with religious belief. There seems to be a significant movement in the United States in favor of willful ignorance, that faith is much more important than facts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Arabian, Greek Philosophy, Historical Personages, History, Judaism, Middle East, Philosophy, Religion | Tagged almohads, aristotle, grand vizier alfadil, guide for the perplexed, mishneh torah, moses maimonides, philo of alexandria, rabbi moshe ben maimon, rambam, saladin |

The Crudeness of Crusades

The charge often lobbied against Christians by the rest of us is that so many of them are nothing like Jesus. Not that Jesus was perfect (to my mind, anyway), but it’s hard to totally hate a guy who preached … Continue reading →

Posted in Byzantine Empire, Christianity, Crusades, History, Holy Roman Empire, Islam, Judaism, Middle East, Religion | Tagged caliph al-hakim bi-amr allah, children's crusade, church of the holy sepulchre, constantinople, holy land, iraq, iraq war, jerusalem, jesus, mamluk sultanate, muhammad, palestine, pope, saladin, temple mount |