In the Syrian taste : crusader churches in the Latin East as architectural expressions of orthodoxy

This paper explores how the architectural expression of orthodoxy in the Eastern churches was transferred to Europe before the Crusades and then reinforced through the Crusaders’ adoption of the triple-apsed east end “in the Syrian Taste” in the Holy Land. Previously, I have shown how it can be deduced from the archaeological remains of churches from the 4th-6th C that early church architecture was influenced by the theological ideas of the
period. It is proposed that the Eastern orthodox approach to church
architecture as adopted by the Crusaders paralleled the evolution of medieval theology in Europe and can be seen as its legitimate expression.

Addressing the “Muslim question”

 The question of whether Islam and Muslims belong in the West has been the subject of considerable political “debate” well before the events of 9/11. Indeed, subsequent events, though different but connected, have unfolded on the international scene as the “War on Terror”. This question has undoubtedly attracted public attention and the answers are more polarised nowadays as we live in the highly mediatised shadow of Al-Qa’eda and its more violent incarnation, the Islamic State (IS). Indeed, the clash of civilisation thesis advanced by Samuel Huntington had at its core a philosophical and practical assumption that Islam and the West are on a collision course because of their divergent cultural and value systems. In other words the cultural fault line that divides the Muslim world from the West is not only about democracy but also about ethics and values. The excessive securitisation of Islam and its public construction as “alien”, “foreign”, “threatening” and altogether “incompatible” with Western democratic values adds weight to the self-fulfilling prophecy that sees nothing but violent clashes in history that stretch from the Crusades to the War on Terror.