ABSTRACT
In recent years, the papacy has undergone an unprecedented shift by disclaiming the crusades as a wrongful interpretation of the Gospels and thus condemning any use of the word ‘crusade’ in ecclesiastical discourse. As can be seen by the various and often competing uses of the word in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, however, this has had little effect. The wide use of crusading language in modern public discourse gives particular interest to the present volume, which is dedicated to the history of the word.
