Jesus Christ as Warlord or Peacemaker

Abstract

This thesis investigates the question how to explain the apparent contradiction in moral interpretation between pope Urban II and pope Francis I with regard to the morality of public violence. Pope Urban II, who proclaimed the first Crusade, allowed and positively valued the use of violence whereas current pope Francis I appears to reject all violence. These two moral interpretations seem to be irreconcilable, which is impossible according to the Catholic teaching of depositum fidei. To answer my research question, I explored a new theory based upon the cultural memory theory of Jan Assmann and the social movement framing theory of David Snow and Robert Benford. I argue that the interpretative difference can be explained by the framing of different ‘background beliefs’ of the papal audience and conclude that there is no inconsistency in the Catholic teachings, but rather the framing of a different selection within the Catholic cultural memory.