St. Augustine, the Crusades, and Gothic Architecture

So I wasn't sure if we were supposed to compare St. Augustine's philosophy with Gothic architecture, or just with what we learned so far in Mr. Demail's art history class, since we haven't gone into art much yet.

St. Augustine & Gothic Cathedrals

St. Augustine's philosophy and Gothic Architecture are both based on the Neo-Platonic idea that the human soul is enlightened by God's grace. St. Augustine believed that a person must shake off their impure human senses so that he or she can attain the divine senses and be one with God. He believed that humans could do this by seeking God's aid and grace. Likewise, the Gothic Cathedrals, originally designed by Suger, were built to inspire these ideas in people. The outside of the church appeared plain and crude, but on the inside, the view was spectacular. There were immense, colorful stained glass windows that depicted Bible stories so that the illiterate could learn. When the light streamed through the windows from the outside, viewers on the inside would be struck with a stunning view. Thus they would be motivated to learn about the Bible stories as well as come to church often. The buildings were plain on the outside to represent that a person might be humble and plain on the outside, but on the inside, they found true beauty and wisdom through God. The light coming through the windows was representative of God's grace coming into someone's life and enlightening them.

St. Augustine & the Crusades

St. Augustine created the rules of a Just War, which listed all the requirements that made going to war a just action. He knew that war was wrong, but he believed that it was inevitable. St. Augustine made requirements that the war must be justified.

1. War must be a last resort - all non-violence options must have been already exhausted
2. War must be initiated by an authority figure - government or power
3. Must have a chance of winning the war
4. Deaths are morally justified during a reasonable war
5. War must be waged for the right intentions - motives such as "redress a wrong suffered," meaning repayment for a wrongdoing, or self defense against armed opposition
6. The after-effects of the war must restore a peace to the land that is greater than it was before the war
7. Force must be used as little as necessary - violence must be proportional to the violence initially suffered
8. All measures must be taken to avoid hurting civilians
9. Civilian deaths are justified if they are unavoidable targets

These rules, however, were violated extremely during the Crusades, the violent campaigns by the Catholics against Muslims, Jews, and non-Catholic Christians during their attempts to regain the Holy Land, Jerusalem. For instance, the Crusaders killed countless civilians on their way to the Holy Land, such as the above-listed people who didn't do anything wrong. The Crusaders were unnecessarily cruel and violent.