BROOKLYN COLLEGE — A new book just released by a division of Doubleday and written by Brooklyn College professor Paul Moses, on the Muslim-Christian conflicts during the Crusades, could shed some light on present-day tensions around the world.

Moses, a former Newsday editor, shared the fruits of a research grant with a public lecture and reading from his new book, The Saint and the Sultan, at a gathering at Brooklyn College last week, sponsored by the Wolfe Institute of Humanities. The institute had awarded him the one-year fellowship to conclude his research on the book.

“I had the time of my life researching this book,� said Moses. He read excerpts from the book and showed slides during the well-attended lecture after being introduced by Robert Viscusi, executive officer of the Wolfe Institute.

Although he came from a wealthy family, St. Francis of Assissi is best known for his embrace of poverty, which led to his founding of the Roman Catholic Franciscan order. Less well-known is his role in the establishment of the historic peace talks during the violent Crusades.

The Saint and the Sultan (Doubleday Religion, $26) is a provocative, in-depth examination of that little-known but powerful meeting between St. Francis and the 13th century Islamic leader Sultan Malik al-Kamil.

In a dangerous and daring move by crossing enemy lines to advocate for peace, St. Francis and Malik al-Kamil shared a brief dialog about war, peace and faith. The conversation inspired St. Francis to return home with a bold challenge to his fellow monks: to live peacefully with the Muslims despite the war between their religious leaders and to stop warfare of any kind.

“Both men can serve as a useful model during a time of tension,� said Moses.

In The Saint and the Sultan, Moses unfolds the separate stories of these two very different men, depicting their history through the writings of that time, and shows how the encounter between them is of great relevance to our divided world today. He also explains why their dialogue on war, peace and faith — especially with ongoing tensions between Muslims and the West — must be recovered now.

Moses, a former city editor and senior religion writer at Newsday, is currently a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He was the lead writer on a team that won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting at New York Newsday and is the co-author of a book about Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Days of Intense Emotion.

A resident of Brooklyn with his family, Moses is also a regular contributor to Commonweal magazine, a magazine about religion, politics and culture editor by lay Catholics.

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