Letting Historical Figures off the hook

[SummaScriptura]

Its pretty unique to the study of religious history but nonetheless common to hear those admirers of historical personages to defend their indefensible acts with phrases like, "one needs to interpret [insert name of historical personage]'s actions in the context of their time." In other words their defense of their actions is something like, "I know this person seems like a murdering S.O.B. by our standards, but you must realize they lived in cruel times".

My question to y'all is, do you think this is an appropriate defense? I mean if my "hero of the faith" was busy burning people at the stake, is it right for anyone but a scoundrel to look at them as heroic?

[Yer thots here]