Templar Heresy is a imaginative re-creation of the times of the Templars and the Crusades centred around several characters – leadership of the Templars, the Nizari Ismailis and a romance. It spells out the stark choices that face all people with regard to religion and the discovery of the presence of the divine within.
Set within the dramatic tableau of the medieval Crusades, this story of initiation, adventure, and romance follows members of the Knights Templar and Assassins as they discover a mystical tradition with the potential to unify, protect, and liberate humankind–the very heresy for which the Knights Templar were later condemned.
The tale begins with a young Persian student, Sinan, as he witnesses his teacher deliver the heretical Qiyama proclamation, seeking to abolish Islamic religious law in favor of a more mystical approach to spirituality. After completing his initiation into the revolutionary doctrines and practices of the Assassins–also known as the Nizari Ismailis or Hashishim–Sinan is appointed head of the Nizaris in Syria.
Years later, after Sinan has become a wise and respected leader, he encounters Roland de Provence, a young member of the Knights Templar. Impressed by his courage and intelligence, Sinan selects him for initiation into the Nizari tradition. As readers follow Sinan and Roland through the process, they experience firsthand the transmission of these secret teachings and the paranormal, even magical powers of the Assassin adepts. Roland braves hashish journeys, mystical rituals, and divine epiphanies, as well as sexual awakening at the hands of Sinan’s beautiful consort Aisha.
When Roland completes his education with Sinan, he vows to share the Nizari teachings with his fellow Templars. However, he is met with strong opposition from his Templar commander, and factions within the Order quickly arise. As we follow Roland to southern France, we witness how he blends the Cathar and Nizari traditions to form the core of the “heresy” for which the Templars were later arrested and condemned. Now an outlaw, hunted by his Templar brethren, Roland is forced to choose between the beliefs with which he was raised and the realizations of his own personal truths.
There is some implied criticism of the methods of the Templars in disciplining its membership, knights and those who serve them. This is a device by the author to create atmosphere and mood. The reader is also invited to form their own conclusions with respect to the methods of the medieval Church, the Papacy and its armies, and its efforts to “hold and teach the Catholic faith that comes to us from the Apostles”. For this, the Church would inflict death on those who depart from its teachings, just as Philip the Fair burned Jaques de Molay, the leader of the Knights Templar, at the stake in order to win influence over the Church and its moneys.
There is much that is disturbing to the modern reader. The principles of universal justice are that we do not condemn institutions for their deeds hundreds of years ago, but rather, we are invited to investigate history and to form our own conclusions about the light within, the teachings that bring peace to us and beliefs that are forced upon the reader by way of family and culture they are born into.
A fast read; an engaging narrative with well-rounded characters with pace, alarums and excursions. The reader is also introduced to peace and calm as motifs of living with spirituality.
Book Details
Pages : 224
Book Size : 6 x 9
ISBN-13 : 9781620556580
Imprint : Destiny Books
On Sale Date : August 08, 2017
Format : Paperback Book
Amazon : Link
