Eminent Commander, J. Robert Darrell, and the 2024 Education Committee of Colorado Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar, invite you to attend ‘Templar Talks’, a public resource organized, funded, and maintained by:
- Colorado Commandery No. 4 Education Committee, Officers, and Sir Knights
- The York Rite Development Fund (pending grant)
- The Scottish Rite Education Fund (pending grant)
Our Mission:
Our hope is to bring knowledge of the rich medieval world studied by the Commandery to Masons, their families, and the general Austin area. These lectures will be open to the public and will not discuss or disclose ritual or “secrets” of Craft, Capitular, Cryptic, or Chivalric Masonry.
The commanderies were not just places where the Knights and their employees were improved by education, but, like monasteries, were centers of economy and learning for the people around them. The Knights of St. John of Malta and the Knights of The Order of The Temple did not just receive money and value from their surroundings, they invested it back into the lands and people, often, must more honestly and efficiently than the Church or the feudal governments around them, which is why they were so beloved by the people. As such, we understand the creation of public education resources to not only be in line with the history of Texas Masonry, but, specifically, a continuation of the traditions of community enrichment practiced by the chivalric orders that we emulate. In distributing to the world what came to our coffers, we continue the best of what our ancestors began.
Topics:
Templar Talks is a series of monthly public lectures by esteemed scholars covering topics including, but not limited to:
- Medieval history
- Medieval geopolitics
- Medieval religion
- Formal theology
- Institutional practices
- Lay practices and customs
- Textual interpretation
- Historiography
- Sources
- Assessing credibility of sources
- Cross-cultural chivalric entities
- Historical linguistics/philology
- Comparative religion
Upcoming Talks:
The following dates have been booked and will be held at the Lone Star Chapter Building.
The Talks
Talk 1: What are the Middle Ages? Fall of the Western Empire and Life in the Middle Ages – February 17
Talk 2: Materials of Mediaeval History; Archival sources, epistemology, and the Evolution of Scholarship. – March 9
Talk 3: Schism and Crusade – TBD
Talk 4: The Orders and the Crusader States pt. 1 – TBD
Talk 5: The Orders and the Crusader States pt. 2 -TBD
Talk 6: The Dissolution of the Knights Templar – TBD
These lectures will be approximately 90 minutes with a facilitated question-and-answer session. Tea and light refreshments will follow the discussion.
These lectures are open to the general public and will be presented in the Chapter Room of the Lone Star Chapter Building.
Our Speaker:
Dr. Andrew Reeves, a history professor at Middle Georgia State University, will be giving a series of six talks beginning in February. He earned his Ph. D. in medieval studies from the University of Toronto in 2009. Dr. Reeves researches and writes on religious life in medieval England.
Special Thanks:
Special thanks to Sir Knights Dheeraj Chand and Ryan J. DiVincenzo for spearheading and coordinating this series with our inaugural speaker, Dr. Andrew Reeves.