The Primitive Rule of the Templars 1
Study Guide Questions for Sections 1-8
If you are looking for the beginning of the study on Bernard of Clairvaux’s “The Primitive Rule of the Templars” then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Faith, Perseverance, Justice, Unity
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
To whom (or to what kind of person) is this rule addressed?
What are the knights of the Templar called upon to defend?
What must a “knight of Christ…unite” within himself?
What did the rule promise to those who followed the way of the knights of Christ?
What had the secular (non-Christian) knighthood done (or failed to do) which was not in keeping with true knighthood?
Who was the primary founder of the Knights Templar?
What was the stated purpose of the Council of Troyes?
Who was the official scribe of the council?
Whose words (opinions) in the council were “praised liberally?”
What were all the attendees of the council said to be “lovers” of?
What two things did it please “the common council” should be done concerning the findings of all of their deliberations which were done with reference to the “Holy Scriptures?”
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
What does it mean to “wear…the very noble armor of obedience?”
In what way might the service of Christian knighthood be comparable to “the martyrs who gave their souls for Jesus Christ?”
What might account for the knighthood having gone so off track that an order like the Knights Templar was needed in order to restore the knighthood to its original purpose? Put another way, what temptations might come with being a knight that might lead people into sin and vice rather than righteousness and virtue?
What virtue is being expressed in these words: “...according to the limitations of our understanding…?”
Why might it have been important for this council to convene with many representatives, both from the knighthood and from the church, in order to discuss the state of the knighthood and what was “good and beneficial” in regard to its service?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
What role in medieval society was a knight supposed to fulfill? List, according to your understanding, some of the duties of a knight and then answer this: What kind of role or position of authority comes closest to this in our own day?
Do you think it is fitting for Christians to serve in the role of knighthood? Why or why not? Regardless of your position, try to offer some potential goods and potential ills in regard to Christians serving in such a role. How might this relate to similar service or roles of authority in our present society?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read James 1:26-27. How does this passage of Scripture relate to the prologue of the Rule of the Templars?
Read 2 Timothy 2:1-7 and Romans 13:1-7. How can these passages be related to the concept of a Christian knighthood?
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