Talk Points for George Smart

What is your book all about?

The Knights Templar were the rock stars of medieval times.  They were extraordinarily famous, rich, powerful, and connected.  This is their story, year by year, from the beginnings until their untimely disappearance in the early 14th century.

What prompted you to research these Knights Templar?

Flying through Boston, I read one of Michael Baigent's books on the Templars.  His books with co-authors Richard Leigh  and Henry Lincoln were 20 years ahead of The Da Vinci Code. Their controversial research opened my eyes to a fascinating 800-year-old set of mysteries involving the Templars and Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the development of Christianity.  From there, it was a wonderful 8-year journey to publication.  I burned up my Mastercard visiting sites in Canada and Europe and gathering thousands of facts and theories that eventually became the book, The Knights Templar Chronology.

Were there any surprises during those eight years?

The biggest surprise was the amount of agreement between most Templar authors on the basics of their history.  The body of known facts of this order of warrior/monks is much more stable than I expected.

Did any of your research alarm you?

Quite the opposite.  Over time, I became more comfortable with the idea that the Holy Grail might be something completely different than a cup, that it might be Mary Magdalene herself -- and that the Templars, as protectors of the Grail, were in fact protectors of the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus.

What do you believe about Mary Magdalene and Jesus?

I have suspicions as opposed to beliefs, because as author Henry Lincoln loves to say, we either know or we don't know. Because these events were so long ago in a time when few people read and even fewer people wrote, establishing a chain of facts and events is difficult.  We do know a few things, like Mary Magdalene was never a prostitute.  Even the Vatican finally admitted that in the 1960's.  We know she was instead an educated, wealthy landowner.  For her to travel around with Jesus most certainly involved her financial support.  In many ways, she was among the earliest examples of "I'm with the band" and the likelihood of her romantic involvement with the "lead singer?"  Pretty likely.  But the Catholic Church when they were assembling the Bible marginalized her role to that a whore seeking grace.

And the Bible also puts Jesus above romantic relationships and lust, doesn't
it?

Remember, the Bible was not written at one sitting, nor did it emerge mystically from a mountaintop, although we might want to make an exception for Moses.  Various councils of Bishops met over several hundred years arguing which chapters were going to make it and which ones wouldn't. You can pick up a copy of the ones that didn't make it at the bookstore.  This was the world's largest and most famous writing contest, all to support a Church that was in exile at the time.  Jesus as a man can have a relationship and also be divinely wise; they are not mutually exclusive.

What impact has all this had on your religious beliefs?

I grow continually more in awe of Jesus.  Even if one subscribes that he had a wife, or children, his story is no less inspiring.  His lessons of tolerance, forgiveness, charity, self-awareness, and kindness are still invaluable for our world.

And the Templars, are any of them still around?

Well, not literally.  It doesn't work like in the last Indiana Jones movie where a 800-year-old Templar still guards the cups.  There are a couple of dozen groups calling themselves Templars, but there is no evidence showing any direct connection to the medieval order other than these groups have drawn liberally from Templar rituals, symbols, and practices.

If they were guardians of the Holy Grail, and it is a cup or object as
opposed to Mary Magdalene, what happened to it?

I'm interested in what happened to all of the Templar records and relics. They largely went missing after King Phillip of France went gunning for the downfall of the order in the early 14th century.  Various locations come up a lot as potential repositories.  Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, of course, which will be featured in the Da Vinci Code movie; Gisors, a former Templar archive in France, and the mysterious Oak Island in Canada, where guys have been digging into a very strangely created tunnel for over 200 years to find
out what's at the bottom!

Your book is a chronology on steroids.  How did you get so much detail?

I'm a leadership consultant with an MBA, and we didn't cover medieval history, geography, languages, and religion in Finance class. So I was woefully lacking a classical education.  My extensive notes detailing the year-by-year activities of the Templars and other medieval players were simply my way of organizing a massive learning curve.  I read every book on the Templars and coupled with site visits, started writing.

If Templar archives are discovered, what will they find?

I don't know, but I think the Templar records and artifacts, once discovered, will dramatically challenge conventional beliefs generated by the Bible -- and also bring the world closer together. The Knights Templar Chronology is dedicated to further active research to unearth their legacy.