208 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
whose purpose was to obtain religious glory through the construction of
churches and to give service through their labor to whoever asked for
their services. Their renown spread throughout the Church; France,
England, and Germany enviously requested their support.
Of course, this hypothesis is merely based on legend; not one his-
torical element nor even any probability exists to accredit it. The same
can also be said of similar theories suggesting that in connecting the
Templars to the freemasons, the alleged heresies of one group are
imputed to the other. Yes, the builders associations were subject to
Templar influence; this was clearly demonstrated in chapters 6 and 7.
But there is no sound supporting evidence that these influences could
have caused builders, masons, and carpenters to deviate from the
orthodox Catholicism of that time—especially given, as we have seen,
that the Eastern, Muslim, and Gnostic influences absorbed and trans-
mitted by the Templars did not provide grounds enough to label them
heretics. Although it is reasonable enough to assume that tendencies
that are not considered heretical in one era can be considered so in
another, it is easy to see that the associations or brotherhoods of builder
craftsmen that were created and nurtured under the aegis of the
Templars continued to live, with their rites and symbols, traditions and
franchises, under the protection of the Templars' successors, the
Hospitallers and the Knights of Malta, whose religious orthodoxy has
never been in doubt.
In order to dispel any misunderstanding, it is helpful to emphasize
here how the medieval mind conceived of religious orthodoxy. In the
Middle Ages and up until the Reformation, though theology was the
chief topic of debate, freedom of expression was quite considerable.
While not more expansive, the notion of orthodoxy was much more
flexible than it is today, for the essential dogmas hadn't varied over
time. Certain systems that today may appear daring, at least to
Catholics, were never suspected by Christians of being heretical before
the Council of Trent. The reasons they were now considered suspect
arise from the counter-reformation that shrouded the division of the
Christian world. The apparent paradox concerning dogmas also stems
from the evolution—or rather, change—in the modes of reasoning:
Today's logic finds it difficult to find a place in the framework of the