The Two Swords of Christ

Five Centuries of War between Islam and the Warrior Monks of Christendom

Raymond Ibrahim

• Publisher: Bombardier Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9798888457245
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History

As Seen On Bannon's War Room and Real America's Voice

The definitive account of the warrior-monks who stood as Christendom’s shield against centuries of relentless Islamic aggression and a superlative example of Muscular Christianity for an era marred by effete and effeminized forms of the faith.

In this magisterial history, Raymond Ibrahim chronicles the long and brutal conflict between Islam and the West through the eyes and lives of Christendom’s original commando forces: the knights of the Temple and Hospital. These warrior monks, whose unprecedented fusion of piety and militancy remains unmatched to this day, played a pivotal—though overlooked if not suppressed—role in defending Christian civilization against the onslaught of Islamic forces during the Crusades and beyond.

Drawing on an exhaustive study of primary sources, and infused with his signature blend of rigorous scholarship and compelling storytelling, Ibrahim’s groundbreaking work far transcends the typical constraints of modern academic retellings, debunks widely held myths (such as the persistent claim that the Templars evolved into the Freemasons), and uncovers the theological foundation that gave rise to and provided justification for these military orders. In line with Christ’s now ignored directive that "two swords" are "enough" (Luke 22:38), these two brotherhoods wielded both spiritual and martial power to safeguard the faith.

WARNING: Brimming with epic battles, stunning heroism, and self-sacrificial martyrdom against the savage hordes of Islam, The Two Swords of Christ—the third installment of Ibrahim’s trilogy (following Sword and Scimitar and Defenders of the West)—stands as his fiercest and most violent narrative to date.

Table of contents

• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Maps
• Author’s Note
• 1: A Land Called Holy
• 2: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ
• 3: Rise of the Templars
• 4: Hugh the Sinner
• 5: Two Swords Are “Enough”
• 6: A Templar Template
• 7: Jihad Reawakens
• 8: The Temple Ascendant
• 9: Nur al-Din: “A Mighty Persecutor of Christians”
• 10: Ascalon: “Seized with a Mad Fury for Extermination”
• 11: The Assassin Controversy
• 12: Taqiyya: “Smile to Their Face, Hate Them in Your Heart”’
• 13: The “Poor of Christ”
• 14: Rise of the Hospitallers
• 15: Saladin: The “Oppressor of the Cross”
• 16: Montgisard: “Two Put Ten Thousand to Flight”
• 17: Bloody Valleys and Springs
• 18: “One Chased a Thousand”
• 19: The Devil’s Horns
• 20: The Great Martyrdom
• 21: Holding the Line
• 22: In the Lion’s Service
• 23: “We Ought to Follow…the Templars and the Hospitallers”
• 24: The Passion and Pageantry of Crusading
• 25: Interfaith Dialogue (Medieval Style)
• 26: From Victory to Defeat
• 27: A Muslim-Loving, Atheistic Emperor
• 28: “Enormities Too Horrible to Relate”
• 29: “Come, Let Us Go to Our Deaths” in Egypt
• 30: “Who Can Tell This Story Without Tears?”
• 31: The “Demons of Tartarus” Cometh
• 32: Now They All Fall Like Dominoes
• 33: Acre: “The Last Stronghold of the Christian Faith”
• 34: Now the “Battle Raged Furiously”
• 35: “I Beg You…Return to the Fight!”
• 36: “My Lords, I Can Do No More for I Am Killed”
• 37: “That Day Was Terrible to Behold!”
• 38: Times that Try Men’s Souls
• 39: Friday the 13th
• 40: The Inquisition
• 41: Burned Alive
• 42: “God Will Avenge Our Death”
• 43: A New Beginning
• 44: Rise of the Sea Knights
• 45: The Dragon Slayer
• 46: The Saga of Smyrna
• 47: Wrath of Egypt’s Slave-Kings
• 48: “First Constantinople, Then Rhodes”
• 49: “What Is Happier than to Fight for Christ?”
• 50: They “Made a Rampart with Their Bodies”
• 51: Threats of Impalement, Rape, and Slavery
• 52: The “Indomitable Spirit of Martyrs”
• 53: The “Standing Protectors of Christian Nations”
• 54: “Let Us Die for the Defense of Our Holy Law”
• 55: The End of an Era
• 56: Homeless Hospitallers and Muslim Masters
• 57: The Knightly “Terror of the Infidels” Return
• 58: Kill Them Lest They “Revive the Ancient Spirit of the Crusades!”
• 59: The “Enemies of Jesus Christ” Descend on Malta
• 60: Better that One Should Die that Many Should Live
• 61: Crucified Again
• 62: Confronting “the Father”
• 63: “We Fight for Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lives, and Our Liberty!”
• 64: Judgment Day
• 65: Holy War Moribund
• 66: Whither the Two Swords of Christ?
• Works Cited
• Endnotes
• Photo Credits