Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes [Hardcover]

William D. Moore (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William D. Moore is assistant professor of history and director of the public history program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His work has appeared in CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, and Winterthur Portfolio, among other publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press (August 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572334967
• ISBN-13: 978-1572334960
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars revealing analysis of architecture and interiors of Masonic temples, January 2, 2007

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes (Hardcover)

Masonic temples with external and internal features to evoke King Solomon's temple in ancient Jerusalem built throughout New York state from 1870 to 1930 were intended to "anchor [Freemasons] within a cognitive framework as they faced the existential crisis of being American men" in this period of profound, challenging, and often perplexing cultural change. New York state serves as an instructive example of the architecture of Masonic temples throughout the United States and the types of rituals and other activities they were built for because of this state's diversity embracing urban, suburban, and rural areas. The author is also familiar with New York Freemasonry from his one-time position as director of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library in New York City, though he is not himself a Mason. This Masonic Library also contains an incomparable amount of Masonic literature for study. The main chambers of a Masonic lodge are built and furnished to define--and thus to anchor--different facets of masculinity as these are recognized by the different stages of Freemasonry's initiations and rituals. The four principle chambers known as the Masonic lodge room, armory and drill room of the Knights Templar, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, and the Shriners' mosque correspond respectively to the masculine facets of the heroic artisan, the holy warrior, the wise man, and the jester. Moore moves back and forth from physical aspects of these rooms, the relationship of these aspects to the different facets of masculinity, and how Masonic rituals, lore, values, and practices work to define these aspects and keep them in proper balance in the formation of the ideal Freemason.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the best Masonic schoalrs, October 16, 2007

By 

Mark A. Tabbert "Hiram historian" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes (Hardcover)

Prof. Moore has for many years been one of the best academic scholars of American Freemasonry. His reseach is now at long last in published form. I can not recommend this book high enough. He now offically joins such other great academic scholars as Bullock, Jacob, and Clawson. This is what Masonic history ought to be and how it should be written.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a pivotal title recommended for any collection which already holds some more general Masonic titles, April 7, 2007

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes (Hardcover)

MASONIC TEMPLES provides an excellent introduction to the structures American Freemasons erected over the sixty-year period from 1870 to 1930, analyzing their design, construction, and history and considering the surrounding milieu of Masonic sects and American culture of the times. This is a pivotal title recommended for any collection which already holds some more general Masonic titles: it offer analysis of four sets of Masonic ritual spaces and provides fine details on Masonic beliefs, rituals and architecture.