Customer Reviews

The Secret History of Freemasonry: Its Origins and Connection to the Knights Templar

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a house full of books on this subject - take my advice!
This one vol. belongs on your short list of books to read which connects the dots between the ancient Knights Templar & modern day Freemasonry. Due yourself a big favor and enlighten yourself with some important historical insights. Unburden your mind of previous theories which refuse to go back to what actually happened.
A novel like the Da Vinci Code this is NOT.
I am talking real scholarship from a translated text written by a Frenchman who knows how life was like in his country hundreds of years ago.
This author causes one to see into the past and understand how the culture really operated at this place & time.
Kind of rare to find a book like this any longer - just the facts please madam.

Now go and due your research on Rosslyn Chapel to complete the story!

"Seek, and ye shall find: if ye do not seek, neither shall ye find."

"A man could read every Masonic ritual there is, and discover all the "secret work," but he still would not be a Mason. Being a Mason does not come from study. It is something that happens in your heart and mind when you take the Degrees."
- Bro. Jerry Marsengill

This book presents as one of the best researched in the area of the history of freemasonry. The author has no hidden agendas to meet and so does not dabble in speculation - which unfortunately is becoming the "norm" for books on this topic.

As a thoroughly researched volume it does tend to bog down in names, dates and details, but this only lends more support to it's validity.

If you want a book that cuts through the nonsense you'll read in 60% of what others offer, and yet makes the history it documents almost as diverting as the wild speculations found in other books, this is the book for you. You will learn much.

The hidden history of freemasons from Rome to modern times is revealed in a survey which traces modern freemasonry back to colleges of artisans in ancient Rome, and their organization evolution to the Arab turuqs, brotherhoods of builders created under the Knights Templar. Spiritual, social and cultural history blend in a survey which examines both Freemason history and spiritual concepts and how they changed from early to modern times. The Secret History Of Freemasonry: Its Origins And Connection To The Knights Templar provides fascinating and informative chapters covering everything from cooperative masonry associations to speculative masonry rituals.

In looking at the title, I was expecting something along the lines of a book which was one part conspiracy theory and one part history. Something about the aura of freemasonry draws these kinds of thoughts to the fore. However, the author is giving us a historical explanation of the origins of the freemasons along with a bit of history about the Knights Templar.

First, the author tells us the distinction between operative freemasonry and speculative Freemasonry (the capitalization is the author's). The first refers to the organizations of builders. The second refers to the organizations which arose many centuries later and had not connected with the builders, but are the organizations we think of today when we think of Freemasons.

The book is not the easiest of reads as it was not designed as a quick narrative of suspense as are most books of Freemasonry. The author, very diligently, walks the reader through history to show how religion, government, and culture were united, spread, or opposed by the groups of builders. Without an understanding of architecture and a background in ancient history, this can be a little hard to follow. It is, nonetheless, very educational to watch the connections across the European and Asian continents.

This may not be the most exciting of reads, but it was not intended to be. It will provide the reader a more ancient and grounded understanding of the organization which became Freemasons.

This is a book that merits a shelf all on it's own. In my own little library are the best and worst of books on this subject, but this one does the best and most believable job altogether. I commend it.

Not a bad analysis, on the craft & order of Knights; good insight and well organized, but the quintessential book on the Templars would have to be Wasserman's "The Templars and the Assasins" it tells of the true Templar evolution to the fullest. Two good companions would also be "African Origins of Freemasonry' by Zachary Gremillion (2005) & "The Huevolution of Sacred Muur Science Past and Present" by Noble Timothy Myers-El (2005)

This book is good in that it has lots of standard information about the Masons. There are more detailed books and websites out there but this is still a good basic source.

This book is basically a rehash of much old information, with little to instill new debate.

Boring! Like reading a book of laws. An end-to-end list of buildings and castle sites makes for a very unintersting read. The ingredients of a great book are here. The depth of research for the facts compiled were impressive, however, this book lacks the word flow of an experienced author.