The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus (Hardcover)

by Christopher Knight (Author), Robert Lomas (Author)
Key Phrases: resurrection ceremony, scroll shrine, substituted secrets, Hiram Abif, Qumran Community, New Testament (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Using rigorous analyses of ancient Egyptian records, the Old and New Testaments, early Christian and Rabbinical texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the rituals of Freemasonry, Knight and Lomas have assembled a startling and controversial book which shows the original Jerusalem Church to be a political device for establishing control, and the Bible to be far from literal truth. 16 plates.

About the Author
Christopher Knight was born in 1950 and completed his education with a degree in advertising and graphic design in 1971. He has always had a strong interest in social behavior and belief systems. For many years he has been a consumer psychologist involved in the planning of new products and their marketing. In 1976 he became a Freemason and is now the managing director of a marketing and advertising agency.

Dr Robert Lomas was born in 1947 and gained a first class honors degree in electrical engineering before taking up research into solid state physics. He later worked on guidance systems for Cruise missiles and was involved in the early development of personal computers and has always had a keen interest in the history of science. He currently lectures at Bradford University Management Centre. In 1986 he became a Freemason and quickly became a popular lecturer on Masonic history in lodges in West Yorkshire. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Element Books (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862040044
• ISBN-13: 978-1862040045
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (233 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #201,134 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One step forward, two steps back, January 6, 2000

By	Steven Wiles (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus (Paperback)

There is a lot of evidence out there that the 'traditional' Christian view of World History is at best inaccurate, at worst deliberately distorted. And possibly this is the definitive and most accurate account yet of how things actually happened. The problem is, it's impossible to tell from this work. Badly sourced and referenced, this is a work that fails to meet all accepted standards of academic and scholarly argument. In particular the authors have a nasty habit of confusing terms like 'possible' with 'proven'. There are numerous occasions within the book where a theory is presented as a possible interpretation of events - so far, so good. The problem is that on the next page a sentence will begin along these lines 'As we have already proven...' and the possibility is now upgraded to an established fact. Once would be a problem, but their argument as a whole consists of a linear trace through history, which ends up as a heap of suppositions all transformed like this into facts, tottering on top of one another. Remove ONE of these guesses and the whole edifice comes down. In many other places ideas are presented as accepted facts, when a closer reading (on your own initiative, and not at the authors instigation, as most of these are unsourced) reveals that the point in question may be hotly contested or dismissed by most scholars. There are some nice ideas in the book. Some of it may be right. But personally, I found that from about page 70 onwards I was reading it as I would a novel, suspending disbelief, with every few pages causing a sharp intake of breath as another conclusion is drawn without the help of Occams Razor, or another supposition metamorphasises into fact over the course of a few paragraphs. Read it by all means, but keep your critical faculties handy at all times.

57 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Free at last, January 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus (Paperback)

I read The Hiram Key a few months ago and I cannot in any number of words say how interesting it was. I was raised in a very strict church that believed only in a literal translation of the Bible. The content of The Hiram Key shocked me. Instead of being turned off, I read hungrily. Believing the authors to have honorable intentions, I finished the book and then researched every avenue I could via the footnotes,etc. It all proved out.I was amazed at how long some of this knowledge has been out there and how long it took to come to the eyes of the general public. I am 48 years old and feel released for the first time in memory. I finished The Second Messiah last week and last night started Uriel's Machine. Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas are refreshing, intellegent, courageous and so much more. I will read anything they write and wish I could share with them the dept of effect they have had on my family and many of our friends. Of course, I read the other reviews that would make them out to be of the devil or some such nonsense as that and surely there are many who would agree. It is threatening to read substantive material that flys in the face of all the beliefs that make up our eternal retirement plan. Truth doesn't set everyone free. Everyone can't handle the responsiblity. Hurray for these men and thank you so very much.

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative speculation that merits consideration, August 30, 1999

By	ismarc ([e-mail]) (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

While authors Knight and Lomas can get dangerously speculative at times, their conclusions are plausable.

The Hiram Key persents many theories to complete it's 'presented' history; and while it's unlikely that all of their speculation is true many of the statements undoubtably are correct.

The prinicpal value of the Hiram Key would be to as a starting point for further academic research in an environment that lends itself to such study (ie, a University). To the casual reader it might spark an interest in other works on related topics.

Unfortunatly, due to it's speculative nature and controversial subject matter, this book will come under fire (with whatever ammunition) is available ) by those who find the topic offensive or dangerous. But, despite it's speculative nature I would reccommend the material to anyone willing to further thier understanding of either Free Masonry or the modern Christian church.