The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus (Paperback)

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
The Hiram Key is a book that will shake the Christian world to its very roots. When Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, both Masons, set out to find the origins of Freemasonry they had no idea that they would find themselves unraveling the true story of Jesus and the original Jerusalem Church. As a radically new picture of Jesus started to emerge, the authors came to the startling conclusion that the key rituals of modern Freemasonry were practiced by the early followers of Jesus as a means of initiation into their community.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Fair Winds Press; First Edition edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931412758
• ISBN-13: 978-1931412759
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (233 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,125 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.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cracking the Door , October 10, 2005

By	Mark L. La Rue "Marc L LeRoux" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read many of these reviews and some of the fiercest criticisms as well. Almost uniformly the critics seem to read as live people I have met who are Christians who become quite shrill when certain newer historical concepts are mentioned or written about. But in the interest of my own satisfaction, I went back and researched a few of the cheif complaints.

It turns out that many of the criticism repeated over and over are nothing more than petty objections to historically controversial "facts" that historians have debated for a long time. The existence of Nazareth is one example. Yes, you can find it on maps of the first century period because their is much assumption that it existed then. But the town is not mentioned in the Hebrew texts, not in Josephus, nor in the Talmud. Jerome in the 5th century says that it was a vicilus or mere village of perhaps a couple hundred people. It was a satellite of the larger city of Sepphoris four miles away. To add to that, the respected historian Zindler argued as did many others, that Nazareth did not exist in the first century. He cites Paul, Josephus, the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud as well as the statement that the brow of the hill near Nazareth is not steep enough for someone to be thrown off and killed, referring to Luke 4:28-30. Add to all this the very diverse historical evidence of an active Nasoean sect and the Ebionites who seemed to be the real source of Jewish "Christianity" - rejected by the Paulinians and you have just the beginning of what is really an much more complex historical setting than just saying one thing or another and sticking to it for two thousand years. A deep study of early Christianity or a good reading of Gibbons classic history "Fall the of the Roman Empire" will lend more support than not to "The Hiram Key."

It is my guess that what irritates most people aside from those who react as true-believing modern Christians, is the writing style of the two authors. That and the lack of a Bibliography. Certainly, Knight and Lomas have noticed that error and their subsequent books have very long Bibliographies. But the writing style is casual, and people used to reading solid historical works are made to feel that they are being taken on a fantasy ride, however plausable the narrative manages to make itself. And that rise and falls throughpout the book. The two slimest sequences are the story of the murder of Hiram Abif and the story of the mock crucifixion of Jaques de Molay.

But the reader must understand that the book has been written by those and for those who are very familiar with the traditional history of Freemasonry. Knowing it as well as I did, I could see how this could be an explanation. Time perhaps will add or detract from their theory. The story of Jaques de Molay was very rich because it was written almost as a play might have been written. But it does appear that the victim was nailed to a door and the door slamed over and over. This was not an unusual torment during that period, and if you have traveled in Europe and visited a few dungeons, you will find that this was not the most inventive torture that was invented by apparently horribly bloodthirsty monks in the service of the Lord. The more intiment I have become with the entire history of Christianity and Europe in general, the more likely I can find a scenario such as the torture of de Molay as described. Certainly, he was tortured- there is plenty of historical record on that and all the other Templars that were tortured and burned to death during their suppression.

So what? Well, I say read the book and then do real objective research. You will find as I have that the critics tend to fall into certain classes and much of what these men quote is either well known to many in the field or at least the opinion of learned scholars if not completely agreed upon.

Certainly, the world needs a cleansing from these bloody, middle eastern religions. Books on alternative theories highly substantiable at some points - like this one are needed. For a good review of Christianity's start read Joel Carmichael's "The Birth of Christianity."

However, I am amazed over and over at how few people seem to have noticed the really remarkable message that this book contains. The book of Enoch survived in Freemasonic literature and appears no where else until the Dead Sea Scrolls are made available for public study and voila, there it is, the Book of Enoch. How did the Freemasons in England come to be the custodians of such an important text? Yes, there must be a link and the most logical link is the digging of the temple ruins by the original nine Templars and the bloodline connection that other authors have discussed. The Dukes of Lorraine and Burgundy knew they were there!

Unfortunately, too much of history is the history of cover-up and usurpation. It is going to require people like PhDs of engineering and graphic artists who excel in historical research and alternative thinking to crack the "good old boys" club of established historical tradition. If for no other reason than that you can't get into the club if you don't sing the right tune. But that is changing, slowly.

Finally, one must realize that Freemasonry itself underwent a huge change after 1717 and was greiviously mangled by Christian apologists who added many degrees and Christian tradition to what had previously existed. There is a historical competition of the London - York Rite against the Scottish Rite and the authors have been attempting to prove with their research and writings to show the London Grand Lodge that there needs to be a huge revision, bringing a completed and rational read to the story of Freemasonry in order for it to survive much longer. If the reader understands some of these things, then the many turns of the book is easier to understand.

I gave this book four stars simply because it lacks a bibliography, which would have eliminated at leat 50% of the critics outright.

And that's how it goes

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.