Your reviewer received The Hiram Key as a gift but deferred reading until he was raised a Master Mason in December 2019. It is not necessary to be a mason to enjoy The Hiram Key, but it certainly helps. The non-mason will likely find The Hiram Key unbelievable if not heretical.
The Hiram Key was written by my masonic brothers Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas and was first published in 1996. Even though their work is nearly twenty-five years old when I mentioned to a lodge brother that I was reading The Hiram Key he immediately recognized the title.
Knight and Lomas present a world view that is often at odds to mainstream history and commonly held Christian beliefs about the early Christian church. Based upon the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other documents mainstream, modern biblical scholarship does question literal interpretations of the Bible (e.g. there is no Roman record of Mary, Joseph, or anyone traveling significant distance in order to be counted for any census). Knight and Lomas go further, much further.
There is some evidence for their radical beliefs but also much conjecture. Moreover, both Knight and Thomas made careers in business, not academia. In multiples places, they wrote, “there is no (or little) doubt such and such happened”. The academic scholar would be more scientific. The scientific method leaves room for doubt. Cynics could describe their book as self-serving and sensationalism.
As Knight and Thomas are masons, they are duty-bound to be honest and “square” even with non-masons. Your author believes Knight and Thomas honestly believe their conclusions. There were not interested in sensationalism. They were just seeking the truth.
Knight and Thomas present many bits of interesting evidence for their conclusions. The mason and non-mason will be intrigued by their evidence, but very likely not will draw the same firm conclusions.
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