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Title: Hiram Key: Pharoahs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus by Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas ISBN: 1-931412-75-8 Publisher: Fair Winds Press Pub. Date: August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.46 (180 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Puh-lease!
Comment: This book is an amazing example of what can happen when a researcher starts out with a given premise, and then seeks out only those facts which tend to support it. Admittedly, "The Hiram Key" was painstakingly researched, but Knight and Lomas seem incapable of evaluating their research in anything approaching an objective manner. As a result, history is twisted to fit the authors' theories, which are then presented as indisputable facts, and these new 'facts' are then twisted to fit the next pet theory advanced by the authors in succeeding chapters.
An example: A pharoah was assassinated in Egypt. Modern-day examination of the mummy reveals that he died of three distinct wounds. These wounds approximate the wounds received by Hiram Abiff in Masonic legend. Knight and Lomas' conclusion? Beyond any uncertainty, they've obviously discovered the true identity of Hiram! (I'm not kidding-- Knight and Lomas accept this revelation as FACT, based upon evidence no weightier than what is given above!)
Since the identity of Hiram is now supposedly known beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt, and since the Hebrews' captivity in Egypt was roughly contemporary with the era in which this pharoah is currently thought to have ruled, Knight and Lomas again link 'A' and 'B' as incontestible proof of 'C,' namely, that the kingly traditions and rituals of their pharoic Hiram MUST have been passed on the the Hebrews during their captivity in Egypt... (isn't it obvious?)
And clearly, if the Hebrews were privy to Egyptian funerary rites, Jesus of Nazareth MUST have been duly initiated, passed, and raised in this Egypto-Hebraic pre-Masonic tradition...
And since the Templars were known to have excavated Holy sites in and around Jerusalem, clearly they MUST have discovered Jesus' secret proto-Masonic teachings in manuscript form...
...and so on, ad infinitum. The problem with this sort of inductive reasoning is that you can't always draw specific conclusions from vague generalities. The peculiar logic in this book follows a daisy chain of inference and conclusion, which in operation resembles the following:
A) Fred likes sandwiches;
B) Sandwiches are made of several ingredients;
C) It therefore follows that Fred likes quiche, because quiche is also made of several ingredients, and;
D) Margaret must also like quiche, because Margaret is Fred's third cousin, and;
E) Margaret and I happen to come from the same home town;
F) Which confirms all of the above to be true, since I also like quiche.
You can go on and on with this kind of stuff. Another problem with this sort of creeping logic is that there equally plausible explanations for everything that the authors present as 'fact.'
In "The Hiram Key," coincidence often passes for fact, fact is usually accepted as evidence, and evidence is unquestioningly presented as proof. At no time do Knight or Lomas seem to challenge, or even question, the series of tenuous coincidences that they have collected together and hammered into an incongruous whole. What I'd really like to see is Knight and Lomas' book explaining how everybody in the whole world is seven steps removed from Kevin Bacon-- and I bet their theory would probably involve Atlantis, Incan ruins, UFO abductions, the Holy Grail, the Spanish Inquisition, Benjamin Franklin, the Warren Commission, and that weird face on Mars from the 'National Enquirer.'
It's a shame that, with so much genuine historical research about Masonic history being published today, this piece of flim-flam has garnered so much attention.
Rating: 5
Summary: A fascinating exploration of the beginnings of Freemasonry
Comment: I read this book (the paperback version--yes, it's out) right after reading Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner, and the two make a very interesting set. They contradict each other in places (particularly concerning James the Just, younger brother of Jesus) but overall they complement each other. The authors of this work, having joined the Masons, set out to find out what the rituals they went through really mean and where they came from. The key question they attempt to answer is, who was Hiram Abif, a key figure in Masonic ritual, supposedly in charge of building Solomon's temple who supposedly died rather than reveal the secrets of a master mason to three of his workers who tried to get them by intimidation. They came up with some interesting theories which I would dearly love to see expanded upon, but some of their supposed solutions hang on very tenous evidence and dubious interpretations. I'm sure they're right to trace the origins of Freemasonry to the Knights Templar, who had to go underground after being declared heretics on the infamous Friday the 13th of October 1307. (See Born in Blood by John J. Robinson.) They also seem to be on solid ground in tracing some rituals and traditions back to the early Christians of Jerusalem and the Essenes by way of scrolls probably discovered by the Templars while excavating the ruins of Herod's temple. Their attempt to trace them even further back to the murder of Pharoah Seqenenre (whom they see as the prototype for Hiram Abif) is much shakier (tho they may be onto something). Even shakier is their attempt to blame the murder on Levi and Rueben, two sons of the Jewish patriarch Jacob/Israel (and thus the eponymous founders of one of the tribes of Israel and of the Levite priests of Israel). The chronology is all wrong, and their only basis for this claim is their interpretation of a single ambigous verse in Genesis. The later chapters of the book, which are very interesting, are devoted to a detailed examination of the Chapel of Rosslyn in Scotland, which seems to be a Templar/Masonic reproduction of Herod's temple, and they predict that at least some of the scrolls the Templars found in Jerusalem are buried in vaults beneath the floor of this building. They say there is some support for the idea of excavating the site, and I certainly hope that they're right, for what they find could be even more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls!
Rating: 2
Summary: Some good, some bad, but mostly bad.
Comment: The authors, being freemasons are quite proud of their alleged societal heritage. Imagine then to my surprise when the Templars were raised up to this lofty perch of "true" religious beliefs, and the catholic church, St. Paul, and others are brutally thrown under the bus. Mind, I expected it, but I just didn't think that these two authors could have that much of a sense of inflated ego. I was wrong.
I swear to God, while someone who writes on the Templars please take the time and read Malcom Barber's books, and perhaps 1 or 2 others that are really experts. I think you'll find when you review Barber's work that the Templars were not this occult driven organization that these revisionists would place them in.
Still, this book was better researched than others in the genre, but still lacked any level of scholarly acceptance. I shan't bother with the silly prequel
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Title: The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince ISBN: 0684848910 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 12 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln ISBN: 0440136482 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 15 January, 1983 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry by Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas ISBN: 1931412766 Publisher: Fair Winds Press Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Messianic Legacy by Michael Baigent ISBN: 0440203198 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Temple and the Lodge by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh ISBN: 1559701269 Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: 22 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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