The Hiram Key

The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus, is a 1996 book by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas. The authors, both Masons, present a theory of the origins of Freemasonry along with "the true story" of historical Jesus and the original Jerusalem Church.

Book summary=

The authors begin by quoting Henry Ford, who was a Mason, saying "all history is bunk". They express the belief that, though Ford's statement may be abrupt, it is accurate, as history is often not a completely accurate and comprehensive account of facts, but only what the victor in any given situation has recorded for posterity.

The author's make a case through the use of dialectic. Such persuasive technique asks the reader to accept a basic premise, and then proceeds in a logical order; requiring the reader to weigh the merit of each step along the way to a conclusion. If the initial premise, and each of the steps in logic towards the conclusion have merit, the conclusion can be said to be a legitimate, possible explanation. The author's of The Hiram Key have proposed a possible explanation for events, and only vague refutation's of their theory have been offered. Often those not familiar with the Science of "dialectic progression" come away feeling the author has hatched a hair brained collection of irrelevant factoids to promote an equally half-baked theory. Those familiar in the use of dialectic, are generally the first to admit that the conclusion of such logic is only as good as its weakest link. When dealing with the vague Science of History, all History can rightly be said to be based on "dialectic," and all sources of information subject to interpretation as the "weakest link." The author's of Hiram Key make a good case, though like any dialectic (Historical) argument, detractor's can attack any of the "links" as bogus with Wikipedia-type logic, citing any number of widely accepted (conflicting) references as fact, declaring the entire idea thus faulty. Such Wikipedia-type logic would render all History bogus and fraudulent, once enough crackpot arguments have been written up in an accepted (Wiki) format.

They argue in the book that the foundations of the Christian religion are a distortion by the early Roman Catholic Church of the teachings of the real Jesus and his followers. They claim to have found in Masonry a new key to unlock the secrets of civilization. This key is also the key to the origins of Christianity and, they assert, proves that many of the beliefs of modern Religion may well have come to be, at least partly, through imprecise Historical interpretation.

They state that one of the main motivations in writing the book stemmed from a desire to ascertain the origins of Freemasonry. Was it just founded in London in 1717, when the Grand Lodge of England was founded as most historians believe, or was it older?

A common theory is that Freemasonry evolved out of guilds of stonemasons. Masonic ritual claims that one of the first Freemasons was Hiram Abiff, a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, who built King Solomon's Temple. His name has never been recorded as such historically, although there is a similar character in the Old Testament of the Bible, who is described as a widow's son but not named in the First Book of Kings. In fact, although not apparently named in some translations of the bible, others, such as the Coverdale translation and the original Martin Luther translation do indeed refer to him as "Hiram Abiff" or as "Huram Abi". The word "abi" is translated as "father" or "my father" in other translations whilst the translations named treated it as a personal name. The Jewish Study Bible suggests that word "father" is an honorific title applied to a skilled craftsman. The use of "abu" meaning "father" as an honorific is still seen in the Middle East today, hence "Abukir" named after "Father" or Saint Cyril.

They claim that the stonemason origin theory was wrong because it had so many obvious fallacies. Why would powerful and rich people have been attracted to join a fraternity that came from simple poor stonemasons' guilds? The theory of Freemasonry originating in London in 1717 was also unlikely, because there were much earlier mentions of Freemasonry. The authors decided eventually that Freemasonry was actually as old as it claimed in its ritual, dating back to the building of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

They claim that they rigorously analysed the Bible, including the New Testament, ancient Jewish texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gnostic Gospels, and Masonic rituals to support the conclusions they came to. The author's of The Hiram Key point out that World-wide, religion is a very big deal, and a major refutation of commonly held belief's are sure to be smothered by the "powers that be" in Religion. They point out, for instance, that 40 years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, only about half had ever been published or made available for independent review. It was not until 1991 that public access restrictions were quietly removed. These scrolls contained various versions of Biblical texts, and they were all over 1000 years older than the oldest surviving Hebrew texts that were produced by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher in AD 1008. The texts of these scrolls were believed written by ancestors of the same Qumran Community of the Judaean hills that found them. Hiram Key author's claim the Qumran Community were Essenes, and that they and the Nasoreans and the original Jerusalem Church were all one and the same. That is, the ancient Qumranians were the first Christians. The Hiram Key references above, pages 189-190.

They decided that the story of Hiram Abiff was actually based on the initiation ceremonies of the ancient kings of Egypt. They also came to the conclusion after analysis of the New Testament, the Gnostic Gospels, and Masonic ritual that Jesus and the original Christians were thoroughly different from what the Roman Catholic Church and orthodox Christianity has taught they were.

The authors believe that Jesus did not claim to be divine, but was merely a messiah in the Jewish sense of the term, a good man and a freedom fighter trying to help liberate the Jews from Roman occupation.

Never in the book do the author's claim that the Christian Faith is incompatible with the ideals and goals of Freemasonry. Similarly, neither do they claim that the Jewish Faith or the Muslim Faith or Buddist Faith are incompatible with Freemasonry teachings. Although The Hiram Key points out certain inconsistent Historical references within various dogma's, they do not claim dogma to be devoid of value to humanity. The book is more an Historical illumination, rather than a Religious one.

Jesus did not claim to be a miracle worker, according to the authors. When he said that he raised Lazarus from the dead, it was an allegorical reference - followers were referred to as the "living" and others were referred to as the "dead" in certain Jewish esotericism of the time. Similarly, Jesus's turning water into wine merely meant elevating people to a higher status within the framework of the sect.

The authors believe that Jesus's sect, the Jerusalem Church, operated some kind of "quasi-Masonic" initiation ceremonies and say that Jesus was thus, in some sense of the term, possibly literally, a Freemason.

They wrote in the chapter entitled Jesus Christ: Man, God, Myth, or Freemason, "We realize that this is a statement that will offend many Christians, and particularly many Roman Catholics," but conclusion they came to, based upon Historical context derived outside the typical religious context, was that Jesus was a Mason.

Controversy

The book contains a radical hypothesis regarding the origins of Freemasonry, seeking to demonstrate a heritage through the Knights Templar to the Jerusalem Church and Pharaoic Egypt, drawing on a wide range of material to support this hypothesis.

The work is subject to criticism from within the established body of masonic-research, based on:

• Creeping assertion - caveats on statements are reduced as the statements are used as foundation for further development.
• Lack of critical assessment of sources.
• Use of symbolic ritual as a statement of historic fact.

Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2067 the Premier Lodge of Masonic research under United Grand Lodge of England, has criticized the book as Pseudohistory, and some Masonic libraries categorise the volume as fiction.

Reviews of the work are commonly critical; publishers of this criticism include:

• Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
• Masonic Info
• Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2067, on the register of the United Grand Lodge of England
• Masonic Quarterly, an official publication of the United Grand Lodge of England
• Freemasonry Today, an official publication of the United Grand Lodge of England

Publication

• Published in the United Kingdom by Century Books in 1996.
• Published in the United States as a 384-page hardcover by Element Books in 1997 (ISBN 1-86204-004-4)
• Published in the United States as a paperback in 1998 (ISBN 1-86204-221-7)
• Re-published in 2001 (paperback, ISBN 1-931412-75-8; hardcover ISBN 1-59233-159-9), Fair Winds Press
• Translated into over different thirty languages.

External links

• The Hiram Key at the authors' website.
• Review at Templar History Magazine
• Review at Urban Smarts
• Review by Grand Lodge of Scotland Year Book
• Review at The Perceptory Library
• Review at BBC h2g2
• The Hiram key Band
• Review at Templar Lore
• Review in Diary of a Network Geek
• Review at GLBCY Website