The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus by Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus
Book Review: Rereading after the Da Vinci Code
Summary: 5 Stars
I returned to reread The Hiram Key, after recently reading the Da Vinci Code was amazed how much of the background to the plot this book sets out. I have long been a fan of Christopher Knight, since I heard him speak a few years ago, and read and enjoyed this book when it first came out.
It remains a really good exploration of Freemasonry and its relationship to the Christian Church and for insights into the secrets of Rosslyn I think it remains the best book around.
Book Review: HIram key
Summary: 5 Stars
when i first bought the book i was prepared for some ridiculous arguements about christianity and christ. As i gradually read through the book i began to recognise the flaws in the bible that they had written about, yes it is the two writers points of view and they do say when they are speculating and not forcing there view. But i could not help but think they had found something remarkable, i found the book quite interesting, it was clearly written so the reader could understand, there theory in the beginning of the book was proven by there research, and along the way they delved furthur into the history of religion. Some may argue and say they didnt read the bible prior but they did it is written they that cross referenced and checked there quotes. They also had help from a church of england minister.
For anybody who is thinking about buying this book i would highly recommend it flows smoothly and doesnt confuse the reader with to much detail. This book shows there view which is supported by facts from history. An excellent book.
Book Review: Complete rubbish...
Summary: 1 Stars
Loomis and Knight made so many logical fallacies, factual errors, false premises, errorneous conclusions and blatant contradictions in this work (it is conceived and written so dilettantishly that it doesen't even deserve to be called a book, just because it looks like one), that I wished to throw it in a garbage bin after I read the only first thirtish pages.
I wonder why they didn't care to read the Bible, if they wished to write about its content. If they have read it, they might not have made such grave factual errors.
It should be stressed that the authors of this funny paper are not scholars of any kind - one is electric engineer and the other is graphic designer. So, knowing this, one could assume the degree of validity their speculations on ancient Middle East history have.
They haven't performed any archeological excavations, they didn't find any new data, document or artifact which could expand our knowledge on history or archeology of those region. They do not speak neither latin, greek nor any of the semitic languagues. They do not read hieroglyphs.
In short - they do not know what they are talking about. Fortunately for them, their publisher are even more ignorant than they are. To paraphrase H. L. Mencken - no one has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence, the education level and common sense of the public.
Avoid this one. It's just the waste of your time. There are much better publications...even among those written on this "controversal" subject.
Book Review: Where's the evidence?
Summary: 2 Stars
I was frustrated all the way through this book. The authors make a number of bold assertions, and while I support their investigative spirit -- they do not consistently back up their claims with convincing evidence.The authors believe that Jesus was a member of the Qumran community of Essenes. Yet, they ignore clear differences between the teachings of Jesus as presented in the gospels versus the ideas of the Essenes as documented in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I agree that Jesus might have been had contacts with the Essenes. Yet, a comparison of the gospels and scrolls shows substantial differences. The Essenes were fanatical, elitist, xenophobic, and may also have been political zealots. Textual evidence from the scrolls confirms the elitism: women were not allowed to participate in the Qumran community, nor were lepers, nor other individuals with disfigurements, nor were the elderly nor the young. By contrast, Jesus was a universalist. He welcomed everyone.
If the late scholar Yigal Yadin is correct, Bethany, where Jesus spent a considerable amount of time, was a leper's colony. Jews in general, including the Essenes, believed that leprosy was a curse from God, punishment for past wickedness. The fact that Jesus associated with lepers and other misfits, outcasts and disfigured individuals shows that Jesus spoke out against the superstitious beliefs so rife in his day. This distinguished him from the Essenes.
The fact that Jesus also honored women and welcomed them as disciples was no less a departure. Jesus was an innovator and a progressive -- distinctly different from mainstream Judaism and even from breakaway groups like the Essenes.
The authors also boldly claim that Jesus was a zealot -- and was involved in the uprising against Rome. Yet they present not a scrap of evidence for this. Indeed, passages such as Matthew 11:10-15 show that Jesus could not have been a zealot. This is the passage about "the violent taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm" and is a critical reference to the zealots of the time.
In that apocalyptic age many Jews believed that Yahweh would come down from heaven and destroy the Romans. This great apocalypse was also associated with the expected Messiah. Yet, Peter's Confession, of which the original and fullest account occurs in Mark (Mark 8:27-33), shows that the preferred name was not Messiah, but the mystical Son of Man. For a discussion see chapter 4 of my new book Gnostc Secrets of the Naassenes.
The authors also believe that the medieval Templars uncovered Essene scrolls in their diggings under the Temple Mount, a preposterous idea, given that the Essenes were a breakaway sect and had absolutely nothing to do with the Temple priesthood or mainstream Judaism.
The authors make important contributions toward a better understanding of the history of Freemasonry, documenting some of the ancient links, but a reader has to constantly sift through their ideas to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Book Review: Fascinating, Provocative, Evocative
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew nothing of Freemasonry before reading this book; I can't even remember what prompted me to read it in the first place. But no matter, because it is a fascinating piece of archaeological mystery writing. The authors seek to discover the origin of masonic ritual; and along the way the reader learns about the birth of middle eastern civilization with the Sumerians, the nature of king-making in ancient Egypt, the origin of the Jewish people, a very alternative (and provocative) description of the nature of Jesus's ministry, and the construction of what has become Christianity by the earliest Roman Christians. This book does not seem to be meant to promote freemasonry, so you won't be pummeled with masonic text. The function of the masonic text and ritual in this book is to tie together aspects of mid-eastern history and archaeology (and relevant portions of Celtic British Isles history) in a unique way.