The Hiram Key
Encyclopedia
The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus is a 1997 book by Christopher Knight
and Robert Lomas
. The authors, both Mason
s, present a theory of the origins of Freemasonry
along with "the true story" of historical Jesus
and the original Jerusalem Church.
, 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.
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 Christianity are erroneous.
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.
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.
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 esoteric at 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 ultra-Jewish sect, the Jerusalem Church, operated some kind of "quasi-Masonic" initiation ceremonies and say that Jesus was thus, in some sense of the term, a Mason.
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 that the conclusion was inevitable that Jesus was a Mason.
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:
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:
Christopher Knight (author)
Christopher Knight is an author who has written several pseudoarcaeological and pseudohistorical books dealing with theories such as 366-degree geometry and the origins of Freemasonry...
and Robert Lomas
Robert Lomas
Roberto Lomas is a British writer and business studies academic. He writes primarily about the history of Freemasonry as well as the Neolithic period, ancient engineering and archaeoastronomy...
. The authors, both Mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
s, present a theory of the origins of Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
along with "the true story" of historical Jesus
Historical Jesus
The term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...
and the original Jerusalem Church.
Book summary
The authors begin by quoting Henry FordHenry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, 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.
They argue in the book that the foundations of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
religion are a distortion by the early Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
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 Christianity are erroneous.
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
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, 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
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, ancient Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
, the Gnostic Gospels
Gnostic Gospels
The Gnostic Gospels are a collection of about fifty-two texts supposedly based upon the ancient wisdom teachings of several prophets and spiritual leaders including Jesus, written from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. These gospels are not part of the standard Biblical canon of any major Christian...
, and Masonic rituals to support the conclusions they came to.
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
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
in the Jewish sense of the term, a good man and a freedom fighter trying to help liberate the Jews from Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
occupation.
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 esoteric at 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 ultra-Jewish sect, the Jerusalem Church, operated some kind of "quasi-Masonic" initiation ceremonies and say that Jesus was thus, in some sense of the term, a Mason.
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 that the conclusion was inevitable that Jesus was a Mason.
Controversy
The book contains a radical hypothesis
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
regarding the origins of Freemasonry, seeking to demonstrate a heritage through the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
to the Jerusalem Church and Pharaoic
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, 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
Quatuor Coronati Lodge
Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 is a Masonic lodge in London dedicated to Masonic research. Founded in 1886, the lodge meets at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street....
the Premier Lodge of Masonic research under United Grand Lodge of England
United Grand Lodge of England
The United Grand Lodge of England is the main governing body of freemasonry within England and Wales and in other, predominantly ex-British Empire and Commonwealth countries outside the United Kingdom. It is the oldest Grand Lodge in the world, deriving its origin from 1717...
, has criticized the book as Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
, and some Masonic libraries categorise the volume as fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
.
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 2067Quatuor Coronati LodgeQuatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 is a Masonic lodge in London dedicated to Masonic research. Founded in 1886, the lodge meets at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street....
, 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 UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Century Books in 1996. - Published in the USA as a 384-page hardcover by Element Books in 1997 (ISBN 1-86204-004-4)
- Published in the USA 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.