Reviewer
Emily Decobert: Emily graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan
College with degrees in History and Psychology and a
Masters in Library Media from Western Kentucky University. She
spent a few years being a teacher and librarian until she left to
help run her husband's business and work on her novels. Emily
reads about five books a week and loves reviewing. She is
a book reviewer for bookpleasures.com and
other publishers. Click here to access Emily's blog.
Author: Jay Kinney
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-06-082256-9
Author: Jay Kinney
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-06-082256-9
The Freemasons is a secret society that is plagued by people determined to learn its secrets. They have been associated with many groups from the Knights Templar to Satanists and credited with great wealth and ancient wisdom. It’s hard to know where to get the facts for many writers are concentrating on proving their own theories.
Jay Kinney, author of The Masonic Myth, is in a unique position to provide the reader with the hidden truth. He has spent years as an editor in chief of a Gnostic magazine, researching mysteries. He is also a Mason himself and more important, he is librarian and director of research of the San Francisco Scottish Rite. This gives him access to files and information other writers don’t have.
This book traces Masonry from the first mentions of it in public literature to the present. It discusses the actual origins and how so many other groups became linked to the group. He tries to find how and when the basic rituals were included into the Craft, as the Masons call it, and where the rites are derived from. Finally, he discusses a very real issue, what the future of the Masons? Enrollment drops each year and the average age of a Mason increases.
This book was unusually conservative for a Masons book. Many writers are publishing books because they have a theory about the secret intent of the Masons and they want to share with everyone. Kinney doesn’t start with a radical theory, he simply intends to give a through accounting of the Masons, sticking to fact and avoiding theory.
This book cuts away many of the ‘truths’ factual sources often state as fact. One of the more interesting examples is the birth of the Masons. It is often reported as fact that the Masons descended from the Knight Templar. Kinney tears through the myth and finds the evidence the Masons are descended from actual stone masons and not Crusader knights.
Kinney also isn’t as radical as many authors who tell word for word the actual rituals. He honors the wishes of the Masons by not revealing things they want to keep secret. If you want to know the exact code words and handshakes, go elsewhere. However, if you want a book that gives the truth and strips away fantasy, The Masonic Myth is it.