My review of the book:
The Hiram Key, by Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas, ISBN 0 7126 8579 0 published 1996, 384 inc. Index & Appendices. Cost £can’t remember.
Both of the authors were Freemasons although they don’t mention their lodges, it was funny reading this book again as it reminded me that I had come to the conclusion that they probably weren’t first time around. This was due, in part, to their amazing claim to have only heard of the Royal Arch whilst researching the book, this in spite of the fact that they had both been masons for 10 and 20 years respectively. This was their first book in this vein.
If not taken seriously, this book is a fantastic read. It succeeds in demonstrating that the founders of Freemasonry, did indeed weave into it elements of ancient practises, unfortunately the authors try to claim this as proof and as some form of a “concrete” line of descent.
The part dealing with the basis of the Craft Degrees being based on an ancient Egyptian “King Making Rite” element is very interesting (although it is difficult to see where the evidence ends and the speculation begins). However, it seems strange (to me at least) that if this was such an “earth shatteringly” important ritual that anyone would change the names and places then just forget all about it.
The book seems to take on a pretty “anti Christianity” flavour during the Chapters dealing with the life and times of Christ and the Jerusalem Church. However, I am sure that it is unintentional, especially it is only based on the Authors’ speculation as to what happened in those times. Again these parts of the book are very interesting but as ever are very speculative, I personally doubt that Jesus was a Freemason. I also remember reading this book and thinking that the Qumran/Nag Hammadi Scrolls must all be intact, so I went and bought a book about them. Unfortunately that book told me that most of them are in fragments, rarely more than a 1 or 2 Centimetres in size and that they are on the whole pretty unreadable.
It is very important to read this book carefully, as the authors have the terrible habit of throwing in some fantastic speculation then later in the book referring to it as if it has now become accepted fact. The book seems to be an attempt to find things that could possibly be retrospectively labelled as “masonic” then do so, along with overlaying masonic imports on things that are totally unrelated.
The Chapters dealing with the Sinclairs and Rosslyn Chapel are definitely the best chapters in the book. However, their conclusions are generally pretty fantastic and it is somewhat surprising to note that the catacombs of Rosslyn Chapel have still not been excavated 8 years after the book, although I suspect that its visitor figures have increased considerably.
My Overall Rating: 6/10
Conclusion: Medium difficulty to read but packed full of interesting history, clearly illustrating the basis of the authors’ speculations. The book is a great read but falls over when it tries to claim a definite basis for Freemasonry and its Ritual in a little heard of Egyptian King called Sequenenre Tao.