Masonic Enlightenment

Author : R. William Weisberger
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2017-09-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476629698

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Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment by R. William Weisberger Pdf

Freemasonry began with stonemasons in the Middle Ages experiencing the decline of cathedral building. Some guilds invited honorary memberships to boost their numbers. These usually highly educated new members practiced symbolic or “speculative Freemasonry.” The new Masonic lodges and learned societies offered their growing numbers of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish members an understanding of deism, Newtonian science and representative government, and of literature and the fine arts. This work describes how Masons on both sides of the Atlantic were mostly either enlighteners, political reformers or moderate revolutionaries. They offered minimal support to radical revolutionary ideas and leaders.

Author : Margaret C. Jacob
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1991-12-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780199762798

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Living the Enlightenment by Margaret C. Jacob Pdf

Long recognized as more than the writings of a dozen or so philosophes, the Enlightenment created a new secular culture populated by the literate and the affluent. Enamoured of British institutions, Continental Europeans turned to the imported masonic lodges and found in them a new forum that was constitutionally constructed and logically egalitarian. Originating in the Middle Ages, when stone-masons joined together to preserve their professional secrets and to protect their wages, the English and Scottish lodges had by the eighteenth century discarded their guild origins and become an international phenomenon that gave men and eventually some women a place to vote, speak, discuss and debate. Margaret Jacob argues that the hundreds of masonic lodges founded in eighteenth-century Europe were among the most important enclaves in which modern civil society was formed. In France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Britain men and women freemasons sought to create a moral and social order based upon reason and virtue, and dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality. A forum where philosophers met with men of commerce, government, and the professions, the masonic lodge created new forms of self-government in microcosm, complete with constitutions and laws, elections, and representatives. This is the first comprehensive history of Enlightenment freemasonry, from the roots of the society's political philosophy and evolution in seventeenth-century England and Scotland to the French Revolution. Based on never-before-used archival sources, it will appeal to anyone interested in the birth of modernity in Europe or in the cultural milieu of the European Enlightenment.

Author : Michael R. Poll
Publisher : Cornerstone Book Publishers
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2014-12-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1613422377

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Masonic Enlightenment by Michael R. Poll Pdf

A Masonic education from the first page to last. Includes: "The Meaning of Initiation" by Frank C. Higgins; "Operative Masonry: Early Days in the Masonic Era" by Robert I. Clegg; "Masonic Jurisprudence" by Roscoe Pound; "Freemasons in the American Revolution" by Charles S. Lobingier; "A Bird's-Eye View of Masonic History" by H.L. Haywood; "Women and Freemasonry" by Dudley Wright; "In the Interests of the Brethren" by Rudyard Kipling; "The Egyptian Influence on Our Masonic Ceremonial and Ritual" by Thomas Ross; "Anderson's Constitutions of 1723? by Lionel Vibert; "The Rise and Development of Anti-Masonry in America, 1737-1826? by J. Hugo Tatsch; "The Spiritual Significance of Freemasonry" by Silas H. Shepherd; "Rosicrucianism in Freemasonry" by H.V.B. Voorhis; "The New Atlantis and Freemasonry" by A.J.B. Milborne; "Masonry and World Peace" by Joseph Fort Newton and more.

Author : R. William Weisberger
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2017-09-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476669137

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Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment by R. William Weisberger Pdf

Freemasonry began with stonemasons in the Middle Ages experiencing the decline of cathedral building. Some guilds invited honorary memberships to boost their numbers. These usually highly educated new members practiced symbolic or "speculative Freemasonry." The new Masonic lodges and learned societies offered their growing numbers of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish members an understanding of deism, Newtonian science and representative government, and of literature and the fine arts. This work describes how Masons on both sides of the Atlantic were mostly either enlighteners, political reformers or moderate revolutionaries. They offered minimal support to radical revolutionary ideas and leaders.

Author : Michael R. Poll
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2024-05-15
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1613424264

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Masonic Enlightenment by Michael R. Poll Pdf

Author : Kenneth B. Loiselle
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2014-08-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9780801454868

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Brotherly Love by Kenneth B. Loiselle Pdf

Friendship, an acquired relationship primarily based on choice rather than birth, lay at the heart of Enlightenment preoccupations with sociability and the formation of the private sphere. In Brotherly Love, Kenneth Loiselle argues that Freemasonry is an ideal arena in which to explore the changing nature of male friendship in Enlightenment France. Freemasonry was the largest and most diverse voluntary organization in the decades before the French Revolution. At least fifty thousand Frenchmen joined lodges, the memberships of which ranged across the social spectrum from skilled artisans to the highest ranks of the nobility. Loiselle argues that men were attracted to Freemasonry because it enabled them to cultivate enduring friendships that were egalitarian and grounded in emotion. Drawing on scores of archives, including private letters, rituals, the minutes of lodge meetings, and the speeches of many Freemasons, Loiselle reveals the thought processes of the visionaries who founded this movement, the ways in which its members maintained friendships both within and beyond the lodge, and the seemingly paradoxical place women occupied within this friendship community. Masonic friendship endured into the tumultuous revolutionary era, although the revolutionary leadership suppressed most of the lodges by 1794. Loiselle not only examines the place of friendship in eighteenth-century society and culture but also contributes to the history of emotions and masculinity, and the essential debate over the relationship between the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

Author : Michael R. Poll
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2008-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1934935360

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More Light - Masonic Enlightenment Series by Michael R. Poll Pdf

This is the a follow-up to the popular book "Masonic Englightenment." Includes the inspired Masonic essays: "Mythology and Masonry" by R.J. Meekren; "Geometry of God" by Joseph Fort Newton; "The Suppression of the Order of the Temple" by Frederick W. Hamilton; "Was William Shakespeare a Freemason?" by Robert I. Clegg; "The Religion of Robert Burns" by Gilbert Patten Brown; "Hysteria in Freemasonry" by WM. F. Kuhn; "The Square and the Cross" by A.S. MacBride; "Toleration and Freethinking" by H.L. Haywood and more.

Author : Margaret C. Jacob
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2016-10-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780812294248

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The Origins of Freemasonry by Margaret C. Jacob Pdf

Can the ancestry of freemasonry really be traced back to the Knights Templar? Is the image of the eye in a triangle on the back of the dollar bill one of its cryptic signs? Is there a conspiracy that stretches through centuries and generations to align this shadow organization and its secret rituals to world governments and religions? Myths persist and abound about the freemasons, Margaret C. Jacob notes. But what are their origins? How has an early modern organization of bricklayers and stonemasons aroused so much public interest? In The Origins of Freemasonry, Jacob throws back the veil from a secret society that turns out not to have been very secret at all. What factors contributed to the extraordinarily rapid spread of freemasonry over the course of the eighteenth century, and why were so many of the era's most influential figures drawn to it? Using material from the archives of leading masonic libraries in Europe, Jacob examines masonic almanacs and pocket diaries to get closer to what living as a freemason might have meant on a daily basis. She explores the persistent connections between masons and nascent democratic movements, as each lodge set up a polity where an individual's standing was meant to be based on merit, rather than on birth or wealth, and she demonstrates, beyond any doubt, how active a role women played in the masonic movement.

Author : Kenneth Loiselle
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9780801454875

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Brotherly Love by Kenneth Loiselle Pdf

Friendship, an acquired relationship primarily based on choice rather than birth, lay at the heart of Enlightenment preoccupations with sociability and the formation of the private sphere. In Brotherly Love, Kenneth Loiselle argues that Freemasonry is an ideal arena in which to explore the changing nature of male friendship in Enlightenment France. Freemasonry was the largest and most diverse voluntary organization in the decades before the French Revolution. At least fifty thousand Frenchmen joined lodges, the memberships of which ranged across the social spectrum from skilled artisans to the highest ranks of the nobility. Loiselle argues that men were attracted to Freemasonry because it enabled them to cultivate enduring friendships that were egalitarian and grounded in emotion. Drawing on scores of archives, including private letters, rituals, the minutes of lodge meetings, and the speeches of many Freemasons, Loiselle reveals the thought processes of the visionaries who founded this movement, the ways in which its members maintained friendships both within and beyond the lodge, and the seemingly paradoxical place women occupied within this friendship community. Masonic friendship endured into the tumultuous revolutionary era, although the revolutionary leadership suppressed most of the lodges by 1794. Loiselle not only examines the place of friendship in eighteenth-century society and culture but also contributes to the history of emotions and masculinity, and the essential debate over the relationship between the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

Author : Nicolas Laos
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2023-01-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781527592087

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Freemasonic Enlightenment in the Context of the Modern and Perfecting Rite of Symbolic Masonry by Nicolas Laos Pdf

This book details a philosophical approach to Freemasonry and a Freemasonic approach to philosophy. It provides a system of esoteric work, interdisciplinary education, philosophical reflection, and social and political thought, and a method of understanding the reality of the world and the reality of consciousness. The actual state of Freemasonry is overtaken by inherent old conceptions, but this book looks to take Freemasonry from where it is to where it has never been. Thus, it exposes the Ritual of the “Modern and Perfecting Rite of Symbolic Masonry,” composed by the author, and it explains the ethos, the structure, and the substantive content of the Autonomous Order of the Modern and Perfecting Rite of Symbolic Masonry, of which the author is the Founder and Grand Master. The book expresses a keen longing for unifying, all-embracing knowledge and for instituting a Freemasonic system that creates, unites, and supports polymaths for the sake of knowledge and a better world order. As such, it presents a creative synthesis between Western esotericism, philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, political theory, political economy, mathematics, physics, and biology.

Author : Margaret C. Jacob
Publisher : Cornerstone Book Publishers
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : History
ISBN : 1887560742

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The Radical Enlightenment by Margaret C. Jacob Pdf

"This book chronicles those beginning events in Europe which gave Freemasons a proud heritage of freedom and fighting for it." --Jim Tresner, Ph.D., book review editor, "The Scottish Rite Journal."

Author : Ric Berman MA
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2022-01-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781802072310

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The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry by Ric Berman MA Pdf

Following the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s and in the wake of its connections to the scientific Enlightenment, 'Free and Accepted' Masonry became part of Britain's national profile and the largest and most influential of Britain's extensive clubs and societies. The organisation did not evolve naturally from the mediaeval guilds and religious orders that pre-dated it but was reconfigured radically by a largely self-appointed inner core at London's most influential lodge, the Horn Tavern. Freemasonry became a vehicle for the expression of their philosophical and political views, and the 'Craft' attracted an aspirational membership across the upper middling and gentry. Through an examination of previously unexplored primary documentation, Foundations contributes to an understanding of contemporary English political and social culture and explores how Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted the interests of the Hanoverian establishment and connected the metropolitan and provincial elites. The book explores social networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament, the learned and professional societies, and the magistracy, and provides pen portraits of the key individuals who spread the Masonic message. Foundations and Schism (Sussex Academic, 2013), have been described as 'the most important books on English Freemasonry published in recent times', providing 'a precise, social context for the invention of English Freemasonry'. Berman's analysis throws a new and original light on the formation and development of what rapidly became a national and international phenomenon.

Author : Robert Peter
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 3043 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2016-12-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317275428

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British Freemasonry, 1717-1813 by Robert Peter Pdf

Freemasonry was a major cultural and social phenomenon and a key element of the Enlightenment. It was to have an international influence across the globe. This primary resource collection charts a key period in the development of organized Freemasonry culminating in the formation of a single United Grand Lodge of England. The secrecy that has surrounded Freemasonry has made it difficult to access information and documents about the organization and its adherents in the past. This collection is the result of extensive archival research and transcription and highlights the most significant themes associated with Freemasonry. The documents are drawn from masonic collections, private archives and libraries worldwide. The majority of these texts have never before been republished. Documents include rituals (some written in code), funeral services, sermons, songs, certificates, an engraved list of lodges, letters, pamphlets, theatrical prologues and epilogues, and articles from newspapers and periodicals. This collection will enable researchers to identify many key masons for the first time. It will be of interest to students of Freemasonry, the Enlightenment and researchers in eighteenth-century studies. Includes more than 550 texts - Many texts are published here by special arrangement with the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London - Contains over 260 pages of newly transcribed manuscript material - Documents are organized thematically - Full editorial apparatus including general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes and explanatory endnotes - A consolidated index appears in the final volume

Author : Joseph A. Leo Lemay
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015012893924

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Deism, Masonry, and the Enlightenment by Joseph A. Leo Lemay Pdf

Author : James Stevens Curl
Publisher : Overlook Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Architecture
ISBN : UOM:39015029098830

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The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry by James Stevens Curl Pdf

This fascinating study details the Masonic society's influence on the modern American and European aesthetic world. Although Masonry dates from the Middle Ages, its influence in art and architecture reached its peak in the neoclassical architecture of the 18th century. Architectural history professor Curl (Leicester Polytechnic, England) also looks at the way Masonic ideas have permeated other art forms from literature to the performing arts. The 190 exceptional illustrations (including 11 color plates) are accompanied by detailed, informative captions, and a glossary of terms explains the complex ideas and iconography of Freemasonry. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR