Book Review, Sunday, September 30, 2012: The Hiram Key

Madame L doesn't recommend this book for its so-called facts. She's reviewing it here so that her Dear Readers will know enough about it to avoid it, even though the title sounds interesting and the cover is fascinating, with a couple of Masonic symbols surrounding a crucifix. (Madame L confessed she bought the book, for 75 cents at a library sale, for that cover. It's also available at Amazon.com, used, but don't waste your money. If you want to borrow it from Madame L, strictly for laughs, let her know, and she'll send it to you.)

The authors, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, are both Freemasons. They claim that Masonic legends explain much that is left out of the Old and New Testaments while shedding light, and contradicting, much of canonical scripture. 

The authors write in the introduction:  "At the center of Masonic lore is a character called Hiram Abif who, according to a story told to every Freemason, was murdered almost three thousand years ago at the building of King Solomon’s Temple. This man's ... role as the builder of King Solomon’s Temple and the circumstances of his horrible death are clearly described in Masonic history, yet he is not mentioned in the Old Testament. For four of the six years we spent working on this research, we believed that Hiram Abif was a symbolic creation. But then he materialized out of the mists of time to prove himself very real indeed."

The authors also write: "In startling contrast to what is currently held to be fact, the Western world actually developed according to a very ancient philosophy encoded into a secret system that has come to the surface at three key moments over the last three thousand years."

They say they've made "the archaeological find of the century": the "secret scrolls of Jesus and his followers."

Now, Dear Readers, while these two men acknowledge they're not historians or archaeologists or journalists or linguists, that does not excuse them for not following any of the basic rules of those professions. These include, at the very least, providing sources (citations) for their claims; cross-checking their sources with other, previously accepted and verified, sources; and providing substantiation and explanation for their claims about translations and omissions.

If one is claiming that all of Jewry and Christendom have been deceived by their own scriptural texts and religious leaders for thousands of years, then one should be prepared to back op that claim with more than a mish-mash of history and lore and accusations of text-manipulation and deceit.

Messrs. Knight and Lomas have also written "Uriel's Machine: Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah's Flood and the Dawn of Civilization." 

According to the publisher's blurb about this book: "Uriel's Machine proves ancient Europeans not only survived the 7640 B.C. flood, but developed a highly advanced civilization dedicated to predicting and preparing for future meteoric impacts. Building an international network of sophisticated astronomical observatories, these ancient astronomers created accurate solar, lunar, and planetary calendars, measured the diameter of the Earth, and precisely predicted comet collisions years in advance. This was the true purpose of megalithic structures such as Stonehenge. In 3150 B.C., the ancients' predictions proved true, and their device -- Uriel's Machine -- allowed the reconstruction of civilization in a shattered world."

Madame L trusts this blurb will suffice her Dear Readers who had not yet realized what a pile of  irredeemable garbage the authors were peddling.