Foreword
Once again, this issue of Ritual, Secrecy and Civil Society takes us on a journey through time and space.
The "Legend of the Vault", so important in all kind of Freemasonries, illustrates a very important process: the way Freemasonry has drawn and reformulated classical themes from the Judeo-Christian tradition, especially in its esoteric aspects.
The "Deputy Inspectors General" played a great role in the prehistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Brent Morris offers us an analysis of this group of 79 Masons who, between 1762 and 1801, laid the foundations of the system of high degrees most widespread in the world.
Freemasonry is secret ... but in the middle of the 19th century it meets this new extraordinary technique: photography. A few years ago David Peabody had pleaded for a history of Masonic photography. The discovery of an astonishing Masonic daguerreotype is a contribution to this research project.
In many countries, Freemasonry has been a vector of liberal ideas. In Russia, it was only able to flourish in the short period framed by two authoritarian regimes, between 1905 and 1917. Russian Freemasonry then remained in exile for nearly half a century in memory of those few years of an almost free Russia.
American Freemasonry is rooted in its history and has a strong personality. However, American Masons regularly challenge this strong American Masonic culture by trying to launch other forms of Freemasonry in the United States. If these attempts have so far always failed, they are nevertheless very interesting because of the debates they provoke. The Grand Orient of the United States, resulting from the meeting of several groups of protesting American Masons, is the most recent of such attempts. Between 2006 and 2013, it tried to launch in North America another way of doing Freemasonry.
Pierre Mollier, Editor
Once again, this issue of Ritual, Secrecy and Civil Society takes us on a journey through time and space.
The "Legend of the Vault", so important in all kind of Freemasonries, illustrates a very important process: the way Freemasonry has drawn and reformulated classical themes from the Judeo-Christian tradition, especially in its esoteric aspects.
The "Deputy Inspectors General" played a great role in the prehistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Brent Morris offers us an analysis of this group of 79 Masons who, between 1762 and 1801, laid the foundations of the system of high degrees most widespread in the world.
Freemasonry is secret ... but in the middle of the 19th century it meets this new extraordinary technique: photography. A few years ago David Peabody had pleaded for a history of Masonic photography. The discovery of an astonishing Masonic daguerreotype is a contribution to this research project.
In many countries, Freemasonry has been a vector of liberal ideas. In Russia, it was only able to flourish in the short period framed by two authoritarian regimes, between 1905 and 1917. Russian Freemasonry then remained in exile for nearly half a century in memory of those few years of an almost free Russia.
American Freemasonry is rooted in its history and has a strong personality. However, American Masons regularly challenge this strong American Masonic culture by trying to launch other forms of Freemasonry in the United States. If these attempts have so far always failed, they are nevertheless very interesting because of the debates they provoke. The Grand Orient of the United States, resulting from the meeting of several groups of protesting American Masons, is the most recent of such attempts. Between 2006 and 2013, it tried to launch in North America another way of doing Freemasonry.
Pierre Mollier, Editor
