Hey everyone, I am writing a research paper on Mormonism and Freemasonry. Does anyone know of any particular books, or valid sources of information I could use?

With some trepidation, I hereby respectfully submit the following suggestion. Years ago I did some investigation into the same issue, and I came to believe that the place to start is to understand the intimate relationship between Freemasonry and 19th century American society. I can only think of one author's name- Alan Pinkerton (yes, that Alan Pinkerton), who infiltrated the New York Firefighters' Union and discovered room-dividing veils, secret names and Three Distinct Taps. In the 19th century, Freemasonry was everywhere in America. I would suggest you go to a library and learn why it was endemic. The upshot is that particiption in Freemasonry at the time was almost expected.

As far as the origins of Freemasonry, that is somewhat problematical, because it is by definition open-ended. Over the years different factions of Freemasonry incorporated just about every ancient and mysterious concept that crossed their path, so that it is first necessary to try to understand why people would be fascinated by such things One example is ancient Egypt. Did Freemasonry start in ancient Egypt? Well, no. But does current Freemasonry include lots of ancient Egypt stuff? Absolutely. Why?

Stay away from LDS authors if you want any sort of objective exegesis. They start with the conviction that the LDS endowment comes straight from God, and the mental gymnastics just mushroom. It started in Solomon's temple. Except that it started with Adam. Except it was revealed brand new to Joseph Smith. And so on. Trying to get a straight answer from faithful LDS members is a fool's errand.

I hope this helps a little bit. I look forward to learning more about your study.

I became a master mason just last month. I had always been interested and found out one of my best friends was a mason. Over the last year I started going to events and I finally joined. The similarities are crazy.

I'd love to see your research paper when you've finished.

theviking

Having been a Master Mason and a 32 degree Scottish Rite for almost twenty years, I welcome you to our fraternity.

I'm pleased you are happy with your choice to join. I hope that your experience in masonry will be as fulfilling as mine has been.

Best wishes always,

Templar

Thanks Templar! Last night we had our end-of-year banquet before the lodge goes dark in the summer. It was very inspirational.

I stopped going to church several years ago and when I started getting interested in freemasonry again, I decided to go directly to the source and visit the lodge in downtown Boston instead of going on the internet. I'm definitely glad I did.

++

try this


http://packham.n4m.org/mason-endow.htm

The obvious ones are D. Michael Homer, E. Cecil McGavin and Anthony W. Ivins. I also seem to remember a fellow named Hogan who was a Utah Mason & Mormon and wrote a lot. Then there's a hostile book by S.H. Goodwin which is actually pretty good. You can get reprints online.

Personally, I think most of these authors put too much stock in the esoteric connection. Forget about Hiram and Solomon's temple and medieval tradesmen, that's all poppycock. I like to look at it from an anthropological point of view (ritual studies).

I found these two extremely useful and very engaging (probably dates me a bit, I haven't kept up):

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520236752

http://books.google.nl/books/about/Ritual_and_Religion_in_the_Making_of_Hum.html?id=8NLm78cziU4C&redir_esc=y

Good luck!

Here’s some from a Masonic point-of-view:


This one is from an RLDS historical website:

http://www.academia.edu/9119146/_Irregularities_in_the_Work_of_Nauvoo_Lodge_Mormonism_Freemasonry_and_Conflicting_Interests_on_the_Illinois_Frontier_

And these two are off of Anti-Mormon websites:

http://www.shields-research.org/General/Palmyra_Project/E_Cecil_McGavin/Mormonism_and_Masonry/12Chap08.PDF


http://signaturebookslibrary.org/mormons-and-freemasonry/

Listen to this mormon stories http://mormonstories.org/mormon-stories-podcast-005-masonry-and-mormonism-and-interview-with-greg-kearney/