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Title: Freemasonry
Series: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Andreas Onnerfors
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 143
Words: 42.5K
Series: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Andreas Onnerfors
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 143
Words: 42.5K
Synopsis:
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From Kobo.com
Freemasonry
is one of the oldest and most widespread voluntary organisations in
the world. Over the course of three centuries men (and women) have
organized themselves socially and voluntarily under its name. With a
strong sense of liberation, moral enlightenment, cosmopolitan
openness and forward-looking philanthropy, freemasonry has attracted
some of the sharpest minds in history and has created a strong
platform for nascent civil societies across the globe. With the
secrecy of internally communicated knowledge, the clandestine
character of organization, and the enactment of rituals and the
elaborate use of symbols, freemasonry has also opened up feelings of
distrust, as well as allegations of secretiveness and conspiracy.
This Very Short Introduction introduces the inner activities of
freemasonry, and the rituals, symbols and practices. Looking at the
development of the organizational structure of masonry from the local
to the global level, Andreas Önnerfors considers perceptions of
freemasonry from the outside world, and navigates through the
prevalent fictions and conspiracy theories. He also discusses how
freemasonry has from its outset struggled with issues of exclusion
based upon gender, race and religion, despite promoting tolerant
openness and inclusion. Finally Önnerfors shines a light on the
rarely discussed but highly compelling history of female agency in
masonic and para-masonic orders.
My
Thoughts:
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Sigh. Another egghead who isn't writing to the layman but to fellow
academians already familiar with terminology that is regularly used
instead of plain english. For feth's sake, why is the word
“sacerdotal” used? You know who uses words likes “sacerdotal”?
People who write papers for a living that only other people who ALSO
write papers for a living read. Custard. This is seriously annoying.
And the narrow minded UK-centric focus simply highlights the Ivory
Tower Parasitism of the people who are writing these.
Other than the usual rant and complaint, this was actually pretty
good. I think it helped that this was a concrete subject and so
Onnerfors couldn't weasel out of doing his job. He actually wrote
about Freemasonry. Of course, he bitched and moaned the entire time
because certain Lodges were explicitly Men Only and had that in their
rules, but considering that mixed gender and Women Only Lodges (the
name for a local club of freemasons) were started only 50 years after
the official founding of freemasonry, well, Onnerfors comes across
more as a pissant whiner about gender issues than any sort of
“expert” on Freemasonry. For some random reason I keep wanting to
call the author Onnersford.
So despite Onnerfors doing his best to obfuscate the subject and talk
about gender roles, I was able to learn a smidgeon. That qualifies
this particular book as a smashing success in the VSI line up.
Freemasonry doesn't have a central worldwide committee running
things. Of course, that is what they want you to believe. But after
watching the movie National Treasure, I learned the truth.
Free Masons run the world behind the scenes and use people like
Onnerfors to blow smoke for them. /sarcasm.
And yes, I am going to keep on reading these books.
★★☆☆½
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