Fyrste Prince Hall-storloge anerkjend i Norden

På grunn av hendingar tidleg i USA si historie har det utvikla seg ein parallell storlogestruktur innan dei nord-amerikanske statane, der medlemmane i hovudsak er sett saman av frimurarar med afro-amerikansk bakgrunn. Denne rørsla vert gjerne kalla Prince Hall, etter den fyrste mørkhuda amerikanaren som vart innvia i 1775. Systemet har i dag omlag 4500 loger, fordelt på 45 sjølvstendige jurisdiksjonar, og med over 300 000 medlemmer.

Prince Hall-logene har alltid operert på regulær måte, men har av ulike årsakar ikkje vert anerkjende av mainstream-frimureriet. Dei siste ti åra har vi imidlertid sett ei gledeleg endring i dette spørsmålet, og mange regulære storloger i USA har no anerkjend Prince Hall-motparten sin innan same stat, og deretter gjerne fleire andre. Andre storloger i andre deler av verda har deretter fylgd etter.

Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina ser ut til å vere den av desse storlogene som mest aktivt har bede andre storloger om anerkjenning. Tradisjonelt startar ein slik prosess ved at den yngste storlogen vender seg til den eldste, men det ser ut til at North Carolina-brørne ikkje tar dette så alvorleg. I alle høve har dei på forespørsel blitt anerkjende av stologene både i Sverige og Finland, sjølv om sistnemnde ikkje vart grunnlagd før i 1924. Det er derfor grunn til å tru at Danmark, Noreg og Island har fått same forespørselen, og det er berre å vone at frimurarordnane i desse landa fylgjer Finland og Sverige sitt døme.

Slutter som frimurer for å bli biskop i England

Church Times meldte i forrige ukes utgave at erkebiskopen av Canterbury har bedt presten Jonathan Baker om å revurdere sitt losjemedlemsskap før han innsettes som biskop til Ebbsfleet. Barker, som inntil nylig fungerte som Assistant Grand Chaplain i United Grand Lodge of England, ser ikke noen motsetning mellom frimurermedlemsskap og oppgaven som prest, og formulerer seg godt og presist om saken:

Had I ever encountered anything in Freemasonry in­compatible with my Christian faith, I would, of course, have resigned at once. On the contrary, Free­masonry is a secular organisation, wholly supportive of faith, and not an alternative to, or substitute for, it.

Gjennom samtalene med erkebiskop Rowan Williams har Barker likevel kommet til at han vil frasi seg medlemskapet. Han understreker imidlertid at dette skyldes the particular charism of episcopal ministry and the burden that ministry bears og at han ikke vil at noen skal kunne sette spørsmålstegn ved prioriteringene hans som biskop. Church Times har også en spørreundersøkelse om saken på nettsidene sine, og så langt har 96% av 12636 personer svart Yes på spørsmålet om frimureri er kompatibelt med kristendommen (Is Freemasonry compatible with Christianity?). Oppløftende!

Flere frimurerhemmeligheter

Les fleire striper …

Frimurernes hemmeligheter

Les fleire striper …

Frimurerisk forskningssymposium i Oslo

Forskningslogen Niels Treschow avholder forskningssymposium lørdag 17. og søndag 18. september 2011. Konferansen finner sted i Stamhuset i Oslo. Symposiet vil by på noen av Nordens fremste frimurerforskere fra inn- og utland. Denne helgen vil det være mulig å oppleve mange av nordens fremste frimurerforskere foredra over et mangfold av frimureriske emner.

Les mer …

ICHF

International Conference on the History of Freemasonry blir arrangert for tredje gong denne helga ved George Washington Masonic Memorial i Alexandria, Washington DC. Dette er den største internasjonale samlinga for det frimureriske forskningsmiljøet. Sjølv hadde eg ikkje høve til å reise i år på grunn av storhendingar i familien, men deltakarar eg kjenner seier at talet på påmeldte er skuffande lågt i år. 

Programmet ser slik ut:

Friday May 27th, 2011Plenary lecture 1: Professor Steven Bullock: The First Capital Cornerstone Laying: Masonry, Alexandria, the Nation, and the

• Freemasonry as a Factor in American Society

1a. Daniel Egel, USA
Did Freemasonry Help Solve the Common Good Problem? An Examination of the Historical Expansion of American Education in the Western United States.

1b. Brent Morris, USA
American Masonic Membership Trends

1c. John Belton, UK
An Ungolden Age of Fraternalism?: A Comparison of Craft Masonic Membership in Confederate and Union States 1850-1900.

• Freemasonry and Religion I

2a. Klaus-Jürgen Grün, Germany
Celebrating Nature. Freemasonry and its Contribution to the Secularization of Religion

2b. Jan Snoek, Germany
The Female Case: The Religious Dimension of the Adoption Rite

2c. Martin Papenheim, Germany
Albert Pike‘s and Eugène Goblet d‘Alviella‘s Reforms of the Scottish Rite and the Theory of Religion in the late 19th Century

2d. Hans-Hermann Hoffmann, Germany
“Christian”, “humanitarian” and “reformist” positions in conflict: The religious discourse of German Freemasons from “Vormärz” up to the republic of Weimar 1840-1933

• Mozart and Freemasonry

3a. Neva Krysteva, Bulgaria
Mozart: The Contrapuntal Temple in the last Symphony

3b. Ruben Gurevich, Canada
Does Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” have a “meaning”?

3c. Gabriel Mancuso, Italy
Eine kleine Freymaurer-Kantate (A Short Masonic Cantata). Genesis, development and musical characteristics of the last work

• Freemasonry in the Far East

4a. Pauline Chakmakjian, UK
General MacArthur & The Grand Lodge of Japan

4b. Teodoro Kalaw IV, Phillippines
The Genealogy of Philippine Freemasonry

• New approaches to British Freemasonry I

5a. Susan Sommers, USA
The Apotheosis of Thomas Dunckerley

5b. Diane Clements, UK
Working at Freemasons’ Hall 1850-1920

5c. James W. Daniel, UK
Anglo-American Masonic relations 1871-90

• Freemasonry and Religion II

6a. Peter Paul Fuchs, USA
From the Ethos of the Temple: Masonic Contexts of Theism, Deism and Atheism

6b. Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, USA
Of Mormons and Masons: Freemasonry’s Craft Rituals of Initiation and the Latter-Day Saint Temple Ceremonies

• Perceptions of Freemasonry

7a. Henrik Bogdan, Sweden
Freemasonry and Popular Culture

7b. Carolyn Bain, USA
Masonic Laureateship: Performance, Identity, and Transformation

• Freemasonry in Mexico I

8a. Guillermo Izabal, USA, Chair
Deconstructing Herencias Secretas: Freemasonry, Politics, and Society in Mexico

8b. Paul Rich, USA
“Herencias Secretas” and the Extraordinary Varieties of Contemporary Mexican Freemasonry

8c. David Merchant, USA
Answered and Unanswered questions in ’Herencias Secretas’ Discussant: Guillermo de los Reyes, USA

• New approaches to British Freemasonry II

9a. David Harrison, UK
The Lymm Freemasons: A new insight into early Freemasonry and the Warrington Lodge of Elias Ashmole

9b. Róbert Péter, Hungary
Freemasonry in the 18th-century London press – a quantitative analysis

9c. Harriet Sandvall, UK
‘The Accomplishment of so great a Design…’ The architecture and interior design of the first purpose-built Masonic hall in England

• Impacts of Freemasonry I

10a. Richard W. Van Doren, USA
Cry Fowle: The Life, Times, and Masonic Influence of Henry Fowle of Boston

10b. Hilary Anderson Stelling,
USA “What I am today”: Benjamin Emmons’ Masonic Gift

• Freemasonry in the Hapsburg Empire

11a. Martin Javor, Slovakia
The Enlightenment in Practice: Freemasonry in Upper Hungary in the Eighteenth Century

11b. Alice Reiniger, Austria
An Analysis of the Draskovich Observance, a Freemasonry Document of the Late Eighteenth Century from Croatia.

11c. Eszter Gantner, Germany
Freemasonry and modernism? The influence of the freemasonry

• Freemasonry in Mexico II: History, Literature and Culture in Mexican Freemasonry.

12a. María Eugenia Vázquez Semadeni, Mexico.
Public debate about Freemasonry, United States 1780-1810, México 1820-1830.

12b. Carlos Francisco Martínez Moreno, Mexico.
American Freemasonry in México during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century

12c. Guillermo de los Reyes USA
Freemasonry, Folklore, and Cultural Production in a Socio- Literary Context: The impact of literature and folklore in Mexican and American Masonry

• Plenary lecture 2: Arturo de Hoyos: The Battle to Control High Grade Masonry in the United States

• Book and journal presentations

Young Researchers get together, presentation of ongoing research projects (organised by young researchers panel)

Saturday May 28th, 2011

• Plenary lecture 3: Professor Chernoh Sesay, Jr: ‘All things here are frail and changeable’: The Social and Political Origins of Prince Hall Freemasonry in the late 18th century.

• Early American Freemasonry I

13a. John Wade, UK
Public Masonic Processions in the Thirteen American Colonies

13b. John B. Slifko, USA
Dolley Madison and the Freemason Benjamin Latrobe in the Making of the President’s House, Washington City, and beyond

13c. Roger Burt, UK
Freemasonry and the Gold Rushes

• Anti-freemasonry and Conservatism in Europe around 1800: lines of development

14a. Andrew McKenzie- McHarg, Germany
Visions of Conspiracy: the Anti- Masonry of Former Masons in late 18th century Germany

14b. Damien Amblard, France
The Early Writings of a Famous Anti-Mason: Politics in the Writings of the Abbé Barruel, 1788-1797.

14c. Claus Oberhauser, Austria
John Robison and his ‘Proofs of a Conspiracy’

• Freemasonry in the Middle East

15a. Stephan Schmid, Lebanon
Freemasonry during the Arab Nahda, 1860 – 1914: A New Reading of the Evolution of the Arabic Printing Press and the Modern Arab Intellectual Elite.

15b. Thierry Millet, France
The rise of American Masonry in French Levant

15c. Saïd Chaaya, France
The “Nahda” in the 19th century Lebanon and its relationship with the Masonic Lodges: The Intellectual and Cultural
Renaissance, an Oriental “Aufklärung”

• Aspects of Fraternalism

16a. James Jack, UK
Free Gardeners and Freemasons – A comparison

16b. Bob James, Australia
A Response to Snoek: Fraternal Societies in Australia, 1788- 2010.

16c. William D. Moore, USA
Darius Wilson, Confidence Games, and the Limits of American Fraternal Respectability, 1875-1915

• Session 17: Early American Freemasonry II

17a. Alan Capps, USA
The First Band of Brothers – George Washington and the Freemasons of Alexandria Lodge No. 22

17b. Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch, USA
’Our Illustrious Brother George Washington’: Fraternal Orders, Public Space, and Civic Brotherhood in Antebellum Virginia

• Dynamic Freemasonry in 18th and early 19th century Lancashire

18a. John Astbury, UK
Scottish Freemasons in Manchester and the USA 1800- 1830

18b. David Hawkins, UK
Relationships within and between lodges around Bolton in Georgian England

18c. John Belton, UK
The Royal Arch within early Lancashire Masonry

• Freemasonry in Latin America

19a. Miguel Guzmán-Stein, Costa Rica
Woman, Freemasonry and the Order of the Eastern Star in Latin America. The times of Andres Cassard (1865-1875)

19b. Ricardo Martinéz Esquivel, Costa Rica
Mystical sociability: Freemasons and Theosophists in the organization of the Co- Freemasonry and the Liberal Catholic Church in Costa Rica during the 1920s

• Contradictions of Fraternalism: Practices of Inclusion and Exclusion I

20a. Panel A Inclusion: Community Formation and Social Action
Kristofer Allerfeldt, UK & Jeffrey Tyssen, Belgium

20b. Jeffrey Tyssens
Ghost Town Brotherhood: Virginia Fraternities in West American Mining Towns, 1879-1912

20c. Anaïs Maes
Brothers in Temperance: Good Templar Lodges in Belgium and the Netherlands (Early 20th Century)

• Early American Freemasonry III

21a. Michael S. Kaulback, USA
A Scottish Lodge in the Grand Jurisdiction of Massachusetts

21b. Todd Wm. Kissam, USA
A Founder’s Faith: The Contributions and Example of Illustrious Brother Frederick Dalcho, original member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

21c. Hannah M. Lane, USA
Maine and New Brunswick freemasons and contested political geographies, 1770 – 1870

• Women and Freemasonry

22a. James Allen, USA
Freemason Women and Modern Civic Life in George Sand’s ‘La Comtesse de Rudolstadt’ (1843)

22b. N.N., N.A.
The Reverend, The Bluestocking, and Freemasons Behaving Badly: An Exploration and Close Reading of “A Series of Letters on Freemasonry” by “a Lady of Boston”

22c. Karen Kidd, USA
Co-Masonry’s Place in the History of North American Freemasonry

• Impacts of Freemasonry II

23b. Shawn E. Eyer, USA
The Degree Lectures of Waller Rodwell Wright: A Critical Analysis of the Ritual Drafts of a Member of William Preston’s Inner Circle

• Contradictions of Fraternalism: Practices of Inclusion and Exclusion II

Panel B Exclusion: Racism and Denominational Closure

24a. Adam Geoffrey Kendall, USA
The Masonic Whitewash Committee of California: American Anti-Catholicism, Freemasonry and the Knights of Columbus in the 1910s

24b. Kristofer Allerfeldt, UK
The Ku Klux Klan and Fraternalism in the 1920s.

24c. Joesphe G. Stiles, USA Using Progressive-era Ku Klux Klan Activity in Kansas to Understand Changes in Freemasonry and Similar Fraternal Organizations

• Plenary lecture 4: Robert Cooper: Scottish Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies

• Gala Dinner

Sunday May 29th, 2011

• Plenary round table: Freemasonry, gender and history.
Chaired by Andrew Prescott, with Margaret Jacob, Cecile Revauger and James Smith Allen.

• Afro-American Freemasonry

25a. Jose O. Diaz, USA
“A Long Vexed Question:” The Alpha Affair, Black Masonry, and Northern Reconstruction.

25b. Jeff Croteau, USA
Black Abolitionists in White Lodges: Richard P.G. Wright and Theodore Sedgwick Wright

25c. Stephen Hill Sr., USA
John Wesley Dobbs

• Irish Freemasonry and its Impact I

26a. Patrick J. Flynn, Ireland
Freemasonry in North America, the Irish Influence

26b. Petri Mirala, Finland
Irish Masonry: a key to wider Atlantic networks?

• Performing the Political: Speech and Song as Ideological Vehicles in 19th Century Belgian Freemasonry

27a. Jimmy Koppen, Belgium
Agapè and the Polis: Table Rhetoric and Political Mobilization of Belgian Lodges in the 19th Century

27b. Anaïs Maes, Belgium
Informal or Official? The Lodge’s “Conférences” and “Morceaux d’Architecture” and their Political Message, 1798- 1872

27c. David Vergauwen, Belgium Masonic Songs: Themes and Political Discourse in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

27d. NN, N.A.
Music at the Cradle: Belgian Masonic Music and the Birth of a State (1830-1865)

• Central and Eastern European Freemasonry

28a. Guilia Delogu, Italy
Masonic lexicon and themes in Italian and French poetry, from the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Age

28b. Ljubinka Toseva Karpowicz, Croatia The Role of Masonic Lodges
Sirius and Italia Nuova in the Political History of Rijeka (1901-1926)

• Material Culture of Freemasonry

29a. Aimee E. Newell, USA Sparkling through Time: Paul Revere’s Masonic Jewels

29b. Heather K. Calloway
Use of regalia in the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

29c. Helge Björn Horrisland, Norway
The Roosevelt Picture – an episode of restitution

• Irish Freemasonry and its Impact II

30a. Breandán Mac Suibhne, USA
The Freemasons and the Fannet Ghost: An Episode in Irish Cultural History, 1786–1822

30b Geraldine Stubbs, UK
Conviviality, Sociability: Fraternity & Commotions, Ructions & Shenanigans: Freemasonry in Ballybay 1746 – 1843

• Eighteenth century Russian freemasonry

31a. Natalie Bayer, USA
Mind, Matter, Soul and a Mechanical Chess-Playing Turk: Some Cartesian Elements in Russian Eighteenth-Century Masonic Thought

31b. Tatiana Artyemeva, Russia
Philosophy of History in Russian Eighteenth-Century Masonry

• Freemasonry and Music

32a. India D’Avignon, USA
Freemasons Franklin, Mozart, Mesmer and the Glass Armonica

32b. David Vergauwen, Belgium
Making Wagner happen

• Plenary lecture 5: Dr. Andreas Önnerfors: Researching the History of Freemasonry: 3×3 ways forward!

The Philalethes Society

The Philalethes Society kallar seg det eldste frittståande selskapet frimurerisk forskning.  Sidan 1946 har selskapet utgjeve bladet Philalethes, og i mange år var dette eit vel ansett tidsskrift. Diverre vart standarden svært låg ein periode på 90-talet, men dei siste åra åra har ein gjort ein innsats for å få bladet attende til gamle høgder. Med Shawn Eyer som redaktør, utviding til 44 sider pr utgåve, og ny nettstad på plass, er ein på veg til å klare dette.

Ein får bladet tilsendt ved å bli medlem i The Philalethes Society . Dette kostar $60 i året om ein er busett utanfor USA, og inkluderer fire utgåver av Philalethes. Dessuten får ein andre føremoner, men berre abonnementet gjer at eit medlemsskap er verdt prisen.

House of the Temple

I følge forlaget har den norske utgåva av The Lost Symbol (Det tapte symbol) seld meir enn 160 000 eksemplar. Det er sikkert riktig, sjølv om påstanden om at

Dan Brown innfridde! Anmelderne jublet, og Brown befestet sin stilling som verdens beste spenningsforfatter

nok må vurderast meir som marknadsføring enn objektiv sanning. Det er også ute ei illustrert utgåve, men for informasjon om The House of the Temple i Washington D.C. vil eg heller tilrå artikkelen The Secrets of Heredom i Scottish Rite Journal.

Nå har han 18 963 brødre

Aftenposten hadde lørdag 12. mars 2011 en god artikkel om veksten innen det norske frimureriet.

Sjå artikkelen her …

The Red Triangle: The History of the Persecution of Freemasons

Ny bok av Robert Cooper bør vere verdt å få med seg:

The Red Triangle uncovers the reality of this persecution of Freemasons from its first manifestation soon after people became aware of their existence in the 17th century. Taking a historical approach the author examines why attacks on Freemasonry began to appear from many quarters, who were involved? Why? What effect did their attack have on all concerned and how successful were the Freemasons in their attempt to defend themselves.