Rating: 
Summary: Good information, aside from the Speculation
Review: Hiram Key has been praised and scorned - nobody is neutral! My read is that the two authors were, at the time they started the project that led to the book, simply Masons who wanted more answers. And they happened to have the time and resources to go to an amazing list of sources, and find out! They are not professional historians, nor Biblical scholars, nor philosophers, so it is a mistake to apply scholarly criteria to their writing. But they are searchers and, I believe, honest observers. My point: Even if a reader dismisses every bit of speculation and discounts every second-hand source quoted, there is still plenty of good information here, and lots to think about. They may not have "got it right" all the time, but the firshand, even innocent, reporting of the artifacts and information from the Egyptian Museum, Rosslyn, and Israel are helpful data points for wider research amd questioning. Some of the points of history are well-made, and explain the elaborate revisionist history of some religious writers - just by adding a few long-concealed facts! Relax and give them a chance, and Brothers Knight and Lomas will challenge your thinking! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Freemasonry well explored
Review: I have been a Freemason for 50 years and this book is the best account of masonry's past that I have ever read.
It is so logical and the facts fit to what I have known. I am so grateful for the author's in put and study on these many subjects. What a enlightment. Many, many thanks. So now we see something while looking in a mud puddle beyhond mud.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Provocative, Evocative
Review: I knew nothing of Freemasonry before reading this book; I can't even remember what prompted me to read it in the first place. But no matter, because it is a fascinating piece of archaeological mystery writing. The authors seek to discover the origin of masonic ritual; and along the way the reader learns about the birth of middle eastern civilization with the Sumerians, the nature of king-making in ancient Egypt, the origin of the Jewish people, a very alternative (and provocative) description of the nature of Jesus's ministry, and the construction of what has become Christianity by the earliest Roman Christians. This book does not seem to be meant to promote freemasonry, so you won't be pummeled with masonic text. The function of the masonic text and ritual in this book is to tie together aspects of mid-eastern history and archaeology (and relevant portions of Celtic British Isles history) in a unique way.
Rating:
Summary: Rereading after the Da Vinci Code
Review: I returned to reread The Hiram Key, after recently reading the Da Vinci Code was amazed how much of the background to the plot this book sets out. I have long been a fan of Christopher Knight, since I heard him speak a few years ago, and read and enjoyed this book when it first came out.
It remains a really good exploration of Freemasonry and its relationship to the Christian Church and for insights into the secrets of Rosslyn I think it remains the best book around.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and believeable
Review: I strongly recommend anyone the least bit interested in the topic of this book to read it and make their own judgement. It is not `conspiracy theory' written by a couple of flakey dudes with websites about aliens, rather it is a significant and serious work about history. For those that may not know, it is not a novel and is wholly based on significant research by the authors. Though obviously speculation is involved, the subject nature is in any case whatsoever intriguing, interesting and indeed, fascinating to say the least. I personally find its ultimate conclusion to be about as strongly supported by fact as could possibly be expected, which is that the Knights Templar had something valuable to hide and that they did so under the foundation of Rosslin Chapel in Scotland and that the Knights Templar `became' a new organization known as Freemasons/Freemasonry.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the evidence?
Review: I was frustrated all the way through this book. The authors make a number of bold assertions, and while I support their investigative spirit -- they do not consistently back up their claims with convincing evidence. The authors believe that Jesus was a member of the Qumran community of Essenes. Yet, they ignore clear differences between the teachings of Jesus as presented in the gospels versus the ideas of the Essenes as documented in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I agree that Jesus might have been had contacts with the Essenes. Yet, a comparison of the gospels and scrolls shows substantial differences. The Essenes were fanatical, elitist, xenophobic, and may also have been political zealots. Textual evidence from the scrolls confirms the elitism: women were not allowed to participate in the Qumran community, nor were lepers, nor other individuals with disfigurements, nor were the elderly nor the young. By contrast, Jesus was a universalist. He welcomed everyone. If the late scholar Yigal Yadin is correct, Bethany, where Jesus spent a considerable amount of time, was a leper's colony. Jews in general, including the Essenes, believed that leprosy was a curse from God, punishment for past wickedness. The fact that Jesus associated with lepers and other misfits, outcasts and disfigured individuals shows that Jesus spoke out against the superstitious beliefs so rife in his day. This distinguished him from the Essenes. The fact that Jesus also honored women and welcomed them as disciples was no less a departure. Jesus was an innovator and a progressive -- distinctly different from mainstream Judaism and even from breakaway groups like the Essenes. The authors also boldly claim that Jesus was a zealot -- and was involved in the uprising against Rome. Yet they present not a scrap of evidence for this. Indeed, passages such as Matthew 11:10-15 show that Jesus could not have been a zealot. This is the passage about "the violent taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm" and is a critical reference to the zealots of the time. In that apocalyptic age many Jews believed that Yahweh would come down from heaven and destroy the Romans. This great apocalypse was also associated with the expected Messiah. Yet, Peter's Confession, of which the original and fullest account occurs in Mark (Mark 8:27-33), shows that the preferred name was not Messiah, but the mystical Son of Man. For a discussion see chapter 4 of my new book Gnostc Secrets of the Naassenes. The authors also believe that the medieval Templars uncovered Essene scrolls in their diggings under the Temple Mount, a preposterous idea, given that the Essenes were a breakaway sect and had absolutely nothing to do with the Temple priesthood or mainstream Judaism. The authors make important contributions toward a better understanding of the history of Freemasonry, documenting some of the ancient links, but a reader has to constantly sift through their ideas to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete rubbish...
Review: Loomis and Knight made so many logical fallacies, factual errors, false premises, errorneous conclusions and blatant contradictions in this work (it is conceived and written so dilettantishly that it doesen't even deserve to be called a book, just because it looks like one), that I wished to throw it in a garbage bin after I read the only first thirtish pages.
I wonder why they didn't care to read the Bible, if they wished to write about its content. If they have read it, they might not have made such grave factual errors.
It should be stressed that the authors of this funny paper are not scholars of any kind - one is electric engineer and the other is graphic designer. So, knowing this, one could assume the degree of validity their speculations on ancient Middle East history have.
They haven't performed any archeological excavations, they didn't find any new data, document or artifact which could expand our knowledge on history or archeology of those region. They do not speak neither latin, greek nor any of the semitic languagues. They do not read hieroglyphs.
In short - they do not know what they are talking about. Fortunately for them, their publisher are even more ignorant than they are. To paraphrase H. L. Mencken - no one has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence, the education level and common sense of the public.
Avoid this one. It's just the waste of your time. There are much better publications...even among those written on this "controversal" subject.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating History and theories
Review: My average time to read a non-fiction book such as The Hiram Key is a week or more. This book I finished in little over 48 hours though, so intriquing did I find the author's thesis. Knight and Lomas do a really detailed job of explaining the history of ancient Egypt, and the nation that was to become Israel. The research they did preparing for publication is obvious, in the footnotes and in their writing period. My favorite aspect of the book tho was when they described the casual logic of their arguments i.e "Chris discovered so and so and theorized such and such." It brings an immediacy to the book lending credence to their documentation of facts and hypotheses.
If you know any freemason's or wish to learn about their history this is a superb text drawing on sources as far back as Mose's time and before.
Is this the perfect book on templar's, freemasonry, and the history of Christianity then? Of course not. It's v ery good, but some of their theories regarding Christianity and in particular Jesus seem a little too out there, interesting speculation but they didn't convince me some of their claims were factual. The only other minor point is their persistence in claiming the scribes of the Old testament wrote it down thousands of years after events deterrioting large portions of its credibility whereas most Jewish and Christian people seem to claim that Moses was author of the first five books of the bible so although generations have passed he was witness to many events. Also if we accept Moses being the author its easy to believe the oral history was preserved enough for accurate penning of it down by him.
Overall an incredibly complex, fascinating book that teaches much, and urges reader to question roots of rituals and dogma in religion.
Rating:
Summary: Finally! Insight into the common root of Western religion.
Review: The authors' couldn't gain my attention with the first chapter. It was a personal perspective of being accepted into the initiations of Freemasonry. But what happened after that completely re-oriented my 20 years of religious understanding. Suddenly the inconsistent and unconnected truths handed down for thousands of years finally came into a unified and meaningful focus.The Hiram Key shows a consistent lineage of religion being handed down from Sumaria, through Egypt and what became Israel, through the time of Christ, the Catholic Church, the Knights Templar and modern religions. Freemasonry or its principles are clearly documented as the common thread.The story of Moses, even as it is written in the Bible, is seen for what it is and other persons in the Bible are returned to their natural human state, in contrast to supernatural beings. The myths of Christ are seen in light of the ordinary occurances of the times.And all this is well documented through the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Egyptian writings, Sumarian writings, and Freemasonry. And unlike other speculative works, the authors' even discover the resting place of what promises to be the most conclusive records of Christ's time. The Hiram Key is destined to become a milestone of modern religious understanding
Rating: 
Summary: Masonic rituals explored. But does everything match up?
Review: The authors, both masons themselves, wonder what the rituals they were taught and perform in really mean. In particular, they wonder who the fabled Hiram Abif is, a keyfigure in freemasonry. To find out, they set on a journey to see if they can find out if the legend of Hiram holds any ground, and whether this person ever really existed. They use other publications to see what the basis of freemasonry (and the catholic religion) was, using such works as the Bible, the King James Bible, numerous books written about the bible(s), the Dead Sea Scrolls, and various other works. Gradually, they discover that Christianity and the whole basis of the religion might not be as accurate as some people like to think. Their voyage takes them to Egypt, Jerusalem, Rosslyn, and a few other places. While a lot presented in this book is definately eye-opening to many who read it, at the same time, I cannot help but feel as if there's a lot that is mostly based on the author's assumptions, and their eagerness to prove their theory right. Early in the book, they seem to have drawn a conclusion, and they present their evidence in a way so the theory will be supported. Something else that ticked me off is that right at the start of the book, the authors reveal a lot that happens during the
ceremony of being raised to be a master mason. Being a mason myself and ot having experienced this yet, I can't help but feel as if somebody spoiled the end of a movie before I even saw it. While I fully understand the reason the authors needed to supply certain parts and bits of the ceremony, they could have just made scarce references to it, rather than cover all the details in the way they did. All in all, it's still an entertaining read. But you probably will feel the same way; as if the authors lost some credibility by jumping to certain conclusions.
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