The Masonic Book Club, Vol. 17A: Ancient and Early Medieval Historical Characters in Freemasonry

— —

John H Van Gorden

The Masonic Book Club, Vol. 17A

Name: The Masonic Book Club, Vol. 17A
Price: 35.49 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781637235805

Ancient and Early Medieval Historical Characters in Freemasonry

John H Van Gorden

$41.95 $35.49

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Westphalia Press
22 April 2026

History; Ethics & moral philosophy; Freemasonry & secret societies

Summary
Details

Freemasonry is a moral philosophy based upon ethical principles. It teaches those principles and demonstrates them through ritual and dramas that illustrate the practical application of its doctrines. In developing these illustrative rituals and dramas, Freemasonry has relied upon two main sources, the Holy Bible and secular history.

As the basic principles of Freemasonry arise from Biblical teaching, incidents in the Bible and the lives of Biblical figures provide the main sources of material for the ritual and dramas. In an earlier work, BIBLICAL CHARACTERS IN FREEMASONRY, the author considered the relationship between Freemasonry and the Bible. But Freemasonry is not a religion and its ethical teachings are not confined to those that arise directly or inevitably from the Bible. To illustrate these-and to augment the Biblical themes, as well-Freemasonry turns to secular history for examples.

Through these examples from secular history, Freemasonry attempts to develop themes not found in the Bible or not elaborated upon there. These themes do not run counter to Biblical teaching, but, instead, are developed within the moral and ethical parameters set by the Bible. These themes, therefore, augment or elaborate upon Biblical teaching. They remain consistent with that teaching, although they are not necessarily identical with it.

Any consideration of the relationship between Freemasonry and history requires some discussion of the nature of history, the theories applied to it and the methods of its study and application. That discussion must necessarily be very limited. An exhaustive examination in these areas would require many volumes. In fact, a vast number of volumes have been written by historians, not on the subject matter of their field, but in trying to define that field and to explain why they bother to study it.

By: John H Van Gorden
Imprint: Westphalia Press
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 12mm
Weight: 295g
ISBN: 9781637235805
ISBN 10: 1637235801
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 22 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active