How Freemasonry Wrote Its Ancient History
In 1723, James Anderson helped give Freemasonry a printed ancient past. Explore how the Old Charges, biblical genealogy and the authority of print shaped the fraternity’s identity—and why an institutional origin story is not proof of historical descent.
Why Solomon’s Temple Matters to Freemasonry
Why does Solomon’s Temple stand at the center of Freemasonry? Explore how biblical architecture, Hiram Abiff and eighteenth-century ritual gave the fraternity a symbolic setting for moral instruction—not proof of ancient descent.
Where Did Freemasonry Come From?
Freemasonry did not begin all at once in 1717. Its roots lie in medieval building guilds, Scottish lodge records, early ritual texts, and the later rise of Grand Lodge organization. This article traces how those strands came together, and why Freemasonry came to imagine itself as far older than its modern institutions.