Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century

Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century
Author: Dr Paul Calderwood
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472403606

By the end of the twentieth century, Freemasonry had acquired an unsavoury reputation as a secretive network of wealthy men looking out for each others’ interests. The popular view is of an organisation that, if not actually corrupt, is certainly viewed with deep mistrust by the press and wider society. Yet, as this book makes clear, this view contrasts sharply with the situation at the beginning of the century when the public’s perception of Freemasonry in Britain was much more benevolent, with numerous establishment figures (including monarchs, government ministers, archbishops and civic worthies) enthusiastically recommending Freemasonry as the key to model citizenship. Focusing particularly on the role of the press, this book investigates the transformation of the image of Freemasonry in Britain from respectability to suspicion. It describes how the media projected a positive message of the organisation for almost forty years, based on a mass of news emanating from the organisation itself, before a change in public regard occurred during the later twentieth-century. This change in the public mood, the book argues, was due primarily to Masonic withdrawal from the public sphere and a disengagement with the press. Through an examination of the subject of Freemasonry and the British press, a number of related social trends are addressed, including the decline of deference, the erosion of privacy, greater competition in the media, the emergence of more aggressive and investigative journalism, the consequences of media isolation and the rise of professional Public Relations. The book also illuminates the organisation’s collisions with nationalism, communism, and state welfare provision. As such, the study is illuminating not only for students of Freemasonry, but those with an interest in the wider social history of modern Britain.

That Religion in Which All Men Agree

That Religion in Which All Men Agree
Author: David G. Hackett
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520287606

An analysis of how Freemasonry has shaped American religious history.

Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth Century Britain

Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth Century Britain
Author: Paul Richard Calderwood
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

The following pages contain a study of the British media coverage of freemasonry in the twentieth century. They consider how and why the public image of freemasonry changed from that of a highly-respected elite organisation, at the centre of public life in 1900, to a position on the fringes, regarded by many with suspicion and disapproval in the 1990s. They focus on national newspapers only. This thesis describes how the press projected a positive message of the organisation for almost 40 years, based on a mass of news, which I believe - and show - emanated from the organisation itself (making it an unexpected pioneer in modern public relations practice). It concludes that the change of image and public regards which occurred during the twentieth century was due, mainly, to Masonic withdrawal from the public sphere. It considers - and finds wanting - the suggestion that this withdrawal was a response to Fascist persecution and it offers a number of additional explanations. Freemasonry's reluctance to engage with the media after 1939 powerfully assisted its critics, who grew in strength as a result of developments within the media and the churches. Within the media, greater competition spawned a more challenging form of journalism and accelerated the decline of deference. The rise of secularism and religious pluralism in Britain provided Christianity with increases competition and led some adherents to re-define freemasonry and treat it as a rival. "Conspiracy culture" remained strong throughout the period, rendering the secrecy of freemasonry a major handicap to public understanding. The history of freemasonry in twentieth century Britain is largely an unexplored field and, in examining the fraternity's media profile, this study also illuminates the organisation's collisions with nationalism, communism, and state welfare provision.

The Politics of Sociability

The Politics of Sociability
Author: Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2007-09-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0472115731

The first cultural and political history of German Freemasonry in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The Origins of Freemasonry

The Origins of Freemasonry
Author: Margaret C. Jacob
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2016-10-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0812294246

Can the ancestry of freemasonry really be traced back to the Knights Templar? Is the image of the eye in a triangle on the back of the dollar bill one of its cryptic signs? Is there a conspiracy that stretches through centuries and generations to align this shadow organization and its secret rituals to world governments and religions? Myths persist and abound about the freemasons, Margaret C. Jacob notes. But what are their origins? How has an early modern organization of bricklayers and stonemasons aroused so much public interest? In The Origins of Freemasonry, Jacob throws back the veil from a secret society that turns out not to have been very secret at all. What factors contributed to the extraordinarily rapid spread of freemasonry over the course of the eighteenth century, and why were so many of the era's most influential figures drawn to it? Using material from the archives of leading masonic libraries in Europe, Jacob examines masonic almanacs and pocket diaries to get closer to what living as a freemason might have meant on a daily basis. She explores the persistent connections between masons and nascent democratic movements, as each lodge set up a polity where an individual's standing was meant to be based on merit, rather than on birth or wealth, and she demonstrates, beyond any doubt, how active a role women played in the masonic movement.

Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction

Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Andreas Önnerfors
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2017-08-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0192516108

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. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Living the Enlightenment

Living the Enlightenment
Author: Margaret C. Jacob
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1991-12-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199879303

Long recognized as more than the writings of a dozen or so philosophes, the Enlightenment created a new secular culture populated by the literate and the affluent. Enamoured of British institutions, Continental Europeans turned to the imported masonic lodges and found in them a new forum that was constitutionally constructed and logically egalitarian. Originating in the Middle Ages, when stone-masons joined together to preserve their professional secrets and to protect their wages, the English and Scottish lodges had by the eighteenth century discarded their guild origins and become an international phenomenon that gave men and eventually some women a place to vote, speak, discuss and debate. Margaret Jacob argues that the hundreds of masonic lodges founded in eighteenth-century Europe were among the most important enclaves in which modern civil society was formed. In France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Britain men and women freemasons sought to create a moral and social order based upon reason and virtue, and dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality. A forum where philosophers met with men of commerce, government, and the professions, the masonic lodge created new forms of self-government in microcosm, complete with constitutions and laws, elections, and representatives. This is the first comprehensive history of Enlightenment freemasonry, from the roots of the society's political philosophy and evolution in seventeenth-century England and Scotland to the French Revolution. Based on never-before-used archival sources, it will appeal to anyone interested in the birth of modernity in Europe or in the cultural milieu of the European Enlightenment.

Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930

Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930
Author: Lynn Dumenil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1400853834

As the United States moved from Victorian values to those of modern consumerism, the religious component of Freemasonry was increasingly displaced by a secular ideology of service (like that of business and professional clubs), and the Freemasons' psychology of asylum from the competitive world gave way to the aim of good fellowship" within it. This study not only illuminates this process but clarifies the neglected topic of fraternal orders and enriches our understanding of key facets of American cultural change. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century

Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century
Author: Paul Calderwood
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317132793

By the end of the twentieth century, Freemasonry had acquired an unsavoury reputation as a secretive network of wealthy men looking out for each others’ interests. The popular view is of an organisation that, if not actually corrupt, is certainly viewed with deep mistrust by the press and wider society. Yet, as this book makes clear, this view contrasts sharply with the situation at the beginning of the century when the public’s perception of Freemasonry in Britain was much more benevolent, with numerous establishment figures (including monarchs, government ministers, archbishops and civic worthies) enthusiastically recommending Freemasonry as the key to model citizenship. Focusing particularly on the role of the press, this book investigates the transformation of the image of Freemasonry in Britain from respectability to suspicion. It describes how the media projected a positive message of the organisation for almost forty years, based on a mass of news emanating from the organisation itself, before a change in public regard occurred during the later twentieth-century. This change in the public mood, the book argues, was due primarily to Masonic withdrawal from the public sphere and a disengagement with the press. Through an examination of the subject of Freemasonry and the British press, a number of related social trends are addressed, including the decline of deference, the erosion of privacy, greater competition in the media, the emergence of more aggressive and investigative journalism, the consequences of media isolation and the rise of professional Public Relations. The book also illuminates the organisation’s collisions with nationalism, communism, and state welfare provision. As such, the study is illuminating not only for students of Freemasonry, but those with an interest in the wider social history of modern Britain.

Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment

Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment
Author: R. William Weisberger
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2017-10-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1476669139

Freemasonry began with stonemasons in the Middle Ages experiencing the decline of cathedral building. Some guilds invited honorary memberships to boost their numbers. These usually highly educated new members practiced symbolic or "speculative Freemasonry." The new Masonic lodges and learned societies offered their growing numbers of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish members an understanding of deism, Newtonian science and representative government, and of literature and the fine arts. This work describes how Masons on both sides of the Atlantic were mostly either enlighteners, political reformers or moderate revolutionaries. They offered minimal support to radical revolutionary ideas and leaders.