Post by Tamrin on Sept 8, 2008 11:12:11 GMT 10
The Quest for Light
by Wallace McLeod
Published in 1997 by Australian & New Zealand Masonic Research Council,
PO Box 332, Williamstown, Victoria 3016, Australia.
Reviewed for "The Northern Light" February 1998 by Thomas W Jackson
The Quest for Light is a compilation of 19 papers written and delivered by one of the foremost intellectual Masonic writers of our time. It represents the fourth collection of research papers to be published by this Research Council. Wallace McLeod, a former professor at the University of Toronto, holds a BA in Honours Classics from that university and an MA and PhD from Harvard. He is Grand Historian and a Past Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario, a full Member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, a fellow and past President of the Philalethes Society, and Grand Abbot of the Blue Friars, to touch on a few of his credits. He has also written many scholarly books and papers that add luster to Masonic circles.
This book is one I highly recommend to those with an interest in the origin and development of Freemasonry, as well as to those with an interest in Freemasonry of the present. Both subjects are to be found in it.
The first chapters present an educational trip through the early development stages of the craft. Subject examples are "The Lodge, the Grand Lodge and Change," "Evolution of the ritual," "The meaning of the Masonic secrets" and "The credibility gap in Masonic ritual." The later chapters are related more to the present, i.e., "Two Masonic 'Literary Societies'," "Responding to criticism: (1) The past; our traditional critics" and "Responding to criticism: (2) Evangelicals; how we might respond." In between, we find dispersed interesting subject papers, i.e., "Masonic references in literature," "The universality of Freemasonry," "Robert Burns," and "English Freemasonry in 1440" to name a few. There are also several chapters that don't quite seem to fit with the others, but then the book is a compilation of unrelated papers. That makes them nonetheless interesting.
This is a book well worth reading for its educational value. The author researches thoroughly as he is trained to do and expresses himself well, as one would expect. I found it to be thought provoking, stimulating and worthy of the author and the craft.
This book is one I highly recommend to those with an interest in the origin and development of Freemasonry, as well as to those with an interest in Freemasonry of the present. Both subjects are to be found in it.
The first chapters present an educational trip through the early development stages of the craft. Subject examples are "The Lodge, the Grand Lodge and Change," "Evolution of the ritual," "The meaning of the Masonic secrets" and "The credibility gap in Masonic ritual." The later chapters are related more to the present, i.e., "Two Masonic 'Literary Societies'," "Responding to criticism: (1) The past; our traditional critics" and "Responding to criticism: (2) Evangelicals; how we might respond." In between, we find dispersed interesting subject papers, i.e., "Masonic references in literature," "The universality of Freemasonry," "Robert Burns," and "English Freemasonry in 1440" to name a few. There are also several chapters that don't quite seem to fit with the others, but then the book is a compilation of unrelated papers. That makes them nonetheless interesting.
This is a book well worth reading for its educational value. The author researches thoroughly as he is trained to do and expresses himself well, as one would expect. I found it to be thought provoking, stimulating and worthy of the author and the craft.
