Foreword
Ritual , Secrecy , Ritual and Civil , Secrecy Society , and • Civil Vol . 8 Society , No . 1 • Spring 2021
Once again , this issue of Ritual , Secrecy and Civil Society takes us on a journey through time and space .
The " Legend of the Vault ", so important in all kind of Freemasonries , illustrates a very important process : the way Freemasonry has drawn and reformulated classical themes from the Judeo-Christian tradition , especially in its esoteric aspects .
The " Deputy Inspectors General " played a great role in the prehistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite . Brent Morris offers us an analysis of this group of 79 Masons who , between 1762 and 1801 , laid the foundations of the system of high degrees most widespread in the world .
Freemasonry is secret ... but in the middle of the 19th century it meets this new extraordinary technique : photography . A few years ago David Peabody had pleaded for a history of Masonic photography . The discovery of an astonishing Masonic daguerreotype is a contribution to this research project .
In many countries , Freemasonry has been a vector of liberal ideas . In Russia , it was only able to flourish in the short period framed by two authoritarian regimes , between 1905 and 1917 . Russian Freemasonry then remained in exile for nearly half a century in memory of those few years of an almost free Russia .
American Freemasonry is rooted in its history and has a strong personality . However , American Masons regularly challenge this strong American Masonic culture by trying to launch other forms of Freemasonry in the United States . If these attempts have so far always failed , they are nevertheless very interesting because of the debates they provoke . The Grand Orient of the United States , resulting from the meeting of several groups of protesting American Masons , is the most recent of such attempts . Between 2006 and 2013 , it tried to launch in North America another way of doing Freemasonry .
Pierre Mollier , Editor
Prefacio
Una vez más , este número de Ritual , Secrecy and Civil Society nos lleva a un viaje a través del tiempo y el espacio .
La " Leyenda de la Bóveda ", tan importante en todo tipo de masonerías , ilustra un proceso muy importante . La forma en que la masonería ha elaborado y reformulado temas clásicos de la tradición judeocristiana , especialmente en sus aspectos esotéricos . v doi : 10.18278 / rscs . 8.1.1