In Freemasonry in Context: History, Ritual, Controversy editors Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris feature work by renown Masonic scholars. Essays explore the rich and often times controversial events that comprise the cultural and social history of Freemasonry.

The key text of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, the belief structure laid out here intricately intertwines faith from all corners of the world as well as involving both science and faith in a bundle for adherents to carefully study and understand.

The articles in this book focus on a type of Freemasonry that has long been a subject of controversy. Known as Cerneauism, it refers to Scottish Rite bodies which derived authority from Joseph Cerneau (1763-1840/45), a Frenchman who was the charter master of La Temple des Vertus Theologalis No. 103, a Pennsylvania lodge in Havana, Cuba. He fled to New York after being expelled from Cuba in 1806, after fleeing there from the slave rebellion in Haiti in 1802. The central issue with Cerneauism is the question of authority, i.e., the right to create and govern Masonic organizations. Masonic bodies worldwide maintain that the right and authority to create and preside over rites, orders, and systems must stem from a just and regular succession, with adherence to applicable constitutions, laws, and statutes. Cerneauism was a challenge to the concept of regularity because Joseph Cerneau did not personally possess any authority within the Scottish Rite, nor did he accept its governing constitutions.

In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry, an expert author reveals the truths and dispels the myths that have surrounded the Freemasons for hundreds of years- Were the first masons 14th-century stone masons and cathedral builders, or can Freemasonry really be traced back as far as Egypt, Babylon, and Palestine? The Masonic insistence on the belief in a Supreme Being The Masons and the Knights Templar True or false- the Masons coordinated the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. How are Masons initiated, and exactly what goes on in a Masonic lodge? What s the difference between the York Rite and the Scottish Rite, and are there women and African American Freemasons? The Masons in the streets of Washington, DC- a tour