Robert Lomas
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Robert Lomas is a British writer, Business studies academic and amateur historian. He is a best-selling author on the subject of the history of Freemasonry. His books relating to Freemasonry include The Hiram Key and its sequals: The Second Messiah and The Book of Hiram (co-authored with Christopher Knight), and Turning The Hiram Key: Making Darkness Visible (authored alone). Not in the Hiram series is The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science. His non-Masonic books include The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla: Forgotten Genius of Electricity, Forecasting for Sales and Materials Management (Studies in Marketing Management) co-authored with Geoffrey A. Lancaster, and Mysteries of the Ancient World.
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[edit] Synopis of best selling books
[edit] Biography of Nikola Tesla
Lomas wrote a biography of a Serbian-American scientist named Nikolas Tesla (1856-1943) entitled The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century:Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity, that was published in 1999. In it he argued that Tesla was the person who actually discovered electricity and that others, in particular Thomas Edison, falsely took credit for his work and some of Tesla's business asocciates, including J. Pierpont Morgan, took advantage of him and exploited and ruined him. He argues that Tesla's electrical inventions, such as the AC current and the Tesla coil, are what made our society what it is like today and that he is therefore, in Lomas's phrase, "the man who invented the twentieth century".
[edit] The Hiram Key
In "The Hiram Key" Lomas and his co-author Christopher Knight claimed that they had used a Masonic folktale about a man called Hiram Abiff to create a new key to the origins of civilization and of Christianity. Knight and Lomas claimed that the Masonic story of Hiram Abiff is based on an ancient Egyptian pharao who was murdered under similar circumstances. They claimed to have discovered that the ancient Egyptian pharaos had living and dying resurrection ceremonies and that this and their belief system, which was called Ma'at were copied by Jesus and his followers. Knight and Lomas claimed that they had discovered that the Roman Catholic Church had distorted the true story of Jesus, which the Gnostics, the Knights Templar, and the Masons all knew, and that this is why the Catholic Church so passionately opposed these groups. They claim that Jesus did not actually resurrect people from the dead, but that it was an initiation ceremony for his Jewish religion, and that it was a common practice for Jewish religions at the time to call their members the living, and the uninitiated the dead. And Knight and Lomas claimed that the term messiah originally merely meant a Jewish patriot who would liberate his people, not a god, and that the Christian understanding of the term is completely alien to the Old Testament.
They came to the conclusion that the story of Jesus was partially based on pagan stories such as that of Osiris. They said that Jesus organized his Jewish religion, the Jerusalem Church, into a secret society and had secret initiation ceremonies. They claim that Nazareth did not exist at the time and that Jesus of Nazareth is a mistranslation of Jesus the Nazarene. And that at the time the term Nazarene referred to Jesus and his followers the Jerusalem Church, rather than having anything to do with a city.
They said that they believed Masonry evolved out of the Knights Templar, a Roman Catholic military religious order. They said that the Knights Templar developed heretical beliefs because they were developed by Jews descended from the leaders of the Jerusalem Church who knew the true teachings of Jesus. This was why the Roman Catholic Church suppressed the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar then escaped from France to England, Scotland, and Ireland and became a secret society called the Masons.
[edit] The Second Messiah
In a sequel called The Second Messiah the authors continue their claims about the Knights Templar and Freemasonry. They claim to have discovered that the Turin Shroud is actually an image of Jacques de Molay, not of Jesus Christ. They claimed that the Knights Templar denied that Jesus was god in their initiation ceremonies because they were descended from the original Jewish followers of Jesus and therefore knew that he was a Jewish freedom fighter not a god. And they claimed that while the Roman Catholic Church chose St. Peter as its first pope there was another branch of Christianity that remained Jewish that chose St. Mary Magdalene as its first pope. They claim that this secret truth is encoded in tarot cards, which is why one of them has a female pope on it, according to the authors.
[edit] The Book of Hiram
In The Book of Hiram: Freemasonry,Venus, and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus the authors go further about Hiram. Although Hiram Abiff's name has never been recorded historically, there is a reference in a new translation in the Bible in the book of Kings to a person who a similar name and might be the same person, the authors point out. They then investigate the story further and say that Hiram Abiff who built King Solomon's Temple was involved in astrology. Because the ancient Jews believed in astrology and this was connected with the way King Solomon's Temple was specifically constructed.
[edit] Turning the Hiram Key
Most recently Lomas has continued his research into Masonic history, separately from Knight. In Turning the Hiram Key Lomas claimed that he had found a way to use that key to unlock the door of the secrets. In the book Lomas, who is also a scientific historian, connects Masonry with neurological science and expressed his belief that what Masonry is about is what is inside human souls individually and collectively.
[edit] Controversy
Lomas's theories about the origins of Freemasonry have caused controversy among Masonic historians. The romantic nature of his writings are reminiscent of other famous masonic authors such as the late J. S. Ward and Arthur Edward Waite. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon is particularly critical of Lomas's work, as is Quatuor Coronati Lodge (The lodge of research attached to the United Grand Lodge of England), dubbing it "pseudo-history" and even "fiction". On the other hand, many Masons find Lomas's work interesting and worthy of further study. For example, the Grand Lodge of Queensland, Austrialia asked him to write a history of Freemasonry for its Masonic Training Module.
[edit] Other Interests
Lomas' chief area of research is on the subject of Freemasonry and science (He is said to be a regular speaker on the Masonic lecture circuit and is a regular supporter of the Orkney International Science Festival). He also writes also at a professional level on the Neolithic period and archaeoastronomy, ancient mysteries, stone monuments and megaliths, and on both astronomical and astrological data.
Whilst writing The Book Of Hiram and as part of his on-going research into the cultural origin of scientific ideas, Lomas established an electronic database of Masonic material named The Web of Hiram, as part of the University of Bradford's Special Collections Library. Lomas has also made available an online version of William Preston's Illustrations of Masonry at his official website.
In the past, Lomas has worked on electronic weapons systems and emergency services command and control systems. He has now established himself as one of the worlds leading authors on the history of Freemasonry and currently lectures on Information Systems at the University of Bradford's School of Management, one of the UK's leading business schools.
According to an interview with Martin Faulks of Lewis Masonic, it is thought by some Brethren that Dr Robert Lomas might be the inspiration for the character of Dr Robert Langdon, in Dan Brown's thriller, The Da Vinci Code..
[edit] Education
Lomas gained a First Class Honours degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Salford before being awarded a PhD for his research into solid state physics and crystalline structures and also contributed to many journals.
©Ally Ekbal 2006
[edit] Jewellery Designer
Robert Lomas is also a masonic jewellery designer. Working with his daughter Delyth, he produces a range of sterling silver, hand finished Masonic jewellery, using the designs she first made for Bro. Robert to wear. The symbols which attracted him are not only the standard square and compasses but also more subtle Masonic symbols, such as the pillars and centre.
[edit] Works
- The Secrets of Freemasonry: A Suppressed Tradition Revealed, May 2006
- Turning The Hiram Key: Making Darkness Visible, April 2005
- Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, June 2003
- The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, Mar 2002
- The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity, May 1999
- Forecasting for Sales and Materials Management, April 1988
With Christopher Knight
- The Book Of Hiram: Freemasonry, Venus and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus, April 2003
- Uriel's Machine: The Ancient Origins of Science, March 1999
- The Holy Grail, part of Mysteries Of The Ancient World: The Mysteries of the Ancient World Explored and Explained, June 1998
- The Second Messiah: Templars, The Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry, April 1997
- The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus, March 1996
[edit] See also
- Freemasonry
- Rosslyn Chapel
- Dan Brown
- Archaeoastronomy
- Astronomy
- Astrology
- Neolithic
- Christianity
- Lewis Masonic
