評論
打印
Books and arts
文藝板塊
Book review
書評
The Freemasons
共濟會
Inside the Lodge
共濟會會所內幕
The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World.
《The Craft：共濟會如何創(chuàng)造現(xiàn)代世界。》
By John Dickie.
作者：約翰·迪基
Since they first came to prominence in the alehouses of 18th-century London, the Freemasons have proved adept at self-promotion. From their blindfolded initiation ceremony, obscure rituals and symbols and infamous handshake, the organisation has grasped the powerful attraction of mystery as a recruiting tool. Today the secret society has around 6m members, most of them in America.
在18世紀的倫敦酒館，共濟會初露鋒芒，自此，也證明了這個組織善于自我推銷。共濟會有著蒙著眼睛的入會儀式、晦澀的儀規(guī)和象征、以及聲名遠揚的握手禮，它抓住了具有強大吸引力的神秘感作為招募會員的工具。時至今日，這個神秘組織有大約600萬會員，其中大部分是在美國。
Conspiracists have long speculated that these individuals are part of a secret “world order”, with ties to the Illuminati and satanic cults. Debunking these theories is relatively easy, but in his new book John Dickie goes much further. Based on years of research into the archives of the Grand Lodges, he has produced a global history of the organisation, explaining how the brand spread far beyond Europe. “The Craft” is a fascinating tale of imperial trade, warfare and scientific progress which presents the Masons as a response to the broader development of the modern world.
陰謀論者長期以來一直猜測共濟會的會員們參與策劃秘密“世界秩序”，而且與光明會和撒旦邪教有關聯(lián)。揭穿這樣的陰謀論相對容易，但是約翰·迪基在自己的新書中進行了更加深入的研究。基于多年對總會檔案的研究，約翰撰寫了共濟會的全球歷史，解釋該組織是如何在歐洲以外的地方進行傳播。《TheCraft》這本書講述了帝國貿易、戰(zhàn)爭和科學技術的進步，情節(jié)引人入勝，書中將美生視為對現(xiàn)代社會更廣泛發(fā)展的回應，娓娓道來。
In their simplest form the Freemasons are groups of (almost exclusively) men, who undertake to pursue a “beautiful system of morality” and self-improvement according to a symbolic code. Their society is united by pledges to defend rational, enlightenment values, and over the centuries has attracted many high-profile members, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Winston Churchill and Walt Disney.
簡單來講，共濟會由一群男性組成（幾乎完全是男性），他們致力于追求“美好的道德系統(tǒng)”，并根據(jù)一個象征性的準則進行自我完善。共濟會的會員們?yōu)楹葱l(wèi)理性啟蒙的價值觀團結在一起，幾個世紀以來，已經吸引了許多名士加入其中，包括沃爾夫岡·阿馬迪斯·莫扎特、溫斯頓·丘吉爾和沃爾特·迪斯尼。
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