John J. Robinson
Encyclopedia
John J. Robinson was an American author and historian, best known as the author of Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, which was originally intended as a book about the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, but instead traced the fall of the Knights Templar
, which he connected to the rise of Freemasonry
. As a result of his research for this book, he became more interested in Freemasonry and subsequently wrote A Pilgrim's Path: Freemasonry and the Religious Right. He is also credited as being the "founding visionary" of the Masonic Information Center run by the Masonic Service Association of North America. He was a member of the Medieval Academy of America, The Organization of American Historians, and the Royal Over-Seas League of London.
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, which he connected to the rise of Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
. As a result of his research for this book, he became more interested in Freemasonry and subsequently wrote A Pilgrim's Path: Freemasonry and the Religious Right. He is also credited as being the "founding visionary" of the Masonic Information Center run by the Masonic Service Association of North America. He was a member of the Medieval Academy of America, The Organization of American Historians, and the Royal Over-Seas League of London.
Born in Blood
Robinson's first work, Born in Blood, traces the connections of the Knights templar and the Freemasons. It is considered an important work, but its initial reception was very poor: Robinson relates in the preface to A Pilgrim's Path that "not even one newspaper in the United States saw fit to review a book that had the word Freemasonry in the title." There was, however, great demand from libraries, which in turn led to positive reviews in Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.Works
- Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (1990) ISBN 9780871316028
- Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades (1992) ISBN 9780871316578
- A Pilgrim's Path: Freemasonry and the Religious Right (1993) ISBN 9780871317322