Freemasonry and the temple endowment
Joseph introduced the endowment seven weeks after becoming a Master Mason, and it shared Masonry's distinctive signs, tokens and penalties.
What the Church claims
The endowment was revealed by God and restores ancient temple ordinances.
Once the evidence is in, this claim: Weak. The dependence of form is conceded by informed apologists; the historical claim of ancient origin cannot survive, though this does not touch the theological claim that God could inspire the adaptation.
The record
- Joseph was initiated on 1842-03-15 and made a Master Mason the next day; on 1842-05-04 he gave the first endowment to nine men, 'all of whom were also Masons'.
- FAIR concedes shared ritual drama, hand gestures, aprons, handclasps, the square and compass and 'small portions of similar verbiage'. Bradshaw concedes that 'some Masonic features that were part of the Nauvoo endowment have been eliminated'.
- Heber C. Kimball reported Joseph's explanation that Masonry was 'taken from priesthood but has become degenerated'.
- Nauvoo Lodge became the largest in Illinois; the Grand Lodge withdrew its dispensation in October 1843 and cut ties in 1844.
- Some Saints believed Joseph's last words, 'O Lord, my God', began the Masonic cry of distress.
The moving target
- 1842: Masonry is a degenerated remnant of true priesthood ritual.
- current: Acknowledges the timing and similarities; stresses that the endowment's covenants and purpose differ.
- 2019: Members are not prohibited from becoming Freemasons.
The exchange
Greg Kearney; FAIR; Church History Topics
Joseph used familiar Masonic forms as a teaching vehicle for revealed content; the covenants, the creation-fall-atonement narrative and the inclusion of women are not Masonic.
The answer: This is the most defensible position and it concedes the critical point: the ritual form came from the lodge, not from Solomon's temple. It sits awkwardly with Joseph's own explanation that Masonry preserved corrupted ancient priesthood, since Masonic ritual is an early-modern creation with no line to antiquity. If the form is borrowed and the ancient pedigree is gone, what remains 'restored' is theology the endowment merely dramatises.
What they get right: Critics who say the endowment is nothing but copied Masonry ignore how much of its content is Joseph's own.
FAIR; Jeffrey Bradshaw (Interpreter)
Joseph knew endowment concepts before March 1842 - Kirtland washings and anointings, the Book of Abraham Facsimile 2 'Grand Key Words' explained to William Appleby on 1841-05-05 - so Masonry cannot be the source.
The answer: Hyrum and other close associates had been Masons since the 1820s, so March 1842 is not the first possible exposure; and 'key words' is itself Masonic vocabulary. Earlier ideas about washing, anointing and heavenly ascent are real, but the signs, tokens, penalties and embrace through the veil appear only after Joseph sat in the lodge. Method Infinite (2022) argues the Masonic imprint runs through his whole career.
What they get right: Bradshaw is right that some of Method Infinite's Book of Mormon parallels are loose.
Both cases at full strength
The skeptics' case
Within seven weeks of learning the Master Mason ritual, Joseph presented to Masons a ceremony with the same kinds of tokens, signs, penalties and embrace, and explained the overlap by claiming Masonry descended from ancient priesthood - a claim no historian of Masonry accepts. Some of those features were later removed from the ceremony.
The apologetic case
Ritual always borrows available forms; what matters is the covenant content, which has no Masonic counterpart. Joseph had been developing temple theology since 1832 and found in Masonry a ready-made pedagogy of symbol and secrecy for people who already understood it.
What would change this
Evidence of the specific tokens and penalties in Joseph's teaching before any Masonic contact, or credible evidence that Masonic ritual predates the 1600s.
Closely related
Sources
- Masonry (Church History Topics)
- Freemasonry and the endowment (FAIR Answers)
- An Important New Study of Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saints: What's Good, What's Questionable, and What's Missing in Method Infinite
- Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration
- Saints, vol. 1, chapter 44, 'A Lamb to the Slaughter'
- Mormonism and Freemasonry (Wikipedia; tertiary finder)
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