Important New Study of Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saints: What's Good, Questionable, and Missing in Method Infinite

by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Overview

Review of Cheryl L. Bruno, Joe Steve Swick III, and Nicholas S. Literski, Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2022). 544 pages. $44.95 (hardback); $34.95 (softcover).

Abstract: There is much to celebrate in this important new study of Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saints. To their credit, the authors have succeeded in creating a work that is richer than earlier studies of the subject, probing many previously unexplored hints of Masonic influence on Latter- day Saint life and thought from the beginning of the Restoration through the end of the nineteenth century. That said, the book's dauntingly broad survey suffers from uneven quality on some of the many topics it ambitiously tackles. While recognizing the study's considerable merits, its shortcomings must also be considered. For this reason, I've divided this review into three parts: What's Good, What's Questionable, and What's Missing. I conclude with methodological observations about best practices in the use of the comparative analysis in studies of important and challenging subjects such as this one.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940185849927
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	01/12/2023
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #54
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	956,475
File size:	843 KB

About the Author

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (PhD, Cognitive Science, University of Washington) is a Senior Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Florida (www.ihmc.us/groups/jbradshaw. Jeff was a missionary in France and Belgium from 1975 to 1977, and his family has returned twice to live in France. He and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of four children and fifteen grandchildren. They served two missions in the DR Congo and currently live in Nampa, Idaho, where Jeff serves as a church service missionary for the Church History Department. He is working on a book and a film for Interpreter on the stories of the Saints in central Africa.