Is Freemasonry a revival of Essenism?
No. A common vehicle for attacking Freemasonry is to identify it with some “ism,” no matter that the “ism” may never have existed as a discrete, definable belief structure. Essenism is a term that means whatever the user wants. It can refer to the Essenes who flourished near the west shore of the Dead Sea from about 150 BCE to the end of the first century CE and who some authors such as Thomas de Quincey defined, without solid proof, as the first Christians. Or it can refer to the mystical beliefs of something termed Essene Nazorean Christianity, as practiced by such contemporary group as the Essene Church of Christ, the Essene Nazorean Church of Mt. Carmel, the New Covenant Church of God (B’rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh) and the Restored Essene Church. It could be said that many, calling themselves Essenes, have no real claim to the name other than an interest in either history or health. The term essenism can also refer to a denial of the divinity of Jesus. The “essene theory” was
