The Other Brotherhood – Darren Lorente-Bull (2018)

Like Julian Rees, the author was initiated in a lodge working under the United Grand Lodge of England, but later joined a lodge working under the British federation of Le Droit Humain. Together with Rees he wrote More Light, which is actually quite like the present title.

Both books are small (118 pages for the present title, 140 for the other). Both start with a general history of Freemasonry, later switch to “liberal” Freemasonry and the British federation of Le Droit Humain in particular. This book has more information about the origins and development of “liberal” Freemasonry, speaking of the Grand Orient of France, the Grand Lodge of France and Le Droit Humain.

Then there is a chapter about political Freemasonry, esoteric Freemasonry and philosophical Freemasonry showing that there are different approaches within Freemasonry.

Towards the end the author says a few things of the Appeal of Strasbourg which is a document made by “liberal” Masonic organisations to try to (re)form the “centre of union”. Partly as a result of this appeal two organisations were founded years later, Catena and C.L.I.P.S.A.S. trying to bring together different Masonic organisations and create ‘contemporary Landmarks’ which are less strict than the ‘ancient Landmarks’.

Like I wrote about the other book:

The little book seems to aim at reaching people who are unfamiliar with the subject of Freemasonry in general, giving the idea that there is more than the best-known variety. It does not say a whole lot about the way a mixed gender lodge works though.

Perhaps it is a bit more of an introduction into “liberal” Freemasonry than More Light so it could be informative not only for members of mixed-gender lodges, but also for members of “regular” lodges who want to learn a bit about “continental” Freemasonry.