‘Masonic studies to begin at Portugal university’

     
Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies (Universidade Lusófona) in Lisbon, Portugal, will offer coursework on the subject of Freemasonry beginning next month. If I understand the website, it is not necessary to be a college student currently to participate in this. Evidently, you would have to speak Portuguese though. Total course hours: 120.

From the publicity (as translated by Google and me):

The ideal of a brotherhood of philosopher-builders has influenced diverse cultural developments to this day. Freemasonry, as a fraternity of men interested in Gnosis and in the elevation of souls to the celestial region, is one of the main and most influential movements of spiritual aspiration in the West. Knowing and understanding the philosophical and spiritual sources of the Masonic movement, and the way they enhanced individual human creativity, is the objective of this course, that will focus on the impetus which gave spiritual and ritualistic philosophical substance.

The main objectives of this course are to know the sources and traditions that flow into the so-called Modern Freemasonry, be it the myths and initiation rites of antiquity, or medieval mystical and knightly ways. We will give special weight, not to a diachronic reading of movements, landmarks, and characters, but to the history of ideas, looking for the lineages of content and hermeneutics that result in Speculative Masonry. Students will see the intersection of Portuguese culture with the so-called Arte Real, be it with regard to literature and poetry, be it in art and even in urban art.

Knowledge, skills, and competencies to be acquired will include the identification and critical analysis of the main currents and movements that were, and are, used in Speculative Masonry as part of its rituals and worldviews.

Program:

Ancient Mysteries

and Philosophies

Section 1: Mystery and Initiation
Section 2: The Hellenist Mysteries and Philosophy

Mystics, Worldviews,

and Abrahamic Anthropologies

Section 1: Templarism and Templars
Section 2: Rosicrucianism
Section 3: Judaism, Kabbalah, and Freemasonry
Section 4: Manichaeism and Freemasonry
Section 5: Freemasonry and Mystique

Freemasonry

and Modernity

Section 1: History and Origins of Speculative or Modern Freemasonry
Section 2: Modern Philosophy and Science in dialogue with Freemasonry
Section 3: New anthropological views: Feminine and Mixed Masonry
Section 4: Freemasonry in Portugal

Freemasonry as

contemporary reading

Section 1: Freemasonry, Symbolic and Art
Section 2: Freemasonry and Portuguese thought


Syllabus

• Freemasonry as Contemporary Reading
• Freemasonry and Modernity
• Ancient Mysteries and Philosophies
• Mystics, Worldviews, and Abrahamic Anthropologies

Teachers:

António Balcão Vicente
Arnaldo Gonçalves
Cátia Mourão
Fernando Marques da Costa
Paulo Mendes Pinto
Renato Epifânio
Rui Lomelino de Freitas


Guest Speakers:

António Ventura
Armindo Azevedo
Felipe Corte Real Camargo
José Eduardo Franco
José Manuel Anes
José Manuel Pereira da Silva
Maria João Figueira
Maria José Tavares