ABSTRACT
In the aftermath of the multiple homicides and suicides committed by members of the Order of the Solar Temple, numerous articles have been published in which scholars attempt to provide answers to the question of why the OTS met with such a violent end. In their comparative study of the OTS with the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate, Introvigne and Mayer show that the combination of certain factors could have a lethal outcome irrespective of other apparent differences between the movements. A survey of the literature dealing with the OTS shows that scholars have not been consistent in defining what kind of movement the OTS actually is. The mythological setting of these rituals is the Old Testament and the legendary setting centers on the construction of Solomon's Temple. The Templar degrees of Freemasonry center on the legend of Freemasonry deriving from the medieval Knights Templar.
