_The DaVinci Code_... Where does fact end and fiction begin? *SPOILERS*

[TXlib]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book, and the legend of the Holy Grail has been explained, (They are at Teabing's chateau now, with Silas outside, trying to figure out where the Keystone is).

This seems like a bombshell, Mary Magdalene being the wife of Christ, and having borne him a daughter, and the catholic church doing everything in its power to hide this, as far as murdering the living descendants of Christ.

Where does fact end, and fiction begin?

How are christians reacting (especially catholics and fundies)?

[pippin]

1. Dan Brown's plot

Laurence Gardner's book Bloodline of the Holy Grail basically traces through hitherto unknown archives the story of the descendants of Christ and his borther and the fact that Christ had had to be married.

see Sir Laurence Cardner's lecture on the subject (if you don't want to read his book) at:

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/holygrail2.html

[Zorro]

2. Mary Magdalene

She was someone I wondered about in my younger years as a sword drill champion in the local Southern Baptist church.

She seemed to always be referred to in Sunday school as some type of "fallen" woman, but I never was able to find that out from actually reading the scriptures. I always wondered how and why she got such a reputation.

There's been a body of literature over the past 10-15 years discussing this image of her which reinforces the perception that Dan Brown expresses. Makes sense to me.

I don't know how the fundies are reacting to this book; it's a real page-turner and opens up for discussion a lot of topics that had previously been relegated to more obscure arenas. The history of the Bible and Roman Catholicism are areas that are quite fascinating, and their studies and understanding give rise to fundamental questions of the meaning of faith and devotion.

I think Dan Brown has done the world a real service by writing this book, which is quite an accomplishment for what is basically an entertaining pot-boiler of a novel. It's not great literature as in a work of art, but nevertheless it is the most thought-provoking popular novel of the past several decades. Highly recommended.

[Toby109]

3. All I can tell you is my Catholic

brother-in-law said he will not let his children read it- albeit tongue-in-cheek. The Catholic hierarchy is not portrayed particularly well. Nice whodunit though. I've read better.

[Khephra]

4. What exactly in the Bible is fact and what isn't?

I'm a Gnostic, so I'm used to believing things that "The Church" doesn't believe.

[SheilaT]

5. You can easily ask the same thing

about the Bible. Where does fact end and fiction begin? What, if anything, in any part of the Bible, has been authenticated through outside sources of archeology. Almost nothing is the correct answer.

So anyone who wants to write a novel about Biblical things is free to make up whatever he or she wants. It's essentially all fiction to begin with.

[UTUSN]

6. Holy Blood, Holy Grail

1982, is supposedly the book Da Vinci Code is based on. Somebody in the Meeting Room posted a lecture by GARDNER (Bloodlines of the HG) that piqued my interest in this. It came when I was confused about whether to see Saint Mel's movie (I decided not to), and then set up one of my personal, puny boycotts, spending Mel's money on these three anti-traditionalist/Mel books: Holy Blood, Holy Grail; Bloodlines of the Holy Grail; and The Templar Revelation. I'm chomping at the bit to get going on them, but have to finish American Dynasty first (I'm on the last chapter).

On edit: the Meeting Room thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=111x18882

[Zorro]

9. The Templar Revelation takes a while to get rolling

it smoothes out after about page 80. They spend a lot of time in the early pages criticizing other books.

Very interesting stuff once you get past that, though.

[UTUSN]

10. Thanks for the Heads-up

I soldiered through BLUMENTHAL's and a chapter or two of Dynasty that were some rough patches. So, there's light at the end of the 80 page tunnel.

[ClintonTyree]

11. Holy Blood, Holy Grail.............

reads like a textbook or research book. Don't expect the same riveting reaction as The DaVinci Code. It can be rather dry and tedious, but this is supposedly the book that laid the groundwork for Brown's work. Brown just made it interesting.

[UTUSN]

12. Hey----"dry and tedious" Are My Middle Names

Thanks. Am finishing up Dynasty today and will get right on Grail.

[NashVegas]

14. It Wasn't That Tedious

For the most part; it's been 15-20 years since I read it and I recall it getting weary about maybe 3/4 the way through. Yes, it is more dry and less fanciful than the Gardner book, but that's a good thing.

For fiction, you might want to check out Katherine Neville's books The Eight and The Magic Circle. Although she doesn't go directly into the "HBHG" stuff, she skirts around and plays with it well enough, and is very goddess-friendly. In some places, though, she also skirts towards romance-novel territory but not for long passages and if that's not your thing you can easily skip past them. They're kinda like a slightly more graphic Helen MacInnes. The Eight is a good page turner and her characters are much more fleshed-out than Brown's.

[NashVegas]

13. Also - The Passover Plot

this one actually pre-dated them all. I've never read it, so can't say what exactly's in it, so ...

A local (Nashville area) publisher is putting out a book called Breaking the DaVinci Code.

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/02/47480243.shtml?Element_ID=47480243

Random House Inc. yesterday said it intended to drop its demands that a Nashville publisher retitle an upcoming critique of the best-selling mystery novel, The Da Vinci Code.

Thomas Nelson Inc. is preparing to distribute a Texas theologian's analysis of Dan Brown's mystery novel. But the title of Darrell Bock's forthcoming book — Breaking the Da Vinci Code — had raised the ire of Random House...

Bock, a New Testament scholar at Dallas Theological Seminary, has noted the reading public's extreme interest in these tradition-shattering possibilities, and he has appeared on an ABC television documentary to discuss whether they were possible.

Thomas Nelson asked him to follow up that televised appearance by penning a book.

In it, Bock asserts that the historical evidence strongly counters the suggestion that Jesus was married or had fathered a child.

[Ilsa]

7. I'm waiting for Pagel's newest book,

Beyond Belief to come out in softcover in about 45 days.

[Khephra]

8. I'm reading Pagel's "Gnostic Gospels" right now

Most excellent, if I may say so myself.