Can anybody give me a background on the da vinci code?

What is it all about? and i hear that a secret society watches over jesus decendents if he was married in the first place and has anyone found out who are the real decendents of jesus.

Yes, that's about it. It's based on the idea that the Holy Grail is the body of Mary Magdalene and documents proving she was married to Jesus and had children. The novel features a secret society called the Priory of Sion who guard this secret.

Although I've read the book I haven't really followed the debates on the conspiracy theories surrounding it. I get the impression however, that they have been debunked.

Personally I don't see what id so outlandish or offensive about the idea that a famous, celebrated and magnetic orator such as Jesus could have been married. A man of his status wouldn't have much trouble getting a girl.

I'd recommend you read the "Da Vinci Code", it's a very entertaining novel.

Although I've read the book I haven't really followed the debates on the conspiracy theories surrounding it. I get the impression however, that they have been debunked.

Majority have been debunked,
i watched a show on Channel four (UK) about the Da Vinci code, everything was debunked in the end and it proved that the book was completely wrong on numerous subjects. Sadly, Christ was not married and did not have children, the holy grail is probably a Cup, not a person as the Da Vinci states.

**SPOILER**

The book states that Sarah, the daughter of Christ and Mary Magdalene is the holy grail, so it states that Jesus did have a child and that Child, Sarah, and Mary Magdalene travelled to a place in France after leaving the holy land. Thats the theory around.

Originally posted by warthog911
has anyone found out who are the real decendents of jesus.

He had no children. There are none.
www.catholic.com...

There are plenty of books that completely debunk the FICTONAL
DaVinci Code book. Even the author says it is fiction.

The davinci code is apparently the sole creation of Dan Brown (ie, the idea that davinci and other great painters) included references to a jesus-magdalene bloodline in his artwork.

The book, iow, is the only place you will find it. The conspiracy in the book is made up of lots of other conspiracies, that are all interwoven (rather skillfully I would say) into one big conspiracy.

The elements are several. The Idea that jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had children who lived in France, of all places, is a modern idea.

The Priory of Sion (re:Zion, the promise land) exists only as a peice of paper 'suddenly and fortuitously' found in some French Archives. It apparently was a list of 'grandmasters', that reads like a 'whos who' of the Middle Ages and beyond, including Davinci. It apparently was used in an attempt to set up a Pretender to Dictatorship in France in the modern era.

The other big element is that there was once a global Goddess Religion, a worship of the "Divine Feminine", that was replaced by crueler, meaner, more 'testosterone driven' Patriarchical Gods. IE teh Magna Mater was replaced by Zeus, etc. This too is something of a modern idea. It was popularized, as far as I understand, by books like The White Goddess and other stuff by Robert Graves. The truth is, there was never a Goddess Religion that was replaced by a God Religion. There were, obviously, feminine gods and the like of course.

Another element of the Davinci Code is that Mary Magdalene was an Apostle, just like the men, but then big meanies like the other manly apostles of the "Guy Ruled" church denigrated her, because she was a woman, and reduced her into a 'whore', literally.


So brown wraps it all up into a story about jesus not beign divine, being married to mary magadelene and having children, him getting killed, her being secreted to France, where the children become the Merovingians, who after loosing their power go into hiding, and with the Priory of Sion being a secret society that protects them. The book makes the Grail Quests of the later middle Ages into cryptically coded searches for this merovingian bloodline, the Grail, carrying the Blood of Christ, not meaing the actual blood (the grail is supposed to be a cup used at a supper in which jesus says 'this' (the wine in the cup) is my blood, and also sometimes a cup that caught some of his blood as he bled on the cross), but rather the 'heredity', the 'blood-line'. SO the Grail Knights went on Quests, that, to a normal person, were rip roaring adventures, but to one in the know, were in reality stories and allegories about the Divine Feminie, indeed, they were part of the esoteric/gnostic worship of the Divine Feminine itself.
Brown ends up basically making it out that the worship of jesus as good is good old public religion, and that the grail quest, the search for what the grail is, and the search for what the davinci code is, is itself the mystical, complementary, worship of the feminine aspect.

So, as you can see, brown takes a lot of stuff from the modern era, and a little bit from what i understand is the later middle ages, to make up this fun story. None of it is true tho. The Merovingians were Silisian Franks, ie, German Barbarians. The RCC didn't exist at the time that Mary Magadelene wouldn't been 'discredited', and indded the early christians don't talk about her as the wife of jesus or even as a disciple at all. And the Grail Quests didn't even exist until much later in time, more than, I think, a thousand years after the proported events. And, most glaringly, the Priory Of Sion never existed, it was an out and out fraud, an attempted Power Grab by a wanna be king.

hehehe...when you say "France, of all places..." keep in mind that there really wasn't a country of France, per se, in those days. The northern area was generally referred to as France and had a kind of loose government.

The area known as LANGUEDOC was in the southern part and really was not a country in any sense of the word. It was a reqion that had a bunch of independent city states. You probably knew all that but, given the anti-French sentiment in our modern USA, we probably should make the distinction.

The basic story is:
Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene and they had a child called Sarah. After Jesus died on the cross, Mary fled to France and gave birth to Sarah and the Priory of Sion (Priere de Sion) watches over them. The last two remaining families of the merovingian bloodline are the Saint-Claires and the Plantards. The Holy Grail, according to the book, is the bones of Mary Magdalene and the Sngreal documents and the 'Q' documents.

BTW: I'm just posting what the book says, I'm not claiming I believe it so don't post back argueing that Jesus wasn't married etc.

Atmix

If you want to have the background of the DaVinci Code, you need to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail since Dan Brown seems to have relied heavily on both this book and the sources that HBHG used.

But, read it with an extremely open mind because a whole big bunch of it has been thoroughly debunked and exposed as a hoax.

Still, it's got some interesting stuff in it.

BTW - You don't have to believe a word of it to enjoy it as a work of historical fiction. It's a cool story!

Originally posted by Al Davison
If you want to have the background of the DaVinci Code, you need to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail since Dan Brown seems to have relied heavily on both this book and the sources that HBHG used.

But, read it with an extremely open mind because a whole big bunch of it has been thoroughly debunked and exposed as a hoax.

Still, it's got some interesting stuff in it.

I'm reading HBHG now. Its really long and some bits are very hard to understand since it was written in the 60's and I'm only 13.

Originally posted by Al Davison
You probably knew all that but, given the anti-French sentiment in our modern USA, we probably should make the distinction.

No, I am aware of the history of France. Indeed, at the time it was called Gaul. It wasn't called France until the Franks, from germany, came in.

Originally posted by Atomix
The basic story is:
Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene and they had a child called Sarah. After Jesus died on the cross, Mary fled to France and gave birth to Sarah and the Priory of Sion (Priere de Sion) watches over them. The last two remaining families of the merovingian bloodline are the Saint-Claires and the Plantards. The Holy Grail, according to the book, is the bones of Mary Magdalene and the Sngreal documents and the 'Q' documents.

BTW: I'm just posting what the book says, I'm not claiming I believe it so don't post back argueing that Jesus wasn't married etc.

At

mix

Yeah thats the basic story of the Da Vinci code,
its up to the reader to decide if he believes it or not, in my view, its wrong and misleading to think Christ was married. (I say this from a religious point of view)

Originally posted by Nygdan


The other big element is that there was once a global Goddess Religion, a worship of the "Divine Feminine", that was replaced by crueler, meaner, more 'testosterone driven' Patriarchical Gods. IE teh Magna Mater was replaced by Zeus, etc. This too is something of a modern idea. It was popularized, as far as I understand, by books like The White Goddess and other stuff by Robert Graves. The truth is, there was never a Goddess Religion that was replaced by a God Religion. There were, obviously, feminine gods and the like of course.

As I understand it the book does not suggest that such a global religion existed, only that the sacred feminine element of pagan worship was removed from modern, Middle Eastern religions, by casting Eve as the original sinner. So although you are in a sense right the novel never suggests than Goddess worship took place on such an organised scale as God worship in Christianity, Islam or Judaism, etc...

Ed: The ideas presented in "The Da Vinci Code" raise some interesting questions on the inferior status of women in Christian, Islamic and Middle Eastern society throughout modern history...

[edit on 23-5-2005 by CiderGood_HeadacheBad]

The book is an easy read. It has alot of action and will keep you guessing almost to the end. The characters were a little shallow IMO but I thought overall it was a pretty good piece of fiction.

Unfortunately, some people didn't understand that it was fiction, hence all the hoopala. If you like mysteries and whodunnits, I'd suggest this book.

warthog911, Yeah the book is fiction....but it's a pretty dam good book.

I reccomend it...I finished the whole thing in about 5 hours while on ship....then I bought all of dan brown's books...hell they're al good.

If you have a good imagination you'll like it

Originally posted by CiderGood_HeadacheBad

Originally posted by Nygdan


The other big element is that there was once a global Goddess Religion, a worship of the "Divine Feminine", that was replaced by crueler, meaner, more 'testosterone driven' Patriarchical Gods. IE teh Magna Mater was replaced by Zeus, etc. This too is something of a modern idea. It was popularized, as far as I understand, by books like The White Goddess and other stuff by Robert Graves. The truth is, there was never a Goddess Religion that was replaced by a God Religion. There were, obviously, feminine gods and the like of course.

As I understand it the book does not suggest that such a global religion existed,

Its a little unclear as to the extent of it, but brown is almost certainly familiar with that theory and is leaning on it.

The ideas presented in "The Da Vinci Code" raise some interesting questions on the inferior status of women in Christian, Islamic and Middle Eastern society throughout modern history..

I don't see how. It suggests that women are looked down upon, not because of dolts that abuse women, but because of a conspiracy. The novel, if taken seriously, would demand that we tackle this non-existant conspiracy, rather than the actual problems.

Originally posted by infiniteYeah thats the basic story of the Da Vinci code, its up to the reader to decide if he believes it or not, in my view, its wrong and misleading to think Christ was married. (I say this from a religious point of view)

Well, since the book has been completely debunked I dont' see why anyone would choose to believe it.

On his web site, Dan Brown has a complete bibliography or book list of all the sources he used in writing the Da Vinci Code:

www.danbrown.com...

reply to post by Nygdan


You need to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail to see the groundwork done by others that provided Dan Brown with his info!