My Library

Holy Blood, Holy Grail has been touted as the book that inspired popular novel The Da Vinci Code. I haven't read the novel, but I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail several years before it came out and am rereading it now. Though the book is worth reading for the challenge to accepted theological and historical dogma and for the amusement value associated with any good conspiracy theory it has some flaws. Probably the biggest flaw is the first person narrative of the author's trips around France gathering the information. Rather than present the historical record and the proof, the author has a bad tendency to focus on the visit to the National Archive or the flat tire he had on the road to Rennes Le-Chateau.

Other issues:

• The idea that Jesus «survived» after the Crucifixion is touted as revolutionary and a challenge to Catholic theology. I think the author needs to reread the New Testament as it reports Jesus doing quite a few things post-Crucifixion.
• The idea that Jesus had to survive the Crucifixion to leave progeny is also trumpeted. He was 30 when he started his ministry. The Orthodox Rabbis called him rabbi, indicating that he was either married or a widower. 30 years is plenty of time to do a little begetting.
• It doesn't make sufficient use of charts, timelines, etc. There is lots of narrative which, even aside from the author's self-referential digressions, tends to get lost between the dots, obscuring the connections.
• The author seems to see something sinister in the association between the Priory of Sion , the Knights Templar and the Cistercian order. The less conspiratorial minded might be inclined to say that it's not unusual for influential people to have their fingers in many pies. The conspiratorially minded could even accept that there was conspiracy, but there could be any number of motives including the relatively obvious one - accumulating power through a Crusade.

Templars,Priory of Sion,Da Vinci Code