Origin of the Priory of Sion
The author, Dan Brown, claims before he begins his novel that the following is fact:"The
Priory of Sion-a European secret society founded in 1099-is a real organization. In 1975 Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Further research into the origin of the Priory of Sion:
The Priory of Sion was created in 1956 by an eccentric, Pierre Plantard.
Plantard and associate, Philippe de Chérisey, fabricated a series of documents, including Les Dossiers Secrets, and planted them in various French libraries.
The false documents created a false history for the Priory, including a false inception date of 1099 and a false list of members, including Sir IsaacNewton.
Chérisey publicly admitted the documents were forgeries in 1971.
Plantard subsequently admitted they were forgeries as well.
In 1989 Plantard fabricated a new history of the Priory of Sion, now founded in 1681, and supplied a new list of Grand Masters.
Plantard ended up in court in 1993, where he admitted his hoax.
Origin of the Bible:
Dan Brown claims that all descriptions of documents are accurate. The Da Vinci Code claims that:
a) More than 80 gospels were considered for the New Testament. (231)
b) The Bible was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine who omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ's human traits and embellished those gospels that made him godlike.
Further Research into the Origin of the Bible:
Of all the writings that were ever called a gospel in the first 500 years of Christianity, most are small compilations of esoteric sayings ascribed to Jesus written two hundred or more years after his life and not narratives of any portion of his life. If all remaining "gospels" were to be counted, we would have about two dozen documents. About half of these are known only from quotations from early church fathers or small scraps of fragments. There is little that is unorthodox in them.1
Constantine did not assemble the New Testament. The canonization of the New Testament was a process that began during the first century (e.g., Paul's writings were already recognized as Scripture almost immediately … see II Peter 3:15,16).
Virtually the entire New Testament could be reproduced from citations contained in the works of early church fathers (32,000 citations prior to the Council of Nicea, AD 325).
Origin of the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ:
According to Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code:
a) "Jesus' establishment as 'the Son of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the council of Nicea." (A.D.233)
b) "Because Constantine upgraded Jesus' status almost four centuries after Jesus' death,thousands of documents already existed chronicling his life as a mortal man."
Further Research into the Origin of the Doctrine of Christ's Deity:
The deity of the Christ, was not only prophesied hundreds of years before Christ ever came (e.g., Isaiah 9:6), but it was affirmed in the four biblical Gospels, which are the earliest gospels. The doctrine of Christ's deity was accepted throughout Christendom up to and including the Council of Nicea.1. Craig Blomberg, (NewTestament scholar), Denver Journal, Vol. 7, 2004.
The deity of Christ was already accepted by all the bishops at the Council of Nicea and was not up for discussion. What was discussed was the relationship between the deity of Christ and His mortality (Was He fully God and fully man, or just fully God?).
Contrary to the Da Vinci Code's claim, not a single document exists chronicling Christ's life as a mere mortal man.
The Dead SeaScrolls and the Nag Hammadi papari:
According to the Da Vinci Code the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi papari speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms. They supposedly expose glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications in the 'modern' Bible. (234)
Further Research into the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi papari:
The Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish documents that say nothing about Christ or Christianity.
The Nag Hammadi documents were written over 150 years after the four gospels and the time of Christ. They in no way imply that Christ was not divine or that there are any historical discrepancies in the New Testament.
The Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene
The Da Vinci Code proposes the gospel of Philip and and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene as evidence that Jesus married Mary. In particular, the Da Vinic Code cites a 'quote' from the Gospel of Philip:
“And the companion of the saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, “Why do you love her more than all of us?’”
Further research on the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene:
The Gospel of Philip is a late third century Gnostic collection, over 200 years removed from the time of Christ and, therefore, of little historical value.
The Gospel of Mary quotes come from an early third century document of no historical value. Even if these 'gospels' said what Brown suggests they say, since they were written over 200 years after the time of Christ, they have little, if any, historical credibility.
Neither provides any evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene..
The actual text from the Gospel of Philip is fragmentary and damaged, so only some words can be made out as follows: “And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene [...] her more than [...] the disciples [...] kiss her [...] on her [...]”
In Da Vinci Code, Teabing states that any Aramaic scholar will tell us that 'companion' means'spouse'. In reality, the document was written in Coptic, not Aramaic and the word for companion was borrowed from Greek and most likely means 'spiritual sister'; 'wife' would have been 'gyne'.
Another section in the Gospel of Philip not cited by Brown expands on the early Christian practice of greeting one another with a holy kiss, "For it is by a kiss that the perfect conceive and give birth. For this reason we also kiss one another. We receive conception from the grace which is in one another."
Mary Magdalene's and Sarah's records:
The Da Vinci Code maintains that 'Magdalene's and Sarah's lives were scrutinously chronicled by their Jewish protectors.'
Further Research into Mary Magdalene and Sarah's later histories:
No such chronicles exist and there is no evidence that any ever did exist.
Further Reading: Ben Witherington (2002) The Gospel Code, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove,Illinois. Witherington is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary and author of numerous books on the New Testament.
Kirk Durston is a founding member of the New Scholars' Society. Kirk often speaks on university campuses to academics and to students on subjects of theological interest and scholarship.
Check out the following links for more info:
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