The da Vinci Code.

Most of it are fictions. Only the names of the groups except the supposedly something of sion(which has been proved to be a hoax) is true and a bit of tidbits.

I've never read the book myself but I've seen a documentary debunking it. The Knight Templars were probably not targeted because they were heretics, but because they were wealthy, and the King of France at that moment, after seeing the treasures, targeted the Knight Templars.

Ray is right, it's completely fictional. The plot is based partly on the Propiry of Sion hoax and partly on simple ignorance and misunderstanding of history and art (such as the idea that the St John figure in Leonardo's Last Supper is a female. Anybody who has studied the religious art of the period knows that St John was traditionally shown as a beardless, long-haired graceful youth, and that Leonardo routinely painted girly-looking young men.

Yep. I've seen a couple of renaissance paintings of male looking like female.

A Masterpiece?
I can't speak intelligently about how factual The Da Vinci Code is; I only know what I've seen on Discovery and the History Channel. However, was Brown trying to popularize a theory, or just write a really entertaining novel that masterfully weaves facts into its fiction to make it that much more exciting? I suspect the latter.

However, Mrs. Rose, I have to take issue with the use of the word "masterpiece." A highly, highly entertaining novel? Yes. Will students of literature be required to read this fifty years from now? No (unless they're writing their dissertation on early 21st century pop culture). I am, however, greatly anticipating next year's release of the film version of The Da Vinci Code. Given its star and director, it should be phenomenal.

And no, I don't find cute....I'm still trying figure out if it's supposed to be blushing or holding its breath to get its way (or maybe just an asphyxiation high). :wink:

yeah i suppose u are right.
i really want to believe it though.
i suppose we will never know what happened, it was 2000 years ago.

There is no reason why you cant believe it.Religion is belief.

I believe it.
Ther is a Jedi religion based on the Star Wars characters beliefs.
We'll start our own religion based on it and we wont allow non believers to join in.
If a certain amount of people believe, then it can become an official religion.

And I find your lack of faith in it disturbing...


But no, really, you can choose to believe it if you'd like, but actually researching into the matter reveals that many of the claims are fictional, or disputed at best. Still not too bad of a book-- a very nice read, actually-- but I wouldn't exactly base my entire outlook on life or my religious philosophy on it.

There are a lot of reasons why I can't believe it.





The Jedi beliefs was based on Taoism and other stuff from other beliefs (what I've heard).



Hey, the truth is often stranger than fiction.

yeah obviously i wont believe all of it, but the book does definately make more sense when it says jesus was mortal, but the pagan and christian religions fused together instead of jesus being the son of god etc.

The Da Vinci Code is such an AWESOME book!

What is the most awesome part? The revelation that women played a large part in the early days of Christendom? or that a small group of radicals hold power over the vast empire of present Roman Catholicism. Is either of those ideas really new or has the author just managed to take what are usually the subjects of scholarly work and put them into the blender/chopper/MixMaster of pop culture?

By the way. I hated the end of the book. I thought he copped out in the worst way. Awful.

Joe(the words of Sojourner Truth: "Jesus came from the union of God and a woman, weren't no man had anything to do with it." Nation.

I hear it's one of those books you either really love or really hate...

There was a previous book, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" that from what I have heard, inspired this book.

Everyday life, all my life I have been given the impression women are second rate citizens.At no point have I ever thought we played a large role at any time in history,completely the opposite.Our main literary character is portrayed as a prostitute,we are paid less than men, we are considered weaker.It is nice to know that at some point we were important.
In that way TDVC was completely new information to me, and I dont think its a bad thing to want to believe it.

right on, material girl!!
Its nice to know women actually played an important part of history.
and dont get me started on the whole women gettin paid less than men thing...

Go on,let it all out!

There are lots of strong/great females in history:

Joan of Arc
Mother Theresa
Queen Victoria
Queen Elizabeth
Mulan (she could have existed, there's an ancient poem about her)
The Viking woman who was in the New World with Leif Erikson (?) I forgot her name
The Spanish woman who fought in a guerilla warfare against Napoleonic troops
The woman (rosa...?)who took x-ray pictures of DNA
................................................................................................................

yeah, compared to about a million men.
I think the fact you couldnt remember half of their names clarifies the fact they arent that great / arent that famous.

I had already known that Mary Magdalene was probably not a prostitute before TDVC was released. But what else did it reveal that would empower women? The Gospel of Thomas that is mentioned is a forgery not to mention that other parts of it are very sexist against women which is another reason why it was so thoroughly rejected. It wasn't written in Aramaic as Dan Brown claims. And so on...

If we were to use true historical evidence, we would find that woman had larger roles in the Church before. No need for conspiracy theories. With the death of JPII there has been a lot of talk in the media of a woman priesthood. While that has no precedent, there were women deaconesses in the early church. Many claim that they were just called "deaconess" but were not ordained into the Holy Orders but there is strong evidence to the contrary. So much evidence that the Orthodox are moving in the direction of ordaining woman deaconesses.

I just finished reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. This guy seriously has something against the Catholic Church. With all the research he did on the Conclave, it's surprising that he got some major facts wrong. There is no rule that only cardinals may be popes as he claims.

Ray-Its something in the air, its not about individuals.Men are basically assumed to be better than women.

Kelly Holmes won gold medals.'Isnt she clever, and she's only a woman'.
Maggie Thatcher,'Who'd have thought it, a woman prime Minister'
Queen Elizabeth I.Reportedly lived in a 'mans world' and her punishment was to become the 'Virgin Queen'.Ok that can be interpreted ina number of ways but it means she had to give alot up just to do a mans job, to be taken seriously.

Grrrrr, men can blow up people, run countries and get it wrong etc they wont be blamed,itl just be washed over and buried, not driven into the ground like a woman would.

Why do women think they have to act/dress like men to do the same job.We can do things just as well but in a differnt way.

And relaaaaaaax...

Its Friday and I want to go home.