Jesus in America (US News and World Report's Obligatory "da Vinci Code Cover Story)

US News and World Report ^ | 12/22/03 | Linda Kulman and Jay Tolson

[Graymatter]

The art history was a little slipshod too. "Madonna of the Rocks" was painted on wood, and Brown depicts the heroine bending a fragile canvas.

I read it, and IMO Brown took a theme vocabulary list of words about Mary, da Vinci, and the Bible, and fed that list into a computer which filled in the blanks of a standard novel...and voila. I've seen more imagination in disposable cameras.

[WOSG]

go ahead and do it ... lousy revisionist books are a great excuse to educate!

[Podkayne]

Mervingian = re: Knights Templar = re: Any othr secret society that purports to have "the truth" in a lock box for which only THEY have the key.

These "petite heresies" have been around forever and are the battle cry of the disenfranchised, the disillusioned, the corrupted. (The Alibgensian heresies are a great example)

Any way to weaken the body of christ is their operational motto.

Masons, Moslems Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses- all have interesting "twists" on the "divinity?" of Christ.

There can be no "new world order" where all religions are equal. As Christ most plainly said - " Those who aren't for me are against me.

[Phsstpok]

Nice find. Bookmarked and saved as a Word doc. This is similar to some of the stuff I've come across both in FR and elsewhere. I'm saving up stuff like this for a friend until he's finished the book. I don't want to mess up his having a good time, but I don't want him to wander off thinking what he read is any more connected to reality than Willy Wonka, and far less well thought out or intended.

Where are the inklings when you need them? Ah yes, writing about Hogwarts these days, I understand.

[Lloyd227]

Holy Grail, Holy Blood was released nearly 20 years ago and the "story" told there is hardly new.

No doubt that The Matrix Reloaded use of "Merovingian" spiked the attention, but this is a topic that has had small cult like followings for centuries.

I'm sorry, but I dont' see any new trends here, just old stories and mildly interesting retelling.

[infowarrior]

Actually, in the Frank Yerby novel, it was Judas who was crucified and not Jesus...

the infowarrior

[Sans-Culotte]

Actually, in the Frank Yerby novel, it was Judas who was crucified and not Jesus...

Are you sure? It's been a long time, but I thought Judas was the narrator. He regarded Jesus as an enemy, because he (Judas) was in love with a prostitute who only had eyes for Jesus, which was supposed to be ironic since they were physically virtually identical. I seem to remember him describing the crucifixion in detail, and then taking Jesus's place as the living Jesus after Jesus' death. I think Jesus actually believed in His mission in the book, and would not have taken part in a deception about His resurrection.

Doesn't matter anyway. In any case, it was a bogus novel that attempted to debunk Christianity with an implausible theory. And why wasn't Judas mistaken for Jesus when both were alive?

[presidio9]

You'll find "The Da Vinci Code" purposely in the fiction section.

Don't tell me. Tell Time, Newsweek, and US News. All three have run cover stories on this book in the past three weeks (though Saddam's capture bumped Jesus off Time's cover after they had already printed 100,000 copies).

[presidio9]

Anyone who bothers to read that brief

Where can I find it.

[CWW]

The book is bad fiction at best and is clearly driven by the author's strongly anti-Catholic and anti-organized religious bigotry. What really amazes me is how many members of the press and the public think that it's true.

Don't make the same mistake that was made at my house. Save the $40 bucks and put it in the offering plate this Christmas.

[nmh]

What a bunch of nonsense. I couldn't get past Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a deist who DID believe in the Judeo Christian God. What he couldn't accept were the miracle so he rewrote the Bible, The Jeffersonian Bible and left out ALL miracles. Frankly I think the poor soul was a tad confused. If he could believe in God, Who is supernatrual than why write off miracles? It doesn't make sense.

Truth doesn't have feelings attached to it. Truth is simply truth. What they've done to Jesus they will eventually pay for in eternity. Ever year it is something different - Jesus was married, Jesus was intimately involved with Mary, Jesus was a homosexual then the ridiculous code theories. It's all blasphemy. What is true is that they hate Jesus and want to discredit Him in whatever way they can. He threatens them to no end, hence the ridiculous theories.

[nmh]

"This book is most likely a seed. There will be several seeds planted in the corrupt mind of man to prepare for the "great falling away". Just another indication of where we are on the road to endsville, baby."

You have that right. Look at how many take the bait. It's sad.

[nmh]

Hos.4:6

[6] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Without knowledge they'll believe anything. The above is what God will do for them - forget them.

[billbears]

later bump

[presidio9]

I threw the book out in the airport so that no one else would fall into the suck-fest that is Dan Brown.

Lousy, lousy author--honestly it was just like a 'if it wasn't for you pesky symbologists!' episode of Scooby Doo.

Dammit Dan Brown! I want 6 hours of my life back you time-wasting hack!

Tell us how you really feel.
But seriously, the thing that a lot of people don't get (though I have seen it pointed out here) is that Brown writes novels for women. The characters do resemble cartoon characters. GOOD or EVIL. Through and through. Always the worlds's preeminent authority in whatever field they are involved in. And so forth.

[Congressman Billybob]

My brief in Elk Grove v. Newdow, the Pledge of Allegiance, "under God," case, may appear on the Supreme Court's own website. If it does not, it will certainly appear on another website, of the client which engaged me to write the brief.

Either way, when that brief is available on line, I will provide a link. It will probably be at least three weeks before it's available on line. It ia being physically filed with the Court this afternoon. (Suffice to say, it takes the position that the Ninth Circuit is dead wrong to ban the Pledge as written.)

John / Billybob

[bmwcyle]

Fiction novels about Jesus have been around a long time

[presidio9]

I shall look forward to reading it sir.