Posted on 06/12/2002 3:30:44 PM PDT by blam
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:00:41 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Thanks; interesting article.
Yes; which is a book I have some strong opinions on, so bear with me if I sound a little harsh here, LOL! (BTW, hi, stands2, LOL!) I spent about ten years trying to find independent corroboration for some of "Holy Blood"'s claims and I reached the conclusion that the book was not history but propaganda for the "Priory of Zion" secret society spotlighted by the authors. The book echoes a pseudo-historical lineage claimed by the OTO, Aleister Crowley's cult, which was connected with the French "priest" mentioned in the first chapter of the book and central to the book's thesis, Berenger Sauniere. "Holy Blood: Holy Grail" carefully avoids mentioning this OTO connection, but it's described in another book on the topic, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, "The Templar Revelation", pp. 207-208. The book is basically an attempt to give the OTO's view of history a veneer of historical respectability. It appears to be based on extensive research on the surface but the case collapses quickly if you dig into the details. For instance, the authors rely heavily on New Testament scholars who advance idiosyncratic theories for which there is little supporting evidence, like Hugh Schonfield and Morton Smith. They make many unsubstantinated claims about medieval history, such as for instance connecting the Templar Knights to a medieval "Priory of Zion" order for which there is no independent evidence apart from "secret documents" which the authors got from a modern French secret society of the same name. If you read closely, the authors actualy admit there is no evidence to support many of their key claims, for example: 416: "No independent source could provide us with any link between Edouard de Bar and Guillaume de Gisors"; 421: "We discovered no recorded contact between Flamel and Rene de Anjou". Their interpretation of modern history builds on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Nazi propaganda document known to have been written by a French forger. There are numerous problems like this in the book--I don't have time to catalog them here but I've got literally pages and pages of notes on this. I would not put any stock in anything based on this book or its various spinoffs and emulations.
Again, IMHO--LOL!
Hope you don't mind the endearment, as I'm a Southern/Texan female and it's part of my programming. ;-)
Don't mind the endearment at all :) I haven't read Eco but have heard descriptions of his stuff--"Foucault's Pendulum", right?
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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