Rating: 
Summary: Too Much Info
Review: A fairly well-written book, but spends too much time evangelizing and sermonizing. I wanted something more factual and simply a straightforward historical reference guide for the non-religious. Something that would simply make a comparison bewteen facts in history and claims fo Brown. Also, too long. And, in my opinion, too expensive. This book, I must say though, is better than the one by Garlow and Barnes. But I'd try Abanes' short volume "The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code," especially for non-scholars out there. Abanes is a bestselling, cutting-edge author who writes more for the popular market, gets to the point, and has great documentation. And it retail's for only $6.99 (JUST released).
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone's asking..
Review: After reading "The Da Vinci Code" - a lot of people are asking about Leonardo da Vinci's art, the Knights Templar, and so on. This book doesn't even try to answer those questions. Along with the other books cited, try Welborn's "De Coding Da Vinci" which is thorough, very well written and doesn't beat you over the head with Christian evangelizing.
Rating:
Summary: Damage Control
Review: All one need do is read the blurbs at the beginning of the book to realize that this book isn't so much about refuting anything presented in The Da Vinci Code so much as is it's about doing damage control for what they perceive to be an attack upon the validity of their faith. One cannot refute the accuracy, or lack thereof, of any historical reference by summing it all up with faith, as I feel this book does by way of the last chapter. The mere mentioning of the word faith in a book claiming to deal with historical accuracies, quite frankly, removes all threads of credibility.
Rating:
Summary: What a work of Dribble!
Review: All that Dr. Bock seems capable of is mouthing religious ideals.
I bought this little book hoping to get a more detailed look into some of the views that were expressed in "The DaVinci Code". Instead a got a lecture on how right and pure the early church fathers were and pages of Dr. Bock's defense of his Christian faith.
Dr. Bock should confine his writings to church publications and not try to make money off popular best sellers. Rather tacky!
Rating:
Summary: What factual evidence?
Review: Although this book is easy to read, I was unimpressed by the lack of REAL, factual evidence. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, and this book tries to poke the many holes in THAT dreadful work of art. But how do you refute a work of fiction by using the same source? What I mean is, the Da Vinci code is basically saying the Bible does not tell the whole story. Ok, fine, but how is Bock's book going to refute Brown's work by using the Bible and scriptures as it's main source? The Bible is what they are arguing, so you cannot use the source of the problem as the answer. They are like two children saying "Did not!", "Did to!", and so on. It's just poor research. I want different proof.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written
Review: As a conservative evangelical Christian, I was eager to read a scholarly refutation of "The Da Vinci Code." Regretfully, this book was a dreadful disappointment. It was so poorly written and painfully simplistic. The contents were terribly disorganized and lacked any coherent structure. It is obvious that the publisher sought to capitalize on the success of the "The Da Vinci Code" by publishing this waste of paper. Readers, beware! Don't be fooled by the enticing description on the book's cover! This book is a waste of one's time and money. I wish I could get my money back!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good!
Review: Bock certainly has written a lot about the period around the first century AD, and he draws on that experience to compose a lot of the text of this book. In that sense, Bock is doing a great service by providing a decent historical context to the assertions made in Dan Brown's book. Unfortunately, Bock is not really able to address the whole set of contentions surrounding modern Wicca and goddess ritual, which is the whole point of Brown's novel. Brown has already pretty much said he intended to promote goddess worship, and his claims in that area need to be addressed as well. This book doesn't do much of that. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of busy, and I found it a lot easier to get through "Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code". It addresses most of the same issues Bock does, but it also goes on to address the problem of Wicca that Brown poses and Bock doesn't deal with. Kellmeyer's argument from the Pauline epistles against the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene is unique and powerful, and the information he provides about German influences on Wicca is also remarkable. If Dan Brown had known what Kellmeyer knew, he probably would have re-phrased a lot of his book. Whether or not you get Bock's book, you can't miss out on Kellmeyer's. He wrote it in the same style Brown uses - short chapters, where each chapter addresses a single issue raised on a particular page of the novel. The issues are addressed in the same order they appear in the novel, so it's easy to find the discussion you want, and a lot of the discussions are cross-linked to one another to show you how Brown wove things together. Besides, his writing is snappy and fun, so it's easy to read. Bock and others could take lessons from that.
Rating:
Summary: References please?
Review: Bock has written a very fair and balanced treatment of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. He does not exhibit any anger at all toward Brown's book or Brown himself. Bock simply seeks to explain the questionable (at best) history behind The Da Vinci code and make readers of the book understand that it is wonderful fiction and "should be appreciated as such" (a direct quote from Bock's book), but that's all it is, FICTION.
Bock quotes from several first and second century primary sources, most outside of the books that make up the current Bible, to support his contention that there is very little good history to support Brown's claims in his book.
In contrast to many reviewers who have dismissed this book as a "hatchet job" on Brown with a preconcieved idea to dismiss his claims, Bock has no problem with affirming in part a couple of Brown's claims, such as the role of women in the early Church. This is the mark of a fair and balanced historical treatment.
Bock fully explains that many of the "facts" presented as contained in actual historical documents in The DaVinci Code, including some of the gnostic gospels, simply do not support the ideas contained in Brown's book. Basically, even his own "sources" don't even support his arguments. Therefore, many of those arguments, such as the contention that Mary Magdeline's reputation was denegrated as prostitute in order to suppress her real importance to Jesus. The real historical fact is that the ONLY reference to Mary Magdeline as a prostitute was made by a Pope in the fourth century, and this is most likely due to a misreading of the first Bible passages where Mary appears. Bock explains that that passage actually speaks of another Mary as a possible prostitute but that passage introduces Mary Magdeline as a distinct seperate person from the Mary who annointed Jesus feet and was most likely a former prostitute. Mary Magdeline, most likely followed Jesus after he exercised demons from her in one of his many miracles. Mary was a disciple just as the other 12 were disciples. She also served as a "disciple to the disciples" in telling the story of the resurrected Jesus. No more, no less.
Bock also puts the contention that Jesus as a holy Jew "couldn't" have been single in historical context. In fact, many strict holy Jews in the first century were single, based upon their reading of God's instructions to them in the Bible. Bock wonderfully addresses the issue of Jesus divinity and conclusively proves, again using first century sources, some of them outside the Bible, that Jesus was definitely thought of as devine several hundred years before Nicia took place. There was no "vote" on Jesus divinity as Brown's characters contend because that was already a well accepted fact among Christians from the first century forward.
Bock does not specifically address DaVinci's painting because there is no need to. Once Brown's other "codes" are broken, which Bock does with historical precision and impeccable sources, there is no need to address DaVinci's possible role in a secret society. Once the other more important "codes" are broken, it's readily apparent that without the foundation of the book, the details of DaVinci's alleged membership in a secret society (which was in fact founded in the 1960s by a French con-man, it is not an ancient society at all) simply aren't worth addressing because it's apparent by Bock's main argument against the other "codes" that these details on the face of them have no historical basis.
After reading or listening to Bock's very wonderfully sourced treatment of Brown's "history" no one can go away still convinced in The DaVinci Code's "history" only that it is a wonderfully written novel by a wonderfully creative author, unless they specifically choose to remain blind to well researched historical facts.
Rating:
Summary: Only part of the story
Review: Bock is an evangelical, and it shows, even through his scholarship. His discussion of women and Christianity omits, oh,..2000 years of Catholic and Eastern Christian tradition. Hardly a word about art, Priory of Sion, Grail, etc. NOT the "questions everyone is asking." Only a couple of them. I want my money back!
Rating: 
Summary: Cash in?
Review: Bock's book does not "cash in" on the Da Vinci Code book anymore than Brown "cashes in" on the fact that 80% of bookstore patrons are women. Brown specifically built his novel to appeal to what he perceives to be the "modern woman reader". Both Bock and Kellmeyer are left to clean up the mess that Brown's book makes of history and theology. Both Bock and Kellmeyer do good jobs of this - indeed, the two corrections complement one another very well. Bock deals extensively with the early Church history, Kellmeyer provides an overview of the Church history but also deals with the artwork and the Wiccan history. In short, Kellmeyer gives you the all the theological and historical facts necessary to answer nearly every immediate question Brown's book could raise in your mind, while Bock concentrates on providing an exhaustive context to help you straighten out the hash Brown makes of early Church history. Saying Bock and Kellmeyer "cash in" on Brown is like saying the janitorial service "cashes in" on an epidemic of diarrhea and vomiting at the city airport. Brown writes fiction in every sense of the word. Bock and Kellmeyer give you the truth. If that's cashing in, let's have more of it!
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