Rating: 
Summary: What IS behind the assertions in The Da Vinci Code?
Review: Like several other authors eagerly attempting to debunk "The Da Vinci Code," this one shows no evidence of having read two books by Margaret Starbird actually mentioned by Dan Brown in his work (on page 253). One might expect that intellectual curiosity might have persuaded Rev. Bock to read "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar" or "The Goddess in the Gospels," since these books provided background research for assertions made in "The Da Vinci Code" relating to Mary Magdalene as well as some of the symbols, fairy tales, and medieval artifacts found in the book. Starbird rests her case squarely on canonical Scriptures and is worth reading on that grounds alone. When fiction is stripped away from "The Da Vinci Code," what remains is powerful evidence of the "Sacred Union" at the very heart of the Christian story.
Rating:
Summary: meaningless...
Review: Nothing in this book proves anything... If Da Vinci Code is wrong about Magdalene and the conspiracy, this book is not right either... faith is very hard to argue and everybody believes what they wanted to believe...
Rating:
Summary: Obvious agenda
Review: Obvious agenda
Any time a book gets written to debunk another book, one must be on guard. When the subject is religion and the author holds a doctorate in theological studies, one already knows what his agenda is. He will defend the party line, of course, and use all the cliches, like using 'Christ' (annointed one) as a synonym or even as a sirname for Jesus. The author's interchancing of Christ, Lord and Savior shows his bias. He spends a lot of words trying to disprove the DaVinci code, but in the main, his arguments are, for the most part, ipse dixit, with little reference material outside of cannonical text. Having thoroughly read 'Bloodline of the Holy Grail', 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' the Mary Magdaline Gospel, 'The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls', 'The Way of the Essenes', 'The teachings of the Essenes From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls', 'The Hiram Key', 'The Second Messiah' and more, I can say with some conviction that Professor Maloney's book does little to debunk the DaVinci Code and is largely a sermon reflecting his conservative religious opinion and little more. Read it if you want another opinion, but remember that he is strongly biased.For a better researched discussion with more facts and references I suggest "The Templar Revelation" by Picket and Prince (ISBN 0-684-84891-0) as a better way to spend your money.
Rating:
Summary: Yeeeeaawwwn - Zzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: Ok, maybe ths book isn't all THAT fatiguing to read, but it does drag and is dry. Bock is a scholar (good point) and he writes like one (bad point). Also, as the information about this book states in the PR material "Darrell Bock's research uncovers the origins of these codes by focusing on the 325 years immediately following the birth of Christ." This is a problem becasue Brown's book goes farther back in history than 325 a.d. Brown's underlying material dates back to the ancient goddess worship of the Mesopotamian era. I am surprised Bock did not deal too much with things like truly ancient goddess worship, Venus-related issues, etc. Clearly, Bock wanted to clear the name of Christianity more than do a complete look at all the things Brown had to say. Also, precious little material deals with the actual Priory of Sion that Brown discusses in his bestseller. Again, Bock was too concerned with simply proving the Bible, Jesus' divinity, and how Christianity is true. Other aspects of the Brown-Da Vinci tale were covered not nearly as nicely as they could have been covered. He missed the more edgy issues Brown raises regarding the Knights Templar, Witch Hunts, paganism, etc. I agree with other reviewers who say that Bock's book is better than most. But it does not beat out "The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code" by Abanes (a younger, more contemporary author, who I believe much closer to Dan Brown's age). Bock's book is hardly different from any history book on Christianity you might pick up in a Christian bookstore.
Rating: 
Summary: Minimal, hurried, shallow, and not very convincing!
Review: The arguments the Author presents are so air-tight that he feels compelled to repeatedly tell the reader that the code is broken. Its intended audience is obviously the Sunday head-nodder with little interest of any serious discussion. The book gives you the feeling that the author felt a real need to hurrieldy puplish this work as if to address a serious threat to the faithful. Just imagine what may happen if Christians start reading the history of their own church for a change.
Although the Author selectively references ancient documents, he mainly uses the N.T. to prove his arguments. It is as if you are listening to a Republican quoting Bush to prove a Republican point. My favorite was quoting Acts 1:15-26, listing the qualifications of an Apostle (male, be with Jesus, & a witness to the ressurection) to prove the Biblical limitaions of the role of women. The very same text can be used to prove that the men who gave us this text meant to limit the role of women for no other reason than being a woman. Twelve men casting lots to pick a replacement for a man that betrayed Jesus, stipulating that the replacement has to be a man. The very same point that the Da Vinci code tried to make.
Rating:
Summary: Hackery
Review: The authors use dubious theology and selective history to "refute" a fiction novel. Why are some gospels better than the others? The canonized gospels were not contemporary and written while there are names attached, the authorship is in question.
Blind devotion to religion does not make one a theologin or historian. And neither author seems to know much more than what they have heard in sunday school or read in a modernized badly translated bible.
The DaVinci Code offers readers glimpses of well-known and well-documented stories of christinaity and its origins. The origin is far more complicated than the sunday school tripe the authors of this book push.
Rating: 
Summary: An useful and adequate refutation
Review: The novel, of course, is a piece of historical and literary trash. Besides this one by Bock, other relevant books include the following: Cracking Da Vinci's Code: You've Read The Fiction Now Read the Facts
James L. Garlow & Peter Jones The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code: A Challenging Response to the Bestselling Novel
Richard Abanes De-coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code
Amy Welborn The Da Vinci Deception: Credible Answers to the Questions Millions are Asking about Jesus, The Bible, and the Da Vinci Code
Dr. Erwin Lutzer The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction
Hank Hanegraaff & Paul Maier The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci
Ben Witherington III ** For general works on Christian apologetics, see one or more of the following: William Lane Craig:
- Reasonable Faith J. P. Moreland:
- Scaling the Secular City Vincent Cheung (Reformation Ministries International):
- Systematic Theology - Ultimate Questions
- Presuppositional Confrontations Gordon Clark (Trinity Foundation):
- An Introduction to Christian Philosophy
- A Christian View of Men and Things
- Religion, Reason, and Revelation
Rating: 
Summary: The best of the bunch
Review: The people who wrote the last couple negative reviews seem more to be taken in by Dan Brown. Bock is indeed a scholar but yet his book is simple and understandable. It gives a clear look at Brown's claims and why they are false. I recommend this book over the others out there. The Wall Street Journal called this "the best of the bunch" when it comes to books about The DaVinci Code.
Rating:
Summary: Big Dissapointment; Try a different "Cracking the DVC" book.
Review: There's about a dozen or so books out today on the subject of the Da Vinci Code. "Cracking the Code", "Da Vinci Decoded", "Fact and Fiction and the Da Vinci Code", "De-Coding Da Vinci". Out of the dozen or so that are out, I've read or skimmed through 5 or 6 of them, and of them this is the worst. This book has a very nice presentation. The cover design is very good, the author's credentials are listed on the cover, and there are good blurbs on the back. The description on the book jacket flap makes this book out to be just what you're looking for. Wrong. This book is not effective at all. First off, the approach the author makes to de-coding Da Vinci makes no sense. For example, in the first chapter, "Who was Mary Magdalene?" he uses the Bible to show evidence that Jesus was in fact not married to Mary Magdalene. This is stupid for two reasons. 1)The novel claims that the Bible is a cover-up, so how can you use the accused cover-up to disprove the theory. That doesn't prove anything. 2)He deeply investigates the four canonical gospel to show that Jesus wasn't married, he'll say like "After you read the verse in John 10, you'll see that it wouldn't make sense for Jesus to be married if you also read Luke 7". You don't need to examine the gospels to see if Jesus wasn't married. If you simply read through them there is no way you could get the inkling he was married, AT ALL. So what's the point? Stupid. So in the end, this book was a major dissapointment. Thankfully, there ARE some EXCELLENT books out there that actually do what this book attempted. If you're going to buy just one book de-bunking the Da Vinci Code, make it "Secrets of the Code" or "Cracking the Code", not this horrible attempt.
Rating:
Summary: Cut to the chase
Review: These books that are using the Da Vinci Code to advance another agenda really bug me. Just go through the book and clear up the mistakes, answer the questions. We don't need the evangelizing, and so on. I resent books like this.
| 
