Rating: 
Summary: A Long Un-Blinding Road
Review: Here they come!!!! The die-hard apologists, the queezy agnostics, even the egalitarian congregationalists must, absolutely must denounce this work.
Synthesis indeed!!!
The work of the authors here is nothing short of sheer genius, but really it is better than that because it contains some of the most important qualities that a socially significant work possesses: Hard work, Truth & Humor.
Delusion being such a key to control and profit that it is, the targets of this book are not exclusive. The writers build within the reader a slow realization of the position of the human race and its self awareness. Cliches abound, but are rooted in truth.
This is no less important simply because so many cliches are used. As the authors found, when you try to stand in the shoes of Socrates and take swiping snips at the puppetting hands of power, lo and behold, some puppets will fall on you.
A good friend of mine sadly warned me once, "That book leads to atheism!" My response was "And!" It never occured to him that maybe Jesus was an atheist, and after publicly hemuliation, the shadows of power spindoctored him into something he fought to debunk. It was bad enough that the roman general Pompeii considered the Jews atheistic, just imagine what a rebel like Jesus must have seemed to his own, giving away truth, encouraging "Thought" Sad to say, times have not changed.
I will say this, reading "The Messianic Legacy" immediately after this book is a better way to take in the full spread of the author's points. And to think how silly "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" looks after you have read this. Seek Truth!
Rating: 
Summary: Sad and Bizarre
Review: It is a sad and bizarre comment on our society that this rubbish should be taken seriously enough to be published at all, let alone achieve best-seller status. It is intellectually nugatory. The size of the audience for this sort of thing suggests to me that the governments of the developed world should be spending a lot more on mental health.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book with a Grain of Salt but READ IT!
Review: This is a wonderful book which presents an alternative perspective on the Christ story. It is indeed much more in a literary vein than a scientific one, but truth is often found much more in literature than in science books. For another view which is far more scientific yet comes to similar conclusions read Barbara Thierings' _Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls_. She uses the gospels themselves to show the truth of what happened. She presents a truly historical Jesus using the "pesher" method of translating the inner meaning of the gospels. Thiering is a highly educated scholar who worked with others to translate the Dead Sea Scrolls when she came upon this method of translation and applied it with amazing results to the Gospels. Put her several books together with _Holy Blood Holy Grail_, and you can really come out with a tantalizing picture different from that touted for at least 1600 years by traditional "Christianity." What is most substantial in the Gospels comes from the profound and wonderful meaning of the Christian message and not from "faith" in the "miracles" surrounding the life of Christ. If you are willing to open your mind to wonderful new possibilities in relation to the Christ story, do not be afraid to read _Holy Blood Holy Grail_. The rewards are many.
Rating:
Summary: Eh??
Review: Complete and absolute tripe. Don't waste the money. Flighty fiction that doesn't do a job of convicing my of anything except that the author is very humorous. Well written comedy though.
Rating:
Summary: Wallowing in ignorance
Review: I truly pity anyone who trusts this book as a work of scholarly research, as I also pity anyone who reads comic books (especially those by Jack Chick) as a reliable source for history and theology.The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, as well as Jack Chick, have each anchored themselves to theses on opposite ends of the delusional spectrum, and have careful interpreted all evidence or lack thereof in a manner that wouldn't disturb their fanciful dreams. Such people never allow themselves to be confused by the facts.
Rating:
Summary: The story
Review: These theories have been around for a long time and the secret society stuff is very plausible but, the story of Jesus as recorded by the King James Bible, is the real story. The Catholics have always worked in conspiracies and many continue today. I say King James, because this is why millions were put to death at the hands of the Catholic Inquisitions. They didn't want the truth being published. The true Church was known by some names such as Anabaptists back when Constantine was attempting to slaughter them. He couldn't flush them out so, he tried to convince them that he was a convert and systematically, converted all of Rome. This of course is impossible since true Christianity, is a personal experience, you just can't declare a whole nation Christian. Constantine, just used this to gain more power and the Catholic Church grew out of this.
For the real story of the Vatican, see here:
http://www.chick.com/reading/comics/0112/albertoindex.asp
As for the rest, here is your warning.
"And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
II Thessalonians 6-12
Rating: 
Summary: Funniest reviews ever
Review: Now I know where Ms. Cleo from the Psychic Friends Network gets her clientele! I think this is a highly entertaining piece of speculation that should not be mistaken for a serious historical work. While I am sure that many of the "converts" to the theories behind this book are deeply convinced that a secret order within the Vatican labors night and day to prevent the widespread release of its dark secrets ("Father Sarducci, the Pope orders you to prevent its sale at Wal-Mart and Target!" "Curse those cunning Templars!"), alas, the shortage of priests has sapped the ranks of the secret orders. I'm sure that many of you remember (and some, no doubt, believed) the whole Chariot of the Gods craze in the '70's. I recall that there were similar warnings that the Church was suppressing proof of Jesus' true identity as a visitor from outer space, whose miracles were merely descriptions of advanced technology that the writers of the gospels could not explain. Sounds like the neo-Templars have a bigger beef with the space messiah folks than with the Catholic Church. After all, He couldn't have fathered a child if he was transported from the tomb via Teleport to Alpha Centauri! (Rhetorical question: How come the Baptists and the Pentacostalists don't have secret societies trying to stamp out these "heretical" works?) Also, please don't cite texts as "proof" of speculative claims if you haven't bothered to read or research them yourself (plug to buy them through Amazon)! To point out just a few, the Koran was written over 600 years after Jesus' death. If you're having a hard time with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's accounts, taking Muhammad's highly eliptical references literally (especially since he never did visit the south of France) seems a little ironic. Finally, how 'bout this little doozy from the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, "Jesus said, "I myself shall lead (Mary) in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven." Yikes! What happend to the goddess within? I think NOW will probably want to thank the Church for its attempts to suppress that text, huh? To recap: entertaining speculative fiction, NOT historical fact. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, yet . . .
Review: The theories of Christ in this, and its sequel, the Messianic Conspiracy, are fascinating, yet patently false. Sad that they're being propogated by the DaVinci code. The fact is that the canonical gospels can be verifiably dated from the time of the Apostles (indeed, fragments of a copy of the Gospel of Matthew have recently been conclusively dated to AD 64). The Nag Hammadi 'scriptures', as well as all other cannot be dated any earlier than the third century. One set would have been read by eye-witnesses, the other not. The fact is that the perspectives propogated by this book cannot themselves be dated any earlier than the 3rd or 4th centuries, whereas widespread orthodox Christianity is witnessed to by extra-biblical accounts as early as the end of the first century, specifically in the epistles of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. On the other hand, the Merovingian delusions have shaped European History, and doubtless continue to do so. The book is a good read. So is "Tarzan of the Apes", and no less believable.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Starting Point
Review: For those new to the whole Holy Blood mystery, Mary Magdalene, and other esoterica related to Rennes-le-Chateau and the Knights Templar, this is a good starting point. Yes, there are missteps and misrepresentations. As you read other books, though, these become clearer; a truer picture evolves. If the authors are guilty of anything it is taking some of the stories from previous authors at face value. Some of these stories were sensationalized or could even be "red herrings" put in place deliberately to mislead would-be detectives. It is all a big puzzle. If you are interested in these subjects, do read this book. It is one that most people refer back to. I have read it several times, including once while visiting Rennes-le-Chateau.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This is not a book for die-hard Catholics. It challenges the very foundation of the Church. But, if you're someone who is intrique by "possibilities", this is a great read. It takes the DaVinci Code to the realm of actual possibilities.
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