Rating: 
Summary: A Great Tour through Western History
Review: Like other reviewers before I found this hard to put down. It's obviously well researched, although the authors admitted they don't have the all of the pieces of evidence. I especially liked how they tied the historical information with artistic depictions of the Arcadians and the Holy Grail romances. By asking the questions they asked, they were able to draw pieces together, but did not claim this as the final truth. The book also clarified many questions I had regarding Constantine, the Catholic Church and its incessant animosity toward the Masons. For this I am very grateful to Baigent, Lincoln and Lee.
Rating:
Summary: Academic excitement with debatable shocking
Review: Once I have read this very book of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, I found exciting facts that some I have heard but just a kind of rumors and some never ever know before. These authors made the 'academical history' and Christendom issues simple with solid facts and evidences that I can't deny but tease my whole Christianity history' body of knowledges
Rating:
Summary: The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail
Review: Maybe too many questions are posed... but at the end of the day all are fully answered, which make the book complete. An intriguing piece of detective work, it is unmissable.From the Via Sagra with Christ being put in a tomb under a full moon to the proof that Christ was a husband and a father, and did not die cruxified, mysteries unfold before your own imagination. Definitely not suitable for those under 18-20. And even then...
Rating: 
Summary: The truth is out there. . .
Review: . . .but not in this book! I'm not a historian, nor am I particularly religious. I don't have any axe to grind, no ulterior motives. I can only guess at the motives behind the authors' shoddy research, but they repeatedly present conjecture, hearsay, and unsubstantiated sources as facts, using faulty leaps in logic to move their argument conveniently forward to its suspiciously foregone conclusion. They also fail to subject their work to the most basic balanced peer review. If they're so sure of the truth of their assertions, why not vett them with people who've spent their lives studying the history of Christianity? If the book were true, subjecting it to skepticism would only strengthen its case. The funny thing about conspiracy theories is that you can't disprove them. Attack them and you instantly become a co-conspirator, one of "them," or at least a pawn in "their" game. Alas, in my experience people tend to believe what they want to believe. Much easier than thinking for yourself. . . .
Rating:
Summary: As a fiction, ok,--but as history, no.
Review: I wasn't sure how to rate this book when asked. As a fictional mystery novel, this book would have been exciting; however, this book was meant to be an academic historical study, so I decided to give it what it deserved: one star. As a Master's student in medieval history myself, I could not help but be disappointed in the methodology used to argue the authors' position. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised with the result considering that a novelist, a psychology major with a teaching degree, and an Egyptologist endeavored to study a medieval and biblical historical question. The authors argue that the Prieure de Sion has been concealing a secret about the Merovingian royal bloodline which they infer had been directly descended from Jesus' own family (Mary Magdalene being his wife) by virtue of their connection to the grail legends. This thesis doesn't even qualify as a possibility. The first problem is that the authors do not make any direct connection between the Merovingians and Jesus. They connect the two by their heavy dependence on oral traditions, legends, and fables surrounding the holy grail that are not at all historically reliable, especially if one considers that those fables of the grail emerged for the first time in history 1000 years after the fact! Bloodlines and royal lineages have a tendency in history to be fabricated in order to legitimize a family/individual's political position in power. Just because there was talk and traditions of a bloodline from some obscure "royalty" does not prove any possibility that this is true. In fact, it has already been proven that the geneology the authors so heavily rely on--that is, the one by Plantard--is actually a forgery. No surprise there. Also, the authors' assertion that the word "Sangreal" means "royal blood" (Sang Real) based on the fable "Morte D'Arthur" is ungrounded. The meaning is actually based on Thomas Malory's mispelling of the French word "le saint graal." There are also indications of the authors not being very familiar with general medieval and biblical history. Their account of Roman crucifixition is not entirely accurate; there is no way how the Romans would have staged a crucifixition, let alone Jesus', whether or not Pilate was bribed. Their account of Emperor Constantine's conversion is also inaccurate; if Constantine's conversion wasn't authentic, as the authors' allege, why bother with the expensive building and moving of the imperial administration to Constantinople that was to be the "New Rome" and the heart of a new "Christendom"? Furthermore, their argument that the Roman Church tried deliberately to suppress this "secret" is reminiscent to one of those CIA-type conspiracy theories. Rome's so-called "collusion" with the Carolingians to have the last Merovingian king, Dagobert II, killed overlooks the real reason for the papacy's exhortation to the Carolingians, which was to seek a patron that would fend off the Lombard threat in Italy. The scholarship on this particular question of the papacy and the Carolingians is vast, and none of them even consider the theory espoused by Baigent et. al. Even the authors' argument concerning Fr. Sauniere's alleged "blackmail" of the Vatican doesn't hold water. It has already been discovered that Fr. Sauniere's wealth didn't come from blackmail money from the Vatican but from illicit private Masses he celebrated behind ecclesiastical auspices. This is where Fr. Sauniere received extra funds to finance renovations and excavations to the church at Rennes-le-Chateau. If the authors would have looked in the right places and channels rather than coming up with outrageous conspiracy theories, they would have discovered this. This book is loaded with guesses and misguided assumptions based on sketchy and unrealiable evidence. It is no wonder that this book wasn't part of any medieval bibliography that I have seen, even of those of the Templars. Those who are not well-versed in medieval and biblical scholarship would perhaps find this book very intriguing and interesting. The book is well-written and structured, and loaded with coincidences that would make the thesis compelling and revealing. However, looks can be deceiving. The methodology used in this historical study is grossly flawed, and readers should not take the conclusions too seriously. Nevertheless, if one enjoys a historical fictional novel, in this light I would highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting study, but a flawed conclusion
Review: As someone who has a deep interest in the history of religion and Christianity in particular, I found this book to be fascinating and absorbing - wished I had read it years ago. It is excellent book if you are interested in history and its impact on thought and philosophy, but it is not light reading. Despite the wealth of historical information, much of which may be accurate about the Knights Templar, the Merovingian dynasty of France, and the "Priurie of Sion," the authors are not at all convincing in the presentation of their central thesis, which is that Jesus of Nazareth did not actually die on the cross, and had a child by Mary Magdalene, and furthermore that this child itself was the "holy grail." They ignore the wealth of Biblical and extra-biblical information that totally contradicts their position. Like brilliant professors who are right about many things but have latched on to something which is compelling, but wrong, so it is with the authors of this book. In the preface they indicate that a bishop could not find any meaningful criticism of their work. After reading the book, that statement was silly - I can think of many. Thousands of people have carefully considered the issue of Christ's death and resurrection through the centuries, and have soundly refuted theories like this. See the book, "Who Moved the Stone?" or works by Josh McDowell. Nevertheless, there is much about the book which, though revisionist, may be historically on target. I have my own theory about the Mary Magdalene and the Grail which I would like to share with the authors, namely that she did bear a child by someone associated with Jesus (Barabbas? Lazarus? Simon of Cyrene? Nicodemus?), and wanted so much to be the wife of Jesus that she deceived herself (or at least others) into thinking that her child was fathered by Christ. Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln - I would invite you to consider that alternative, and would enjoy discussing it with you.
Rating:
Summary: Blood is thicker than water
Review: I remember a time when a friend tried to tell me about the controversial book he was reading. The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail made such apparent blasphemous statements. Messiah does not mean Son of God! Jesus was probably married! And to of all people, the prostitute Mary Magdaline! Maybe Jesus didn't die on the cross? And Jesus probably had children! And His progeny might be alive today? I didn't want to listen or for that matter think I didn't want to think for myself. I thought that this was probably one of those 'New Age' books that all those apologetics ministries warned that just by reading might deceive the children of God and lead right to into the pit of hell. At that time, for me, there just could not be another version of Jesus other than that which was recorded in the New Testament. That time was about 12 years ago, and now I am no longer afraid to think for myself and look directly at Jesus, even if He is not the same old same old that was drilled into the innocent minds of recent generations. The authors start with the mystery surrounding Rennes les Chateau. Coded documents hint at treasure or a secret of more value than gold. Their research leads them back and forward in time. Mostly back and back to the time of the crusades in the Holy Land, back to the formation of the Roman Church, back to the time of the crucifixion of Jesus and even further back into Old Testament times. The authors explore stories of hidden treasures, the roots of legends and myths, the birth of kings and nations and the making of popish people and the creation of a religion that seems to be more political than spiritual. The authors examine other beliefs that might be just as or even more legitimate than orthodox Christianity, if it were not for powers bent on destroying the secret. The authors present a reasonable answer to those who question what happened to the family of Jesus and why they seem to be minimized in scripture. There is good reason given to consider that the very books of the Bible and especially the New Testament have been carefully selected and edited to hide the truth. There are secret liaisons, murder, and grave robbing and through it all Blood seems thicker than water, especially if it is Royal Blood. The authors claim that they didn't start out to write The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail as a challenge to Christianity, but that is the way their research led. To me, their research always seems to be led by the always present suggestion of a secret society or order, which they identify as the Priority of Zion. They suggest that this secret society is always behind the scene and may have been instrumental in the crusades and even such things as the fulfillment of the prophesies of Nostradamus whose writings were more blueprints of things that were planned by the order than foretelling the future. It is suggested that even now, the Priority is active in world politics and working to a very definite timetable and agenda. I have no doubt that there are such secret societies, but I wonder, why a society so secret, if they really are secret, would provide any information at all, unless it suited their purpose? I think that their purpose could be to perpetuate the secret knowledge myth. By doing so they will always have power over those who desire their secret. I am always suspicious of those who claim to know the truth. The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail is a fun read and there is lots of information to challenge traditional Christian thought, but I don't get too serious about all the secret society stuff. BTW, the Old Testament patriarch, Abraham was doing just fine and dandy, and he was leading the life equivalent to a king. Abraham and a few kings that were on his side had just kicked butt against a bunch of other kings. Abraham was at the top of his game and there was no one more powerful in all the land, until a fellow king convinced him that a priest king was even more powerful than a king.
Rating: 
Summary: REALLY!?!?!
Review: I first must confess that I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm already going to comment. I'm of course, guilty of flipping to the back and getting to the point, and I must say, it was the smartest thing I could have done for myself. I found it extremely perplexing, and without a doubt I found myself saying "really" a number of times, a great number of times. I won't give you any examples, just because what I fine interesting, you might find incoherent. One part that I did find most thrilling was the introduction when the three authors was on the Berry Norman show, and Berry asked Hugh Montefoire, bishop of Birmingham; if he found this book could be potentially dangerous? Without a simple hesitation, the bishop responded "absolutely." Then the producers said cut, and they wanted the Bishop to say something else. I won't say what, for I want you to read it yourself. I find right there, a perfect example of what censorship can truly do. Edit out actual feelings, unto staged acting. Another section in the introduction I found extremely puzzling is that when the book was being "reviewed" or "criticized," A bishop, I won't say who said they found seventy-nine errors in this book. The Authors being exuberated with disbelief found small, petty mistakes, one example that stands out to me, would be. That the Authors said, "the Greek city of Ephesus," and not "the city of Ephesis in Greece." Well in fact Ephesis is in Asia Minor. The authors could only plea guilty to this, even though it wasn't their fault; the printers are the ones who made the mistake. The thing I find interesting in all of this, is that a bishop who obviously spent his entire life to god, couldn't handle any sort of "actual fact?" against what he so strongly believes. So he picks at anything and everything he can find to try to downgrade this book. Now remember this is all in the introduction. I still had 400 more pages to read of this possible truth. This book has easily enough information to seriously challenge many Christian beliefs. This book is very convincing and even the most faithful Christians will be moved in some sort of emotional imbalance to their everyday beliefs. I suggest if you ever had a question against the Christian bible, or for the Christian bible, I would strongly suggest this book, (and remember I haven't finished it yet.) Things such as the "real?" status of Mary Magdelan, The Crucifixion might have been a hoax with even the Roman Empire involved with the plot. Read for yourself, and judge for yourself, you might look at Jesus in a different light.
Rating:
Summary: Something is amiss! ET IN ARCADIA EGO.
Review: First as a novel of suspense and intrigue, an intellectual adventure, this book is great. You will literally not be able to put it down. That's where the five star rating comes from. That said, however, there is something not right going on here . . . it just doesn't bode well. The naive of course are busy either attacking the book for its wild (ridiculous!) style of speculation upon speculation and poor historical method (they are right, but for all the wrong reasons of course), or they are praising the book as some astounding new discovery. There's nothing really new here however. Anyone familiar with the Koran knows that it presents a radically different picture of Jesus than that found in the Bible. And, heresy has been around since the beginning, folks. God knows the Church has enemies, enough to fill an entire continent. But, I feel the important thing here, and the overlooked important thing at that, has absolutely nothing to do with the concocted pseudo-history of Jesus' alleged marriage to Mary Magdalene, and the propagation of some sort of bloodline from her (there simply is not any documentation of this). . . . Okay, let's cut to the chase folks, and this is the disturbing question to ask. But, we have to ask it. What the hell is the Priory of Zion, and what does it want? And, who the hell is Pierre Plantard, and what does he want? Those reviewers who believe there is more than meets the eye here are likely right. Let's look at this alleged organization, the Priory of Zion. What are its goals? Obviously they are political. Are they nationalist? Are they communist? Or, do they promote some sort of other, as yet poorly understood, political ideology? I believe it's likely that the authors ran into (or they themselves were part of) a ring of spies, who repeatedly left cryptic messages in the Parisian library under the title "Les Dosiers Secrets". And, as spies are known to do, what better way to pass on their message than to encode them in some postmodern occult myth, a bloodline stemming from Jesus Christ, the Merovingian dynasty, the Knights Templar, the prophecies of St. Malachy (and just think what these have to say for the future of the papacy), the artwork of Poussin, the mystery of Rennes-le-chateau, the crazed priest who puts a sign on the door of his church "This place is terrible!", and of course the secret society the Priory of Zion . . . we know where this is leading. Obviously these things could easily be taken as code-talk for the current state of political affairs. French political affairs no less, French Revolutionary political affairs. And, that's precisely what I believe they are. (The careful observer of political affairs might want to take a look at the book _Fire in the Minds of Men_, which discusses in great detail the workings of secret societies, mostly Freemasonic and Illuminist in nature, behind the French and Russian revolutions.) This book has the stench of bad European politics to it. And, we all know how bad, bad European politics can be, especially given the atrocities of the past century. My personal hunch is that what you have in your hands is a piece of Bolshevik propaganda; call me paranoid. Interestingly, Umberto Eco took up the themes in this book and wrote the "fictional" (yeah right!) novel _Foucault's Pendulum_. You might want to check this out for parallels.
Rating:
Summary: A conspiracy within a conspiracy?
Review: Having read (and thoroughly enjoyed) this book, I found myself wondering if yet another conspiracy was perhaps taking place right under my nose... What if the REAL reason Lincoln, Baigent and Leigh chose to put forth their various hypotheses at that particularly turbulent point in history that was the early 1980's was not because they had come upon some great new discovery pertaining to the life and death (?) of Christ, but rather because they too, in their own way, were the executors of a carefully laid plan on behalf of the mysterious Prieure de Sion? What if these men are indeed members of that organization, on a mission to affect some kind of intellectual and cultural revolution in preparation for events of global implication yet to come? After all, what better way to hide in plain sight than by publishing this book under the innocent auspice of the third party observer...? Something to think about...
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