Holy Blood, Holy Grail

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: The book Holy Blood Holy Grail offers great insight into the past. Not only does it lay out good framework for other authors of the same subject, but it also lays out its evidence clearly. Timelines, genealogy, and historical documents are the backbone of this book. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Knights Templar, their secrets.

If you like alternate view of history and/or religion, and how it may have been purposely kept from the general public, then this book is for you. I also recommend reading the shocking and amazing new book by Daniel Aber and Gabreael called "The Book of Thomas". In their book The Christ Consciousness, Universal Laws, The Genetic Code, The Different Levels of Hell and Heaven, Soul Charting, Reincarnation, and much more is discussed in detail.

Rating:
Summary: Does not jibe with history!
Review: I gave the book 4 stars 'cause it's a fun read but that's all. Since the book is premised on Jesus' reality then it has to fail in everything that is presented as fact using Jesus as the source. Simply, besides there not being any historical evidence for the reality of Jesus, an investigation into his life turns up myths and lies. The biblical "evidence" has no legitimacy as evidence. Christian apologists list a number of ancient historians who allegedly were witnesses to the existence of Jesus. The only two who consistently are cited are Josephus, a Pharisee, and Tacitus, a pagan. Since Josephus was born in the year 37 C.E., and Tacitus was born in 55 C.E., neither could have been an eyewitness of Jesus who was allegedly crucified in 30 C.E. Did they have access to reliable sources, now lost, in which were recorded the existence and execution of Jesus? In the case of Josephus we find him saying things which were quite impossible for a good Pharisee to have said. Church father Eusebius in 324 C.E. said that forged interpolations were placed in the text of Josephus' history. And Tacitus simply repeated things which were told to him by Christians. Such as giving Pilate the title Procurator, which was current only from the second half of the first century. The correct title is Prefect. All of the materials evinced to support such a claim that Jesus existed are without substance. The oldest components of the New Testament, the letters allegedly written by Saul, aka Paul, say almost nothing in support of Jesus' reality. Neither Bethlehem nor Nazareth is mentioned. No evidence supports that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses. Finally, Christianity began as a mystery religion: Mithraism. Another reviewer complains that: "A little careful reading shows that the authors aren't even sure what the marriage at Cana was about. So, at one point they write: "From the account in the Fourth Gospel, the wedding at Cana would seem to be a modest local ceremony - a typical village wedding..." (page 348). If the reviewer read the bible, he/she should have said that the wedding at Cana was NOT Jesus' wedding, he was just a guest! So, if Jesus didn't exist then the book has nothing to fall back upon. But it's still enjoyable as a good mystery novel. And that's all that can be said about "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."

Rating:
Summary: Ask enough questions ?
Review: I have been researching evidence and documents written about his subject for the last 35 years. I have been to many of the places described and detailed in this book, and of course read a lot of the source matter that the writers themselves have come across.I am not religious in any way, not Christian, or Muslim, Hindu or otherwise, my opinion is not constrained by a religious factor.

What's most important about his book is that it provides the casual reader/armchair investigator a "nudge" in the right direction. I don't agree with all that this book contains, but a great deal of it is as well researched as any of the numerous titles covering the same subject. I would recommend this book as a good "jumping off point" one that the can be followed up in detail,should the reader choose to.

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Summary: How on earth can we take this seriously?
Review: The idea that this book is based on serious, careful research has got to be the biggest laugh around. In fact even one of its authors, Henry Lincoln, now admits that the whole theory about Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene and having a child by her is NOT the most realistic interpretation of the so-called "evidence" in this book.

One thing that might have been obvious to anyone who thought about it is what nonsense it is to suggest that Jesus did not die on the cross, because he changed places with someone else, or he simply passed out but no one spotted he wasn't really dead.

The fact is that Jesus was seen as a threat by everyone involved in bringing about his death. The Jewish priests regarded Jesus as a blasphemer, and worse, who was trying to undermine their authority, and Pontius Pilate regarded Jesus and his disciples as yet another gang of potential revolutionaries. In fact both sides wanted Jesus UNCONDITIONALLY DEAD.
Yet with all that going on we are supposed to believe that after days of face to face arguments between Jesus and the Jewish priests, not one of them realised that they had got hold of a stand-in? Or that the Roman soldiers were so dim and so unused to seeing and handling dead bodies that not one of them could tell the difference between a dead body and a live but unconscious one? (Does someone think that people stop breathing and their heart stops beating when they are unconscious maybe?)

I say, I say, I say - have you heard the one about the Englishman, the Irishman and the Merovingian who went into a bar, and the barman takes one look at them and says: "Excuse me your majesty, but what is this - some kind of a joke?"

Rating:
Summary: Interesting thesis, but Authors taken by "Priory of Sion"
Review: The authors have obviously done a tremendous amount of research, and present an interesting treatment of several esoteric subjects. However, their claims of the secret "Priory of Sion" are suspect. The authors readliy admit to the possability of planted documents, and in fact this is exactly what seems to have occured. The "Priory of Sion" is really a hoax started in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in order to bring forth his claim that he should be a 'priest-king' of unified Europe. The PoS has been debunked in many French books (and court proceedings) as well as a BBC documentary and interviews with the people who engineered the hoax.

It is interesting to read the book, knowing now how the fraud was perpetrated. It becomes comical how far the researchers jump to 'the most likely conclusion' when the most likely explanation is really that the documents were planted and leaked to them.

Recently, even Henry Lincoln has become tired of the whole affair and reportedly stated that he no longer believes that his hypothesis in this book is the most likely explanation for the data.

However, it is always easy to look with 20-20 hindsight, and although the PoS is central to their thesis from the 12th century onward, the lack of its existance doesn't necessarily condemn their biblical scholarship.

Here is where they put forward some of their most interesting work. They believe that Jesus either survived the crucifixion (although after Mel Gibson's movie this 'swoon theory' will probably have a hard time taking hold in the minds of the public) or that He was replaced by a substitute and was laughing in the shadows.

The next part of their thesis is that His bloodline continues to the present day and constitutes the supreme 'Sang Real' that has the most legitimate claim to the throne of Europe.

Here they reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of modern Christianity. Not only does the second part of their thesis NOT follow from the first, but if the first is true it would render the second useless.

Christians do not worship Jesus because He was a decendant of David or because He said good things. We might as well worship Ghandi. Christians worship Jesus precicesly BECAUSE He was crucified willingly. So if 'incontrovertible proof' ever were to surface that Jesus let someone else die in His place and escaped, the sense of betrayal that Christians would feel would in no way make them eager to worship and submit to the man's decendants.

Bill Pottle
Author of DreamQuest

Rating:
Summary: The greatest story ever told?
Review: It's easy to understand why someone would get upset reading this book. The authors take the history of Freemasonry (actually, the mystic legends that surround Freemasonry) and tie it to the "real" story of Jesus Christ. When you link conspiracies to Christianity, you're going to get under someone's skin.

But few books are as fascinating to read as this one. Think of it as one-third truth and two-thirds speculation. If the authors called it a fictional account --- a fantasy about the way things might be --- the result would be a strange sort of historical novel. It's wouldn't be as compelling. Instead, they present this story as nonfiction, breathlessly uncovering the greatest secret in the history of mankind. It's an approach that keeps you reading. In the end, you'll enjoy the story as a series of curious "what if" possibilities. If half of this is true, the world is more interesting than you thought.

Rating:
Summary: Wholly Blunder, Wholly Garbage
Review: I was forced to give this waste of paper and print a rating of one star because there's nothing lower. Maybe if I had read the book high on acid it would have made some sort of sense, as it was I read it sober and found it at the least boring and at most highly offensive on a religious level as well as insulting on an intelectual level. Perhaps the authors should consider as their next work a study of how the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" is in reality proof that Einstien was really an alien offspring of E.T.s who crashed on Earth after they flew through the Bermuda Triangle, accidentally sank the Titanic before eventually crashing in Roswell, New Mexico.

Rating:
Summary: interesting, but long in getting to the point
Review: The authors of this book did a tremendous amount of research. And we, the readers, are privy to all of it (for good and for bad). There is far too much information to absorb and remember as you read this book. However, the majority of the research is very interesting.

My main gripe about this book is that it takes the authors neearly 300 pages before they get to the main points on the back cover (the reason why most of us are reading this book). Then they spend less than 100 pages on those topics.

But the research and rationale for their hypothesis is very well done and will certainly make you think about Jesus and the cruxification in a new light.

I would have given this book 3 1/2 stars is possible because the amazon system doesn't provide 1/2 star options I went with 3 stars. And this is only because of the length of time it takes to get to the main points. Although you need to understand the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion, you don't need nearly all the information the authors provide (however interesting it is).

In any case, this book is certainly one to make you think and the points are very well made.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe Everything You Read
Review: A TV scriptwriter, a novelist, and a psychologist set out to convince us that the bloodline of Jesus of Nazareth exists in France to this day. Of course, you pretty much need their combined imaginations and strong bent towards conspiracy theories to arrive at that conclusion. One could rationally dismiss most of their evidence as coincidence, but then you would not have a book or a TV program, would you?

As in most conspiracy theory books the authors pile on numerous coincidences, few of which are significant, in an effort to construct a coherent story of a dark sinister secret known only to a few. The usual: "throw enough stuff at the wall and some of it is bound to stick', approach is all too evident.

All the same, probably a necessary read for devotees or detractors of The DeVinci code. But don't suspend your intelligence. The thesis is about as valid as that attributing the Kennedy Assassination to the plot between Jackie and LBJ.

But then, I know some folks who are convinced of that one, too.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting journey that leads nowhere
Review: I started this book with the hope of learning something interesting and worthwhile. It was interesting, but led nowhere. Sort of like eating cotton candy. Tasted pretty good until you were through, then you realize that it does not contain much substance. In the final analysis, I don't think it is worth your time or money, unless you have unlimited time and money.