Rating: 
Summary: Christians Beware
Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown piqued a personal interest in a potentially explosive secret regarding Jesus Christ held by a group known as the Prieure de Sion. Thus, after finishing that wonderful tale, I searched the Amazon website to discover numerous other books that discussed the secret subject in order to learn more. This book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, was the first book I decided to read. Quite simply, this book is astonishing, not only for the enormous depth of research conducted by the authors to articulate 312 pages of pure historical drama, but for the conclusions derived and presented in the remaining 100 pages. As Christians, we accept, on faith, the prophets' messages of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, and of the Messiah's purpose in coming. We accept, on faith, the revelations given to us by Jesus Christ, i.e., by God incarnate. The speculation in this book, as in the Da Vinci Code, that Jesus may have been married and may have had offspring whose roots exist to this day is insignificant when compared to the larger issue proposed by this book (and hinted to in the Da Vinci Code) - no, correct that, to the unfathomnable issue propounded by this book: that Jesus was not divine. The de-deification of Christ to a wealthy, yet mere mortal whose covert mission was to ascend to his rightful place as the King of the Jews due to his direct lineal decendency to King David not only shakes the foundations of Christianity, it completely dissolves Christianity. If this is the secret of the Prieure de Sion, what is their purpose in perpetuating the greatest fraud the world would ever know? The authors seem to take great pains in discounting the Gospels as fabrications tainted by man before being accepted by Iraneus and Constantine, and that the Gnostic Gospels discovered in Egypt in 1945 at Nag Hammadi are, perhaps, more historically correct as regarding Jesus's life as they have remained pure and were not written as an appeasement to 4th-century Rome; and, as the authors cogently argue, those gospels paint a very different description of Jesus. Although the authors may be correct in their assumptions, they don't discount the possibility, nor do they raise it, that the Gnostic Gospels were written by enemies of Jesus and discounted by the early church - though not destroyed in their entirety. And given that Jesus was crucified (or was he), it might be said that he had many enemies. The last statement above, coupled with other fabulously bold hypotheses yielded by the authors, if accepted, would thoroughly dismantle Christianity as a viable religion. The authors propound theories such as: a) Jesus was a man of wealth, priviledge, and education; b) Jesus's mission was to procure for himself the throne of Judaea and have the masses pronounce him King of the Jews - as if the Roman Empire would remain idle and allow this to occur; c) that the miracles ascribed to Jesus either did not occur or were some form of mystical rites that have been misinterpreted throughout the ages; d) that Jesus craftily evaded his horrible flagellation and crucifixion, either by having a substitute die for him, or by not really dying on the cross - as it was a private execution, held on private lands, attended by only a few, and that death occurred too quickly, for crucifixions usually lasted at least a day or so before death occurred depending on various circumstances. There are dozens of other rationale, 'supported' historically, that would lead the enlightened to conclusions other than those held by even the most base Christian doctrine. If Jesus was not divine, and he didn't die on the cross for our redemption, then man has no redemption. And, there is no need for Christianity at all. For what doctrine would we be following? To simply love our neighbor as ourselves? To turn the other cheek? No, it is a Christian's faith that Jesus came into the world to save (all of us) sinners; and it is our faith that if we believe He was God's Son, then through His sacrifice and resurrection we will be saved from eternal death to enjoy everlasting life in His Kingdom. We also believe that God's promise to man was fulfilled by Christ's sacrifice as pronounced throughout the scriptures. Thus, if we were to subscribe to the book's theories about Jesus Christ, the title is a misnomer - for there is nothing holy about Jesus's blood, there is nothing holy about the grail, i.e., his wife, there is nothing magnificent or wonderous that Jesus's bloodline may be present on earth at this moment. For if Jesus was a simple mortal, whose ambition was to claim the throne of Jerusalem, then is this any different than somebody looking to claim any other disavowed monarchy throughout history? Would anyone care that Jesus's descendents ever reclaimed the throne of Jerusalem? The answer is simply no. It is only when Jesus is equated with God that anyone would care about these issues; it is only when Jesus and God are considered one and the same that anyone would care what happened two millenia ago outside the walls of Jerusalem. As an analogy, does anyone today care that Julius Ceasar, Louis XVI of France, or Czar Nicholas II of Russia were executed or whether they have a surviving bloodline who may wish to re-ascend to those defunct thrones? Well, probably not, is the likely answer. The point being, if Jesus was not divine, then he would be of even less interest than the historical figures who did wear crowns and who were executed. In conclusion, this book is a marvelous read. The authors conduct a vast exploration into history which leads them to the conclusions elaborated above. Although I personally disagree with their conclusions, this does not take away from the sheer magnificence of their treatise or to their accomplishments in trying to piece together ancient, and fragmented history. As with Christianity itself, one must decide for one's self whether to believe or disbelieve.
Rating:
Summary: Panoramic, Historical, & Suspenseful Quest for "Secrets"
Review: Anyone who read "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown would benefit from reading this unusual book that researches the themes and topics which made "Da Vinci Code" such a hot best-seller ...
The Knights Templar and their secret ceremonies, the "Rose Croix", i.e., the "Rosicrusican organiztion", "the Priere de Sion" who are believed to be behind the activities of these "fighters for justice", the Cathars, Secrets from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the list of Grand Masters, secret parchments and headstones of graves with encrypted messages, possible information about the origins of Christianity and what really happened during and after the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, actions taken by the Catholic Church in the early years and during its delineation of religious doctrine --- can anyone unravel the mysteries and secrets contained within? Knowing that these organizations and secrets have remained *exactly* *that*, "secret" for about 2,000 years or likely much longer ... dating back from ancient Egypt -- the intrigue and allure of the possible revelations ... contained within this book just grow more mysterious and enticing ... This book begins with a mystery of its own, it grabs the readers attention and is the hook that keeps you hanging in there. At times, "hanging" is the operative word because the long list of names and places which are needed to provide authenticaiton become tedious reading indeed. Through no fault of the authors, there is a great deal of detail, these details add up to repeatable research for anyone who has the time and inclination to delve further into the subject for themselves. First, the "hook" --- the story of Berenger Sauniere, a parish priest from a tiny village in Rennes-le-Chateau discovers parchments, old documents, and mysterious headstones during the renovation of the old church. The documents are passed on to the local Bishop who passes them up the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, some of whom meet with Sauniere. After this point the priest begins to show signs of wealth and starts living a more lavish life-style, also consorts with people who have esoteric knowledge and interests. After his sudden death from a stroke, an odd death cermony occured where the priest was seated in an unusual garb, a robe with tassles, and unidentified mourners who attended, plucked a tassle off the robe as they bid hin adieu into the next world ... Sauniere's housekeeper received some knowledge of a "secret" which she was going to confide, but she too died before it was revealed. After their deaths, many questions arose pertaining to their odd activiites, the discovered encrypted messages, and the source of their wealth -- the belief was that they discovered "hidden treasure" which was taken by the Knights Templars from the Temple in Jerusalem during the Crusades. Yet, there was more than this to consider, what messages were disguised by encrption? These authors have been researching this subject for over 30 years. In 1972, when the authors made their first film, it was about the basic story as described above about the parish priest in France and the mysterious discovery he made, as well as the unusual activities he engaged in ... After it was shown on British television, they received a huge deluge of correspondence -- one of from a retired Anglican priest, had the oddest but most preposterous claim of all, that it was *not* gold or jewels which was the treasure of the Knights Templar, but "incontrovertible proof" that Jesus survived the Crucifixion ... that it was a fraud. The authors turned their quest in another direction --- researching another claim, that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and they had children. They examined the legend which states Mary Magdalene and her children by Jesus arrived in France, sometime after the Crucifixion ... and are related by blood to the old Merovingian dynasty, who became kings and queens in France. Therefore, the quest for the "Holy Grail" is not a physical item, such as the cup from which Christ drank but is instead, the quest for the "san greal", "sang royal" ... that is "royal blood". Jesus having descended from King David of ancient Israel, is of royal blood. The final and last secret is that there are today blood relatives living who are related to Jesus in France ... of course, this claim is based on a lot of "ifs". I enjoyed this book for the many questions it raised and the many avenues of research the authors took to arrive at information. They name names, the provide a list of genealogical dynasties, they provide information about places, temples, monuments,gravestones, mysterious paintings and messages contained within them -- which can all be examined. One reason this book is so fascinating is the assertion and conclusions the authors arrive at --- is not "cut and dry", "black and white", since there is no solid and authentic document that can be dated and with total certainty to "prove" the authors assertions. The many "if this then that" explantions they provide leaves room for healty scepticism, as well as the remote possibility they hae stumbled onto the greatest "hoax" of all time. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an open mind, is interested in a good mystery and can look at alternative explanations, that also require some stretch of "faith" but not of a religous variety. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling
Review: This book was extremely compelling and fascinated me from page 1. If you are into the lord our God Jesus Christ or the origin of the world's biggest and best religion, then get this book and curl up with it next to a big pot of coffee because you won't want to stop reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, but little more
Review: Holy Blood, Holy Grail follows in the footsteps of Brown's the Da Vinci Code, covering the same speculative and fanciful idea of Jesus not dying on the cross but instead surviving and leaving a blood line that remains alive and well, though hidden. However, both books share more than subject, they also both have a common flaw; conflating speculation with fact and often ignoring more reasonable explanations for so-called evidence. While Leigh's book makes for an entertaining light read, to many seem inclined to take it as, pardon the pun, gospel. The ideas presented here are hardly new; they date back at least to the 19th century and include a good many works making the same argument. However, all of these works suffer from the same problem -- a serious lack of evidence. The only evidence we have on Jesus and his life are the early Christian writings and the gospels. Most of the other material pointed to, like the mentions in Josephus, scholars agree are 'corrections' added by scribes who found it inconceivable that Jesus of Nazareth died anonyms in a backwater of the empire, with neither notice or fanfare. Indeed, many forgeries exist trying to 'place' Jesus on the lips and in the writings of famous contemporaries. While there is plenty of room for critical analysis of these writings, this book makes gigantic leaps in an attempt to reach the goal of proving its dubious thesis. As I said, the evidence remains speculation. The supposed documents found "proving" the case are mysteriously unavailable for scholarly review. As you might imagine, all the usual suspects make appearances in this work: Knights Templar, Merovingians, Secret Societies, etc. While some might get a kick out of this work (I did, but not in the way the authors intended) all should regard it with a critical eye. Suggesting something was "possible" or "likely" remains a far cry from proof.
Rating: 
Summary: Leave the Merovingians out of this
Review: I am a medieval historian. I have chosen to make my life's work the study of the Merovingians. While it is, in fact, nice that many people now know what a Merovingian is, it's frustrating that all they know is what this book tells them. And all of the information is totally false. It frustrates me that people would rather read fiction presented as fact, than look at history through more "traditional" (and possibly more accurate) means. While reading this book I hope people will keep a couple of things in mind. 1) The Da Vinci Code is a novel. It is a *fictional* story. It is not true, and the author does not present it as true. 2) The BBC helped to fund the authors of this book. But recently the BBC presented a documentary about how wrong Holy Blood, Holy Grail is. It is wonderful, and I hope that many will watch it after reading the book. I realize that it is much more fun to believe in wild theories than to spend endless hours pouring over dusty Latin texts. But if you must specualte wildly, please leave the Merovingians out ot it!
Rating:
Summary: Well, at least it is entertaining...
Review: First off, I have never read "The Da Vinci Code." Let's get that out of the way right from the start since it seems most people who read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" did so because of the enormous popularity of the Brown book. No, I read "Holy Blood" because I love reading about conspiracy theories--UFOs, the Kennedy assassination, Britney Spears's success--anything that concerns the unexplainable. I actually came across this title about six years ago when I was reading several books about British Israelism, and only recently picked it up after accidentally stumbling over it on one of my Internet excursions. When I began describing the contents of this book to a family member, she quickly mentioned "The Da Vinci Code." I now see that Brown's book apparently borrowed its plot from "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," thereby bringing this esoteric theory about Christ, the Merovingian dynasty, and Mary Magdalene to a new generation of readers. I will say that Baigent's book is the grandest conspiracy theory I have ever read. There are conspiracy theories, and there are CONSPIRACY THEORIES. "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" is the mother of all conspiracy theories; fifty stories tall and decked out in neon letters with sprinkles on top. If any of this is true, western civilization as we know it is undone. The mystery examined in this book first came to public attention roughly a century ago, when an obscure French priest named Berenger Sauniere assumed his post in the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in Southern France. The priest uncovered some ancient, mysterious documents in an abandoned church near his village. Intrigued, he took them to the local bishop, who then instructed Sauniere to head to Paris and consult some "experts" there. When the priest returned to Rennes-le-Chateau, things were definitely different. He suddenly had at his disposal millions of francs, leading to several extensive and bizarre building projects in the area. When the Catholic authorities questioned his expenditures, Sauniere brazenly defied the inquiries. Surprisingly, the Church did nothing to the man even though he was a lowly priest. Moreover, he often received visits from Parisian bigwigs, people a man in Sauniere's position couldn't possibly know. When the priest died his secret apparently died with him. Or did it? Not according to the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Taking the Sauniere mystery as a starting point, the book proposes a shocking theory about the very origins of Christianity and nearly every secret society during the last 1000 years. By looking at such diverse historical events as the Albigensian heresy, the Crusades, Freemasonry, and Christ's crucifixion, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" posits that Berenger Sauniere discovered documents referring to a mysterious secret society called the Priory of Zion, an organization composed of elites in European society who believe that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, fathered children, and probably didn't die on the cross. Instead, they believe Jesus went into hiding while his family sailed for Gaul. Ultimately, Jesus' offspring married into the local population, thereby helping to form the Merovingian dynasty. Although these monarchs ultimately lost power, the bloodline of Jesus survived into succeeding generations. One descendant of the Messiah was Godfroi de Bouillon, the crusader who captured Jerusalem from the Saracens during the First Crusade. The Knights Templar, that band of knights dedicated to fighting for Christ, was in actuality a branch of the previously mentioned Priory of Zion. When the Europeans lost Jerusalem to the Saracens, the two organizations split and the Templars went to their doom. European history, according to "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," has since been a titanic struggle for power between the Catholic Church and the Priory of Zion. The documents discovered by Sauniere, along with additional information unearthed by the authors in France's National Library, have shown that men such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Nicholas Flamel, and Jean Cocteau have served as Grand Masters of the Priory of Zion. Amazing, isn't it? Imagine what would happen if incontrovertible evidence emerged proving a descendant of Jesus walked the earth today. This summary is the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things explored in this book that it is impossible to summarize them all. Most people would have a serious problem with the findings of "Holy Blood," and for the most part, they would be right. The authors often make extraordinary leaps from one piece of evidence to another. For example, the book claims that "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," the notorious anti-Semitic tract which influenced National Socialism, was originally a document concerning the truth about the Merovingian bloodlines. I don't buy this argument in the least, but that doesn't mean I reject this book completely. I thought the commentary on the Gospels was, with a few exceptions, well done, liberally employing creative reasoning and an intelligent eye for detail. Does that mean I buy the authors' arguments? I will when the Priory of Zion steps forward with proof. Predictably, the arrival of "Holy Blood" on bookshelves in the early 1980s provoked a storm of controversy. The Church excoriated the authors for the views expressed in the book, as did history scholars and theologians. Of course, the Priory of Zion remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, neither proving nor denying the claims made in the book. As I read the "Holy Blood," I kept wondering whatever became of this ultra secret organization. Are they still around waiting for the perfect time to present to the world the descendent of Christ? Or are they sitting around a table somewhere in France, playing bridge and drinking coffee while they laugh over this book? Five stars for the entertainment factor alone, but much less if taken on a purely factual level.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: I have to give this book the highest rating for its authenticity and content. I have read this along with The Davinci Code and cannot believe the resemblances that they have with "The Shadow of the Sentinel." Both of the books are fantastic and not only suggest but prove the ability of certain groups to cross boundaries and continents as they have come from Europe to North America. "READ THIS BOOK" then decide for yourself. Then read "The Shadow of the Sentinel" and you will truly find a most interesting pattern.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, a bit of a leap though
Review: The authors, in some places, do a great job of presenting facts and analyzing these facts to make their point. But, unfortunately, most of the time the authors present some unproven "facts" and then make great leaps in their conclusion. Very fascinating book overall. Also, in The Da Vinci Code Teabing Leigh is a acknowledgment of the authors of this book. Teabing being an anagram for Baigent and Leigh being for Richard Leigh...little something I noticed while reading both books recently.
Rating:
Summary: Avant Garde? Yes. Scholarly? No
Review: When your books is based on the premise of contrived documents that aren't necessarily authentic or accurate--you better be prepared to take a hit. Nice subject matter though, but other people have written this story with better referencing.
Rating:
Summary: There is a sucker born every minute
Review: I guess one can write a book on the most absurd thing thought up and get paid for it ...and have fans of the book!
This book makes a good doorstop.
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