Rating: 
Summary: Secrets revealed - its the season for it!
Review: Having read Ross Heaven's book on the secrets of the voodoo ('vodou') religion (Vodou Shaman) I was intrigued by some of the parallels between the templar and voodoo traditions. It seems to be the season for revealing secrets as both books take a hidden wisdom and make it accessible to all in the modern West. A really enjoyable way to spend Christmas!
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage
Review: Interesting subject matter for sure. Nevertheless, when you make so many leaps, you have to start to wonder why nobody else reaches the conclusion these guys do. I wonder how much the authors' perceived hatred for catholicism jaded their research. My guess is quite a bit. After writing this review, I suspect some of the brainless sycophants out there who take one snippet of information and exclude the rest (like the authors), will now find my review "unhelpful". That's great--no big deal, but maybe ask yourself why is it that these two individuals, who can't read ancient greek or aramic, or hebrew, are suddenly able to seize upon the conclusions that have been missing from the world for 2000 years? Because they are as selective in their research as the church was at editing the bible.
Rating: 
Summary: Good overview and interesting hypothesis...
Review: Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince-authors of TURIN SHROUD-have arrived at some unorthodox conclusions in THE TEMPLAR REVELATION. The authors say that TR grew out of research on the Turin Shroud. Like their prior book, TR is based on a review and synthesis of information from a wide array of mostly secondary sources. In addition to a well footnoted text, the authors include a bibliography as well as two sections of photographs. Picknett and Prince suggest that what really happened in the first century C.E. regarding Christianity has been obscured over the past two millennium by various political forces including the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, they say they have uncovered what may be the "true" and "shocking" story of John the Baptist. And, they suggest the Templars may have acquired this very same information when they visited Jerusalem during the Crusades. As part of their effort, the authors reviewed material based on translations of the Nag Hammadi scrolls, the Talmud, the Bible, and various other religious texts. Their search led them to discover many interesting details and a not a few inconsistencies. For example, regarding the first, they note the opening of the Lord's Prayer found in the New Testament as well as other material in the gospels may have been taken from Egyptian religious texts. I found the author's discussion of the interplay among the various religious sects and beliefs in the Levant during the first century C.E. illuminating-and the outcome of events that took place in those times are still with us. For example, Picknett and Prince suggest the Mandaeans of southern Iraq (known as Marsh Arabs today) appear to believe in an Egyptian mystery-based religion John the Baptist may have preached. The Mandaeans refer to their faith as Johannine Christianity, but Picknett and Prince suggest the Mandaean faith is not Christian. They also suggest the Mandaeans may have shared their faith with the Templars who claimed John the Baptist as their patron. Furthermore, these beliefs may have been handed on to the Masonic order when the Templars were disbanded. While most of the assertions of these authors appear to be based on solid research (i.e., Christianity was probably influenced by the Egyptian mystery religions), some of their suppositions are a bit tenuous (possible but may not be probable). Although the book purports to share arcane Templar knowledge, I don't think the link between the Templars and the Egyptian mystery religions has been established conclusively. As the material discussed in the book is available to readers, one can form his or her own conclusions
Rating: 
Summary: Umm! What can I say...
Review: I can't help getting the impression that after writing Turin Shroud: In Whose Image (which I have not read...nor I think I would want to), the authors had some leftover material. And they were holidaying in the South of France anyhow...okay, so I'm being a bit cynical here. Then again I really did not gain much new information or ideas from this book. To be more specific: not the best written book I've come across - rather repetitive and not too inspiring; tells the same old story of the Grail and the legends of the Merovingian dynasty; etc. I found it took some effort to finish reading the book. Personally, I found a bit too much time was spent on the feminine principle - with the authors attempting to use this to explain a connection with a whole lot - IMHO not very convincingly.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read if you want to uncover the Truth
Review: The Templar Revelation was the inspiration for me to write a novel entitled The Secret Order on the subject of a little known Crusader Knight by the name of Jacques de Molay and the events that happened on the 1st Friday the 13th October 1307 when 15000 Knights Templar were rounded up by the Catholic Church and tortured--many to their death. They guarded a secret...One day the world will know this amazing truth because it is destined to be revealed and the shadow of darkness that enshrouds earth will be lifted. Read this book and Holy Blood Holy Grail and start your own search for the Truth which has been "covered up" for 2000 years.
Rating:
Summary: worth reading, but ultimately doesn't deliver the goods
Review: This book is exciting because it is a real follow-up to the theories presented in Holy Blood, Holy Grail (by Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh), the all-time best of the "alternate history" books. It was the earlier book that caused many Christians to shed their naivete about the origins of their religion and to question whether Jesus had, in fact, died on the cross. Since that book, other writers have joined the fray and put forward theories of Jesus surviving the crucifixion. Like the Holy Blood, Holy Grail authors, Picknett and Prince say Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, but unlike the previous work, they do not say the two went together to the south of France. They concentrate instead on Magdalene and the many legends of her presence in France. They too allude to an explosive "secret" preserved by that shadowy organization known as the Priory of Sion. In this ambitious and controversial work we find much more on the legends of France concerning Mary Magdalene and her possible connection to Jesus and the Christian Church. The authors also delve into the mystery of Rennes le Chateau, the story which originally inspired Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh to do the investigation which led to their theory of a Jesus who was married and whose descendants founded the Merovingian dynasty. Since that time, other books have also questioned the standard story of Christian beginnings, and have even revived the idea that historical Jesus did not exist. I recently visited a wonderful exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls that came to the Grand Rapids (Michigan) public museum which featured actual pieces of the scrolls along with many representations of the Essene community at Qumran, thought to be the origin of the scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are important because they they shed light on the religious and political ideas of the time just prior to Jesus' public life. Some of the material from the scrolls seems "Christian" but actually predates the Jesus movement. This, like the material in The Templar Revelation, seems to show that the central ideas of Christianity were not new. Other authors have shown that the "suffering savior," the "dying and resurrected god" and "eating the divine flesh and blood" themes were present in many pagan religions of the era. Picknett and Prince take the idea further and show that the roots of Christianity could be, not in Judaism, but rather in the Egyptian religion, especially the cult of Isis and Osiris. For instance, Osiris was killed on Friday and resurrected three days later by the power of his wife Isis, who then conceives their son, Horus. Even more parallels with Christianity can be found in the basic beliefs of the Isis religion, which emphasized repentance and confession. It was not Jesus who originally brought these ideas (both Egyptian and Gnostic) to the Jews, but another character who figures prominently in occult circles, John the Baptist. John is seen by the authors as a rival of Jesus who founded a substantial movement that continued to exist and even exists today. His followers have never believed Jesus was devine. The most exciting part of this book is the material the authors collected in their travels though France. They found numerous churches dedicated to Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and the mysterious Black Madonna. The devotion to the Magdalene is especially interesting, since the legends of her presence in this area are so common and there are numerous claims by local townspeople to have her remains or some relic of her. The shrines to Mary Magdalene are frequently at sites formerly associated with Isis. However, after laboriously providing many examples of these themes, the authors never quite pull it all together. They show what seems to be a connection with the Hermetic tradition embodied in the Knights Templar and the Freemasons, but fail to produce any "smoking gun." What was the secret knowledge of these organizations that caused them to hold John the Baptist and the Magdalene in higher regard than Jesus? It was, they say, the knowledge of the Female principle once so important to ancient religions. They devote a whole chapter to the history of "sacred sex" and show how it was practiced in Egypt and persisted through the undergound stream kept alive by organizations like the Templars and Masons. They tell us nothing about the political agenda of these organizations, or the reason for the continued secrecy (after all, there is no more Inquisition). While I find much of the material illuminating, the book is ultimately disappointing. They tell us that Jesus was a rival of John; he was a practitioner of magic and/or the Egyptian religion. His message was altered by the male-dominated Church which covered up the truth about the important role of Magdalene. The authors constantly point out how ignorant most Christians are about the origins of their own religion. Since Christianity emphasizes "faith" (belief with no proof), why should the existence of proof that Jesus survived the crucifixion and was married and had children make any difference? It's interesting how these books, no matter how persuasive, seem to change nothing. I was hoping to finally learn the agenda of the Priory of Sion and the secret of Rennes le Chateau. I want to know what really happened to Jesus. The books waltzes tantalizingly around all these topics, but never delivers the goods. It does not reveal any Great Truth. But of course, that was always too much to ask.
Rating:
Summary: Another In A Long Series
Review: If you have any knowledge of the Templar, Rennes Le Chateau tale, there is nothing new here except more speculation - some of it well-founded and entertaining. I find the Templar mystery intriguing but this will probably be the last book I buy on the subject as I'm loosing interest in the end game of the theories. I fear that the "shocking" world-changing secret of the Templars would just replace one theological fairy tale/myth with another and be received as pretty ho-hum. It would be like folks saying, "All these years we have been worshiping the Easter Bunny and it turns out that Rudolf the Reindeer was actually messiah and redeemer. We have to restore Rudolf's decendants to the throne of France so they can rule the world with divine authority. This 21st Century man asks, "So what?" Like its going to happen? -Greg Forest
Rating:
Summary: Good but shallow
Review: Not the best book in this area. The most annoying aspect of this book is how the author makes somewhat of leap to connect the dots. Then in the next chapter that shaky conclusion is referred to again as it was hard and true fact to make yet another leap.
Rating:
Summary: Not really a book on the Templars
Review: I would recommend looking elsewhere if this is the reason why you are looking at this book. It does skim the surface of many of the societies that deal with the occult legends and Grail lore, however...it touches on them briefly, leaving the reader wanting a bit more regarding these societies. That being said, I did like the book, not love it. I started it once and had to put it down due to a few preposterous stories that peppered the book. (Is the shroud of Turin really Leonard da Vinci? Yes! According to the authors) Then again I picked it up because I remembered some interesting points: the correlations of Pagan holidays with the birth of Jesus, the crucifiction, resurrection, etc...of course I didn't need to read this book to figure that out. But Mary Magdalene and her story was what really interested me, her purported journey to Alexandria and then Provence or Languedoc, and the cult of the Black Madonna. Also the information regarding architechture I found very interesting and I will never look at the cathedrals of Europe in the same way. The mystery of Rennes-le- Chateau I found fascinating and would like to read more about it. I think if one can read between the lines and sift through some information, this book provides some very fascinating perspectives of the life of Jesus, his relationship with Mary Magdalene, the relationships between MM and the apostles, and the evolution of the Catholic church and some occult groups. I found the bibliography to be rather impressive and have used it to review other books for future purchases. Over all, this book isn't bad. I felt that the author's did try to look at more than one perspective and ended up proving their theories. Whether your theories and theirs dovetails...it remains to be seen.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect example of pseudo-scholarship
Review: When reading this book, I made a point of disproving every thesis. And it worked excellent - every point the authors are making can be explained otherwise, quite according to the mainstream history.
When the authors argue about occult Christianity being spread in medieval Europe, why can't the same events be explained by well-known attachment of the population to ancient cults? They choose to forget that the rites they mention include not only Magdalene-like goddess, but many other deities as well, without any parallels in the NT.
Some of their conclusions are just funny. For example, they believe that John was the only baptizer in Judea, because his name is THE Baptist. By this token, Judah the Galilean must be the only person in Galilee.
Many assertions are plain inaccurate, like when they write that ritual washing was unknown to mainstream Judaism - contrary to many mikvah pools existing around the Temple.
Wild suppositions, made by the authors, after a few pages tend to be presented as certain things, and the authors proceed to build their theory upon them.
The level of scholarship involved is clearly seen in the Bibliography section. The total number of books is ridiculously small, and even of those most belong to alternative historians.
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