Rating: 
Summary: Excellent...
Review: ***** To say Dan Brown stirred up a hornet's nest when he wrote "The Da Vinci Code" would be an understatement. More than one Christian has found themselves being cornered by someone asking some variant of "so, what's this about Jesus and Mary?" and it takes a little more than faith to answer them. One needs to be able to refute the historical fallacies and fictions purported as fact in the best seller. To do this, you can either spend a few hours of research on the various aspects or buy this book. Don't be fooled by its brevity. No words are wasted in making a big impact. The facts are well researched and linked to historical texts for further exploration; and each chapter concludes with discussion questions, making it ideal for group study. Much like Strobel's "Case" series, Amy Welborn presents a clear picture in an entertaining and informative fashion. *****Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good book
Review: Amy Welborn does a fine job of dealing with the issues raised in the Da Vinci Code, but I must say, I found it less thorough than another book on the subject, "Fact and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code" (0971812861). Welborn, for instance, doesn't spend much time on the way anti-Semitic strains in 19th century German philosophy and theology influences a lot of the "theology" in Dan Brown's book. She also doesn't spend as much time on the modern origins of Wicca as one might hope. Kellmeyer's argument from Scripture debunking the assertions about marriage between Mary Magdelene and Jesus are very compelling; Welborn's arguments are good, but she misses the points he makes. Overall, the two books overlap on some points, but they complement each other well. If you buy this book, you'll need "Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code" to finish fleshing out the answers.
Rating:
Summary: Welborn cracks the Code
Review: Amy Welborn's terrific little book is an effective antidote to the nonsense contained in Dan Brown's self-styled truth-based fiction. From defending the historicity of the Gospel narratives to explaining the Church in the Middle Ages, her book exposes Brown's sophomoric grasp of history and authentic Christianity.
Some of the details are fascinating. Welborn points out that calling Leonardo by the appelation "da Vinci" is like naming Christ with the words "of Nazareth", since da Vinci merely indicates his hometown. A high school art history student would know this, but somehow it eluded Brown. That lack of thoroughness and attention to detail likely explains why he almost never permits himself to be interviewed.
At about 100 pages, "De-Coding Da Vinci" is a quick read and a great selection for a book-of-the-month club. The brevity of Welborn's book allows it to serve as a springboard to other research, and she includes many suggestions for further reading. One suggestion I especially enjoyed was Philip Jenkins' "Hidden Gospels", a book that explains that what we understand about Jesus from orthodox Christianity is - surprise! - true.
Why did Welborn write her book? She recognizes that popular works of fiction operate like catechisms to the large number of Christians who don't understand their faith. False catechisms, especially those that sell six million copies, require true ones, and "De-Coding Da Vinci" serves that purpose.
Thanks to her light, yet direct style, Welborn's book is great fun - almost as fun as reading the hysterics contained in nearby reviews written by dissident Catholics. Truth has a way of making these folks hyperventilate.
Rating:
Summary: get a life
Review: anti-catholic? historically wrong? ... as much as we want to think we know everything. WE DON'T. We are always uncovering new facts in history, correcting our mistakes. Until recently historians didn't have the resourced historians today have. So dating back to the early years after christ, how are we to say that written history was correct. It was simply an interpretation of findings. Dan Brown did not write this book to relay every bit of information in history to his readers. They can go read a history book if they want that. He put his take on things in, some could be factual, some not. Who knows? People are always going to have different beliefs, as in religion. Ancient history is a bunch of puzzle peices put together by different people with different beliefs. They chose to fill in the gaps with their own iterpretation. The Da Vinci Code is a fictional novel, not meant to be 100% factual. Even if that is the common belief. Take your head out of the box and get a life. You don't have to have the same beliefs as everyone else. And don't take things so personally.
Rating:
Summary: Takes care of it
Review: Good stuff here. I got a good education in early Christian history, filling in points no one ever bothered to mention in church, and for sure that Dan Brown got way wrong in his book. Fine treatment of all the important issues - the art - which Brown either massively misreads or deliberately mis-describes - the religion, the history. I read the Da Vinci Code last year because all the reviews told me it was a smart read, like Eco. Well, it's not, and this book clears up the questions and problems and outright misstatements that are in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Please
Review: Hi,
Yeah, both views are interessant but people seems to take Dan Burstein's book too seriously. That's a novel not a bible... I have a problem with over-religious people who take religion too seriously... Please, read the bible, not novels and leave people be !
Rating: 
Summary: This is a disappointing book
Review: I wanted to learn more about the provocative facts behind Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. This often polemic, always orthodox attack of Amy Welborn, a devout Christian, is really not helpful. Welborn means well, but she constantly mixes history with theology, and uses circular arguments which are all based on her faith and not on reason or history.
Surely Dan Brown has many historical facts wrong, surely he wrote a work of fiction, surely as a Christian you are entitled to a different opinion on almost every point. But Amy Welborn does not even try to be reasonably objective. She is on a crusade. She simplifies each historical controversy, ignores a variety of new testament scholars and preaches the gospels (and sometimes even the letters of Paul!), where she should talk about early church HISTORY.
In case you did not know: The gospels are NOT AN OBJECTIVE BIOGRAPHY OF JESUS! They are works of theology and faith. It is NOT A HISTORICAL TRUTH that Jesus walked on water, ascended to heaven, or that he is the SON OF GOD. The gospels were written by people who had a mission (like Amy Welborn). And Welborn projects present day orthodoxy (shaped by two thousand years of Church) back into the first century AD and pretends that it has always been like this. And depending on her arguments against Dan Brown she puts the "early Christians" either in Jewish tradition (which is correct) or claims the early Christian faith was identical to those of Christians 400 years later or to Christians today (which is rubbish). From the historical point of view Jesus is a very vague figure, whose death on the cross was probably an unexpected accident and surprised the people around him so much that they had to put it in a "bigger picture". Everything else is faith. And faith is exactly what Amy Welborn brings into the discussion. Not reason. Not facts. Not history.
Also some of her wording is frightening. Just look at her definition of the Crusades (page 95, bottom): "The continuing wars between the Christian West and the aggressive Muslim East." This misinterpretation leaves you wondering, if this is just post 9/11 rhetoric, or if she actually believes the Muslims attacked the West (and not vice versa).
Particularly her historical record of the early Church is extremely simplified and just a repetition of the orthodox Church credo: "Jesus did not leave a Bible behind, when he ascended into heaven." "Out of this Church - the body nourished by the Living Lord - came the books of the New Testament." (both page 32). "How do we know that these works (the gospels that made it into the bible vs those who didn't, my insertion) were valued? Because they were read in worship and referenced by the writings of Christian teachers that have come down to us" (page 33).
In other words: Because some (orthodox) church fathers only considered these books the word of god, only these books should be considered the word of god. Well, you would not necessarily expect good old Augustine (St. Augustine for Welborn) to say or write anything positive about all those "heretic" works around him. Never mind that he, living in the Latin speaking Hippo, could neither speak nor read Greak or Hebrew, and never mind that at this time the "Old Testament" (Hebrew or Greek (Septuaginta)) or the New Testament (Greek) was not yet translated properly into Latin.
I think unless you are very simple minded, you would not honestly believe that a Church who fails to keep/copy the works of Aristoteles and many other Greek philosophers (later to be rediscovered from the Muslims) can be believed in their claim that no other/alternative valuable accounts of Jesus were available at the time. People should not forget that the negative image we have about "heretics" (Welborn has a particular heavy go at the Gnostic gospels) come from their "religious enemies". To listen to these accounts would be as fair as to judge the culture of the native American Indians on reports written by intruding settlers or General Custer's surviving men.
No, as much as I dislike some of the speculations that Dan Brown uses in his (nevertheless very entertaining) novel. People like Amy Welborn provide the example that his provocative work is in fact very useful and also refreshingly different from the orthodox view.
Dear Reader, the TRUTH about the historical Jesus, the shaping of the Bible and the tradition of the Church, will never come to light. Not even if we find another set of ancient documents. All we have are different opinions, traditions and our ultimately different faith. We should accept each others different interpretations, and we should not embark on Crusades against entertaining novels. But if we do, we should label them as theology, not as "facts behind the the fiction of the Da Vinci Code."
Rating:
Summary: I'm grateful
Review: I'm grateful for this very handy book. I learned a lot about history and art, and had some of my assumptions really challenged. It's sort of amazing how much Dan Brown got wrong, either because he didn't know better or because he has his own agenda. Even about Leonardo da Vinci! When I say it made me think, I'll give you an example. In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown says that the traditional Christian view of Jesus ignores his humanity. But this writer makes me look really hard at what the Bible really says about Jesus and how Christians through history have talked about him, and made me see what a silly statement that is.
Rating:
Summary: If you love Da Vinci Code, then you love CRIMES OF THE RIGHT
Review: If you love Da Vinci Code, then you love CRIMES OF THE RIGHT by author HOPE NEWMAN. Just like Welborn, HOPE NEWMAN has never come up with a more head-spinning, spine-jolting, intricately mystifying thriller. The action jolts from a secret government complex in the Colorado Mountains to the seats of power in the Whitehouse. Every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger; the story brims with assassination, torture, cover-up, sudden surprise, and intrigue. It's a sure-fire bestseller.
Rating:
Summary: To Go A Step Beyond
Review: If you loved DaVinci Code or if you hated it, you must admit it did get a reaction from you....which in itself is one definition of a successful novel. Many readers have found themselves more interested in the information detailed in Dan Brown's books, and if so, this book is a good choice to begin to learn about the amazing history of the Christian Church.
Especially Gnosticism and the early Christian Church, and especially the creation of the New Testament Bible. For a different review....here is my review of books that build on these interests, especially the "lost" books of the New Testament Bible and the concepts of Gnosticism.
Nearly all knowledgeable Biblical scholars realize there have been a wide range of writings attributed to Jesus and his Apostles..... and that some of these were selected for compilation into the book that became known as the Bible.....and that some books have been removed from some versions of the Bible and others have been re-discovered in modern times.
The attention focused on Gnosticism by Dan Brown's DaVinci Code may be debatable, but the fact is that increased attention on academics tends to be predominately positive, so I welcome those with first-time or renewed interest. At least first-timers to Gnosticism are not pursuing the oh-so-popular legends of the Holy Grail, Bloodline of Christ, and Mary Magdalene.
This is great......I seldom quote other reviewers, but there is one reviewer of Pagels' books who confided that he had been a Jesuit candidate and had been required to study a wide range of texts but was never was told about the Nag Hamadi texts. He said:
"Now I know why. The Gospel of Thomas lays waste to the notion that Jesus was `the only begotten Son of God' and obviates the need for a formalized church when he says, `When your leaders tell you that God is in heaven, say rather, God is within you, and without you.' No wonder they suppressed this stuff! The Roman Catholic Church hasn't maintained itself as the oldest institution in the world by allowing individuals to have a clear channel to see the divinity within all of us: they need to put God in a bottle, label the bottle, put that bottle on an altar, build a church around that altar, put a sign over the door, and create rubricks and rituals to keep out the dis-believing riff-raff. Real `Us' versus `them' stuff, the polar opposite from `God is within You.' `My God is bigger than your God' the church(s)seem to say. And you can only get there through "my" door/denomination. But Jesus according to Thomas had it right: just keep it simple, and discover the indwelling Divinity `within you and without you.'"
Here are quickie reviews of what is being bought these days on the Gnostic Gospels and the lost books of the Bible in general:
The Lost Books of the Bible (0517277956) includes 26 apocryphal books from the first 400 years that were not included in the New Testament.
Marvin Meyers' The Secret Teachings of Jesus : Four Gnostic Gospels (0394744330 ) is a new translation without commentary of The Secret Book of James, The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Secret Book of John.
James M. Robinson's The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition (0060669357) has been around 25 years now and is in 2nd edition. It has introductions to each of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices and the Papyrus Berioinensis 8502.
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (0140278079) by Geza Vermes has selected works....a complete work is more difficult to achieve than the publisher's marketing concept indicates. His commentary generates strong reactions.
Elaine Pagels has 2 books (The Gnostic Gospels 0679724532 and Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas 0375501568) that have received considerable attention lately. For many, her work is controversial in that it is written for popular consumption and there is a strong modern interpretation. She does attempt to reinterpret ancient gender relationships in the light of modern feminist thinking. While this is a useful (and entertaining) aspect of college women's studies programs, it is not as unethical as some critics claim. As hard as they may try, all historians interpret the past in the context of the present. Obviously there is value in our attempts to re-interpret the past in the light of our own time.
If you want the full scholarly work it is W. Schneemelcher's 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha.
Also, to understand the Cathars......try Barbara Tuckman's Distant Mirror for an incredible historical commentary on how the Christian Church has handled other points of view
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