Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-Le-Chateau

Rating:
Summary: Another twist on a very convoluted story
Review: Having read practically everything that has been written on the Rennes-les-chateau and Knights Templars issues -literaly- in English and Spanish, I was quite intrigued to see what Rex Deus had to offer.

The book is quite promising at the beginning, particularly to novice readers on the subject: it even goes as far as solidly and respectfully critizing both Lincoln, Baigent & Co. ("The Messianic Legacy" et al), and "The tomb of God". A very promising start indeed.

The structure and content are well written -albeit with undeniable British grammar- and the comments, criticisms and suggestions (even witticisms) are generally well substantiated.

Unfortunately, the book's main strength and inherent validity (i.e., the fact that the Secret Dossiers and other planted documents are a proven forgery) is promptly diluted when one reviews the three authors' (yes, 3 authors) information sources, many of which go back directly to the very source they've just attacked: Lincoln, Baigent & Co., whereas others are third party sources, when the original is readily available.

This fact -which certainly puts one heck of a damper on the book's general reliability and credibility- is one of its most damaging flaws, but not, by far, its only one.

Another "pebble" is the authors keen ability to state as true facts innumerable elements that have NOT been proven, simply by stating that, by the absence of any proof to the contrary, a fact is true. (Good thing none of them are lawyers: they would be thrown out of court at once).

But the book's single most critical flaw is the appearance of a mythical figure called "Michael", who's never identified, photographed or in any way authenticated, who, out of the goodness of his heart, lays at the feet of one of the authors the incredible 2000-year old saga of the Rex Deus WITHOUT A SINGLE ELEMENT OF TANGIBLE SUBSTANTIATED PROOF!

Brother, if you buy that one, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd love to sell...

Rating:
Summary: More Muddle on Rennes-Le-Chateau
Review: The mystery surrounding Rennes-Le-Chateau is endlessly fascinating and has spawned innumerable books attempting to unravel the secret and explain how an impoverished country priest became a wealthy mover and shaker and spent tons of dough converting his little church into a giant puzzle box. Most of these books are fascinating nonsense recounting a secret bloodline descended from Jesus, Templars, Masons, Rosicrucians and secret Kabalistic wisdom. "Rex Deus" is no different.

The problem with this glut of books is that they have created a bizarre feedback loop; each book takes as fact the previous books' suppositions and uses them to prove or further their own theories. The bibliography of Rex Deus contains "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and "The Sign and the Seal", among others, though, in true academic fashion, the authors are careful to discredit the work of the other researchers, even while using their work as research of their own. Here the authors outline the theory of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", then say they think it's all nonsense. But *their* theory, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, who escaped with Jesus' children to France after the crucifixion and founded a sacred bloodline, called "Rex Deus", is perfectly logical.

Different in Rex Deus is the addition of an anonymous informant named "Michael" who claims to be a member of the Rex Deus clan. Sadly, he is unable to provide any proof of this, as the desk containing the sacred documents has gone missing. Michael feeds the authors anything and everything they want to hear and they gleefully write it all down and present it as fact.

The first half of this book is fascinating, presenting the Rennes-Le-Chateau mystery, a thought-provoking interpretation of early Christianity, the formation of the Knights of the Temple and a plausible explanation for the Knights' strange behavior. The book quickly becomes bogged down in a dull recitation of Rex Deus comings and goings, family alliances, politics and muddled reporting, so the last half to one-third of Rex Deus is slow going.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading this book. I like conspiracy theories and unsolved mysteries, and plan to read more of the bibliography that is somehow less than the sum of its parts.

Rating:
Summary: A dissapointment
Review: There are better books that deal with the Rex Deus' subject, definitely.
Ninety percent of RD is compiled from various other books. The rest is a story told to authors by one man who claims to be a member of the so called Rex Deus family line, that allegedly originated from priests of the Jerusalem Temple. He has no documents to support his claim, just a story told to him by his father.
In a nutshell, authors retell a story already told in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, and numerous similar books: "Jesus survived crucifiction, married Mary Magdalene, have children and founded the dynasty. He was just a man, and he has not come to redeem and save, but to bring some secret knowledge - not to all men - just to a chosen few", etc.etc. Furthermore - "St. Paul has distorted original message of Jesus and was a first heretic. Templars, Cathars and Freemasons were/are keepers of the true faith"
It's clear that authors of the Rex Deus fell in the same trap as many before them: they DO NOT take Gospels in their wholeness.
On the contrary, they take one or two Gospel's lines out of context, compare them with some esoteric text and make a conclusion that fits their preconceptions. They completely ignore Jesus miracles, and they don't pay attention not only to when a Gospel writer clearly states the Divine origin of Christ but also when Jesus himself talks about it.
Authors show that they are not sceptical and unbiased schollars, but new age followers (check the last chapter) that look into Christianity through dirty glasses.

Rating:
Summary: Another Hit
Review: This another wonderfully readable book by Tim Wallace-Murphy et al, my favorite by the author being "Rosslyn". If you are a student of the Heresy, a laic person, as myself, of above average intelligence and of curious mind, no doubt you've found a lot of the literature on this subject....er-uuuummmm- 'challenging'. I find the big three on the Heresy: Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh- to be somewhat dry and verbose. Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah...well, you know those British (lol). I find myself having to read their paragraphs sometimes twice, three times over to try to get to the meaning. Wallace-Murphy et al, how ever, present their subject gently and lovingly...Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh are a bit more aggressive, trying to prove their point. Wallce-Murphy et al are comfortable in their beliefs, they are not attempting to persuade or dissuade: they present the mystery of the Age in a user-friendly text, knowing that if you are reading their book, there is no need for intellectual manipulation- you are on the threshold of belief, if not already there.

Rating:
Summary: Another chance at truth
Review: This book makes many suggestions, many heard elsewhere. What was the Grail? What of the bloodline of Jesus? Why the secrecy? I prefer the novel approach in Defenders of the Holy Grail. Agori's work is a zippy read and more entertaining. CAn we really know the truth?

Rating:
Summary: Promising but inherently flawed.
Review: This was an interesting book that claims it has the "truth" of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. The authors lambast "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" in many instances and yet their own work is based on an informant that they cannot divulge the identity of and thus the whole basis of the Rex Deus families is brought into question.

The book looks at the history that the Rex Deus families claim to be part of by looking at the early times of the Christian era and then jumps to the Templar era to show the continuation of this supposed family. Thus, the book follows a logical structure. However that is not to say that everything necessarily follows logically. A lot of it completely depends on the truth of their meeting this man "Michael" (their informant) and his possible veracity. The authors state: "Thus, in the era where we least expected to have any chance of finding documentary confirmation of the Rex Deus tradition, both the Gospels and contemporaneous documents contain indications that the tradition is founded upon a highly plausible basis." Which, of course, does nothing to prove the veracity since "Michael's" claims could have been based on this tradition to begin with. Also, the tradition being looked at (continuing the family line) is not all that unheard of in many different circumstances. This is a man who the authors promised to protect the anonymity of and while this disproves nothing in their work, it is this combined with some of their errors of fact that, if nothing else, made their work suspect. Some of those errors:

The authors make a statement at one point: "This would certainly tend to confirm the esoteric legend that Jesus did not die on the cross." What they say would "certainly tend to confirm" is a reference in The Lost Gospel According to Saint Peter. However, there is no more good reason to treat this document any more realistically than the synoptic Gospels or the Gospel of John.

The authors state: "This programme [The Shadow of the Templars] provoked an avalanche of correspondence. One letter, from a retired Anglican priest, aroused the authors' curiosity, as it made bold assertions with apparent indifference as to whether they believed them or not." This refers to the man with the alleged proof of the fake Crucifixion. However, according to Henry Lincoln's narratives, this man approached them at the end of the first show in 1972: "The Lost Treasure of Jerusalem" and not after "The Shadow of the Templars." This is significant if one has read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."

The authors state: "One casualty [of excavation bombings] was the dynamiting of an ornate tomb in the near vicinity which was reputed to be the one depicted by Poussin..." This is completely false. The tomb was purposely dynamited by the owner in 1988.

The authors state: "The tests were not commissioned by the Church and we are not bound by the results." This is attribed to Luigi Gonella. This was attributed, according to these authors, to the first carbon dating of the Shroud. Not true. This comment referred to DNA tests that were carried out on the Shroud with samples that the Church was not aware were taken and not the carbon-dating. It is odd they screwed up this fact because on the same page they mention that it was the Vatican that specifically did turn over the Shroud for carbon-based testing.

The authors state that: "The spear thrust in the side of Jesus ... was not to prove that the Messiah was dead, but to relieve the pressure on his lungs and allow him to breathe." They, of course, offer no evidence of this and one wonders how the Romans would have known that death actually occurs via the scretion of fluids into the pleural sac. Answer: they would not have.

The authors state: "This was a young man of Davidic descent, Joseph of Tyre, whose ancestor was Hiram, King of Tyre, known to masonic legend as Hiram Abif." Granted, they could be right but most every source I have checked states that King Hiram and Hiram Abif were demonstrably different people.

The authors quote a few passages from the New Testament and then state that these (combined with knowledge of Judaic law at the time of Jesus) show "an irrefutable indication that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene." I am not necessarily stating here that they are wrong or right in my opinion - only that to call their evidence "irrefutable" is a little sanguine. This is something the authors did quite a bit. Their religious bias shows often. The sacrasm and anger practically oozes every time the term "Holy Mother the Church" is used. However, one can understand the authors' viewpoints as the Roman Church was very bloodthirsty at the times they recount.

It was actually a good review of some of the early history of what became Christianity and did it good job of casting doubt upon the "accepted dogma" of the Catholic Church without degrading into outright vitriolic as many books of that type do. The words "ridiculous" and "absurdity" come in often. Granted, they are accurate historically speaking. The Catholic Church went to extreme lengths to explain themselves and their logical convolutions are amusing even today. However, this could turn off some readers.

Beyond all of that: this book was meant to persuade you. Specifically, to persuade you of the validity of the Rex Deus families. I, for one, while admitting some evidence was good, was not persuaded. Because of the good history elements I gave it three stars originally. But factoring in the bald assumptions the authors make as well as the short shrift they give many topics, like the Turin Shroud, as well as some factual errors I had to move it down to two stars.

Rating:
Summary: Rex Deus
Review: Yet another book in the ever growing books about the linage of Jesus Christ.......... I soon found though, that this was not your everyday book... Its is very well researched, simple to read, and you dont need to have read any previous books on the subject matter. This I believe is important. Worthy to be on any shelf that would surely raise an eyebrow... The cover is impressive also........... You cannot afford NOT to have this book for lovers of ancient history or religious history buffs.....