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According to Brown, the truth that Mary Magdalene
was really the wife of Jesus, was suppressed by the Catholic
Church but handed down through centuries by a secret society that
included Leonardo da Vinci, who hid clues about the union in his
paintings.
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The Da Vinci Code
The secrets in The Da Vinci Code—Dan Brown's hugely
successful best-seller, released as a Tom Hanks movie —are hardly
secret any more: Mary Magdalene was really the wife of Jesus, the
novel says. The two had a child and their descendants walk among us
today, the story goes.
According to Brown, the truth was suppressed by the Catholic
Church but handed down through centuries by a secret society that
included Leonardo da Vinci, who hid clues about the union in his
paintings.
While the novel has spawned a whole cottage industry of museum
tours and books exploring the credibility of this claim, Brown
himself has stayed largely out of the spotlight.
But in a 2004 National Geographic Channel documentary, Unlocking
Da Vinci's Code: The Full Story, the reclusive author talks about
his controversial theory.
"I began as a skeptic," Brown said. "As I started researching The
Da Vinci Code, I really thought I would disprove a lot of this
theory about Mary Magdalene and holy blood and all of that. I became
a believer."
Most scholars interviewed in the documentary and elsewhere,
however, say that Brown is relying on discredited sources and flimsy
connections to make his bloodline theory.
Still, most experts concede that the Church suppressed some early
Christian writings that may have differed from the version of events
described in the Bible. They also contend that Mary Magdalene, while
not married to Jesus Christ, was probably a lot closer to Jesus than
most people imagine.
Gospel of Mary
Mary Magdalene is one of the most elusive figures in
Christianity. She has been depicted as a prostitute, though there is
no evidence in the Bible for that.
Instead, she was an intimate disciple of Jesus. All four gospels
in the New Testament say she was present at both the Crucifixion of
Jesus and the empty tomb on the morning of the Resurrection.
But neither the Bible nor any other historical text identifies
Mary as the wife of Jesus. A married woman at the time would have
gone by her husband's name, but Mary was referred to as being from
the town of Magdala.
"This notion that she's talked about as being from this place
indicates that she was independent," said Karen King, a history
professor at Harvard Divinity School and a leading authority on Mary
Magdalene.
While it would have been unusual for a Jewish man like Jesus
Christ to not be married, it was not unheard of.
"The really odd thing would be to have Mary married to Jesus and
have them next to each other in the same text [in the Bible] and for
it not to be mentioned," King said. "That for me is quite conclusive
that they were not married."
One of Brown's sources is a controversial text known as the
Gospel of Mary. It is believed to have been written in the second
century by a Christian sect and is generally accepted as authentic,
even by the Church. However, the text's veracity and importance are
very much up for debate.
Although the Gospel of Mary does not show any evidence of Jesus
Christ and Mary being married, it suggests their relationship was
stronger than it is described in the New Testament. In the Gospel of
Mary, Jesus Christ reveals deep theological insights to Mary, who
appears to understand his teachings better than his male disciples
do.
Power Struggle
Brown's assertion that the divinity of Jesus Christ was an
invention by the Roman emperor Constantine in A.D. 325 is widely
dismissed by scholars—Christ's divinity had already been described
in the New Testament.
But many scholars agree that a power struggle raged within the
early Christian church, especially over the role of women. Beginning
in the fifth century, Catholic leaders began referring to Mary
Magdalene as a prostitute, perhaps because they wanted to undermine
women's ability to use Mary Magdalene's example as an argument for
greater power.
"Brown tells people something they didn't know, that the early
history of Christianity was much more complicated than anybody
thought," said Joseph Kelly, a professor of religious studies at
John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio.
The theory proposed in Brown's novel is that Mary Magdalene and
her daughter, Sara, were whisked away to France after Christ's
death. There, the descendants of Jesus and Mary intermarried with
French kings, creating the so-called Merovingian dynasty. But there
is no evidence of such a child or bloodline in any verifiable
documents.
The Last Supper
Brown, however, believes that a secret society known as the
Priory of Sion was established to protect the descendants of this
royal bloodline.
In the early 1960s a set of documents was discovered at a French
library that appeared to list the members of this secret society.
The names included famous scientists and artists like Isaac Newton
and Leonardo da Vinci.
At the heart of Brown's novel is the suggestion that da Vinci hid
clues about the secret of Jesus and Mary within one of his
masterpieces, "The Last Supper."
Conspicuously missing from da Vinci's painting is the cup, also
known as the Holy Grail, from which Jesus Christ is believed to have
drunk on the night before his execution.
But Brown says the Holy Grail is included in the painting. Only
it's not a cup but a person: Christ's supposed wife, Mary Magdalene.
He says the person seated at the right of Jesus is not the apostle
John but Mary Magdalene.
"If you look at that painting, it's clearly a woman," Brown says
in the documentary.
Art historians and religious scholars, however, scoff at the
idea. Although the person to the right of Christ appears
effeminate—with long flowing hair and no beard—they say that's how
John is usually depicted in most works of art.
In fact, there is no evidence that da Vinci was a member of the
Priory of Sion or that such a society even existed. The secret files
found at the French library were later deemed to be a hoax, scholars
say.
Source: An article Copyright by Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographi Channel:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1217_041217_tv_davinci_code.html
Related Links
Related Books
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The Da Vinci Code, Special Illustrated Edition (Hardcover)
by Dan Brown |
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Book Description
One of the bestselling novels of all time, Dan
Brown's The Da Vinci Code has intrigued and thrilled millions
of readers around the world. Now all the artwork, symbols,
architecture, and historic locations—over 160 images—are
beautifully compiled in this full-color collector's edition.
A mind-bending code hidden in the works of
Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and
castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for
centuries… unveiled at last.
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist
Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call. The
elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the
museum, a baffling cipher found near the body. As Langdon and
a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the
bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues
hidden in the works of Da Vinci–clues visible for all to see
and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a
startling link: the late curator was involved in the Priory of
Sion—an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac
Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.
Langdon suspects they are on the hunt for a breathtaking
historical secret, one that has proven through the centuries
to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a frantic race
through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu find themselves
matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to
anticipate their every move. Unless they can decipher the
labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory's secret—and an explosive
ancient truth—will be lost forever.
Instantly catapulted to the top of the bestseller
lists around the world, The Da Vinci Code is simultaneously
lightning-paced, intelligent, and intricately layered with
remarkable research and detail. From secrets embedded in the
Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, to the symbols of ancient
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Westminster Abbey, Rosslyn Chapel, and more, this fully
illustrated collector's edition delivers the complete reading
experience of Dan Brown's riveting novel—from the opening
pages to the unpredictable and stunning conclusion. |
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