Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyones Asking

I dont see why people didnt like this book. I thought it was well written and to the point. People seem to think that since it did not go into exhaustive detail, that the book is worthless. I think the book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It shows the fallacies of The Da Vinci Code. This is a gateway book. If you are really looking for more answers, you will have to do more research. But had this book been much longer, it would have lost its effectiveness.

Dan Browns DaVinci Code is one of the best selling novels in the country. It is also poorly written, with 1 dimensional characters and dialog, and a barely believable story line. So why does it sell so well? The answer is that it attacks Jesus Christ and the church. Attacking the church is one of our countrys favorite pastimes, but this is nothing new. What is new is this wonderful and scholarly book by Dr. Bock. I have read much of the anti DaVinci code literature. This book is by far the best one written from a protestant perspective. This author is a scholar of serious weight, and he has produced a popular and accessible book that is well researched and fair minded. Dr. Bock is a serious Christian, and thus, he does not hate. This book is far better than the truly awful Cracking Da Vincis Code by Garlow and Jones. (stay away from this one... its just as much a pathetic anti-Catholic diatribe as the Da Vinci code itself) I must admit that I found The Da Vinci Hoax by Olson and Miesel to be the best of the bunch in terms of its research and excellence. (However, this one is from a Catholic perspective and I may be biased... I am a Catholic) This book is strongly recommended as a gift for anyone you know, especially protestants, who have been entrapped by Dan Browns propaganda, and for yourself so you can understand why the Browns facts are so very untrue. Dr. Bock has given all of us a great gift with this book. God Bless

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 Browns 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 Browns 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 hasnt 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. Robinsons 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 publishers 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 womens 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. Schneemelchers 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha. Also, to understand the Cathars......try Barbara Tuckmans Distant Mirror for an incredible historical commentary on how the Christian Church has handled other points of view

Bock is an evangelical, and it shows, even through his scholarship. His discussion of women and Christianity omits, oh,..2000 years of Catholic and Eastern Christian tradition. Hardly a word about art, Priory of Sion, Grail, etc. NOT the questions everyone is asking. Only a couple of them. I want my money back!

Professor Bock has written a fascinating historical analysis of the early Christian era, focusing on the seven codes found in the best-selling thriller by Dan Brown, The DaVinci Codes. His explanation of the theological view of the Gnostics is perhaps the most enlightening. The Gnostics were a now-forgotten early Christian group, that postulated the road to Heaven was through intense study, knowledge, and enlightment, which were only achieved by a select group of intellectuals. They also generally viewed Jesus and Christ as two entities, seeing a separation between the Savior and the man. Clearly these Gnostic views are almost unrecognizable to orthodox Christians of our era, where salvation is based on belief and forgiveness of sin, and God had one Son who suffered on the cross. However, Browns characters lean heavily on them. Professor Bock also delves deeply into the code that says Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a blood line that extends to modern France. These are not new theories. The French descendants have been talking about this for centuries. Many other books in the last 20 years have expressed this. Even the 1970s musical Jesus Christ Superstar, now endorsed by the Vatican, hints at a relationship beyond that of teacher and apostle. However, Bock analyzes carefully all Biblical and non-Biblical sources and finds no evidence whatsoever that Jesus was married or had descendants. This seems to be the one fact that all Biblical scholars agree upon. The other DaVinci codes are similarly dissected in great historical perspective, involving every known source, and all are found to be lacking. Dan Brown has written an interesting thriller, but it has no basis in history, as the Vatican is now proclaiming as well. For example, Browns characters claim the church is anti-women, when in fact, Jesus included women in his ministry, delivered much revelation to them, and had them observe the crucifixion and the resurrection. Mary Magdalene and the other women were the apostles to the apostles with respect to the resurrection. The DaVinci codes also claim that the early church fathers rewrote history as late as 400 years after Christ, to suit their purposes. This area seems to be Bocks real specialty, as he quotes many sources to confirm that the four gospels were established and Jesus was the saviour long before any secretive 4th century gathering. He also gives a fascinating account of how the four gospels came to be written and the relationships between their writers and the early Christians and apostles. There seems to be zero historical basis for one of Browns characters claiming that the 4 known gospels were selected from 80 potential gospels. In sum, I recommend that all who want to understand how Christianity evolved, and also enjoy a good popular thriller, take the opportunity to pick up a lesson in history and theology from Professor Bock. I read many parts of this text several times, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The DaVinci Codes are like the Umberto Eco novels in that one needs some outside historical context to really enjoy the work. By the way, Eco has also studied the DaVinci codes and reached the same conclusions as Professor Bock.

Mr. Bocks writing style is not the greatest but he does do a good job of explaining very clearly why Dan Browns book is a fictional novel based on a fictional theory. You can call me many things, Actively Religious is not one of them. I read Mr. Bocks book because Dan Browns book was simply too incredible to believe. If you would like a better understanding of what historians and biblical scholars understand about the beginnings of Christianity, I recommend you read it. If by the end of the book, you still believe the Da Vinci Code gives an accurate historical depiction then you probably also believe a vast right wing conspiracy forced Bill Clinton to have sex with Monica.

It is interesting to note the approaches to rebutting the historical claims of Dan Brown that he used as the basis for his popular novel The Da Vinci Code. While the initial challenges to Brown came from the Evangelical camp, too many of these efforts, perhaps following the proof text methodology common in much of their apologetical work, have concentrated on the minutiae of Browns asides into art and history while ignoring the more profound questions of the theological implications of his rewriting of the Christian story. While a laundry list of Browns many historical faux pas make for amusing reading, it leaves the syncretistic presuppositions prevalent in his thesis untouched. Daniel Bocks Breaking the Da Vinci Code is a marvelous exception to this pattern. By not being lured into secondary matters, he manages in a somewhat short treatment to get at the heart of Browns claims about the New Testament canon and the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Focusing on key themes within Browns presuppositions, Bock performs a thorough deconstruction of Browns ideas and shows the underlying premises to be completely without merit. Browns distorted view of Jewish ideas of marraige and celibacy, his use of later discredited Gnostic texts while discounting the canonical Gospels written centuries earlier, and his complete misreading even of his own evidence (e.g., the Gnostic texts give no evidence of Jesus ever being married) all are placed under scrutiny and Browns entire intellectual edifice crumbles into dust. Those looking for a point by point refutatation of Browns claims will have to look elsewhere. However, such efforts serve to attack the facade of Browns views while leaving the underlying structure intact. Bock has largely ignored the externals and went straight to the heart of the controversy. For this reason, Breaking the Da Vinci Code stands as the greatest response from the Protestant side and is an essential read on the topic.

This book is the third title I have read of Christian rebuttals to The DaVinci Code. While the first two books were good, this one is the best yet. Bocks points are clear, concise, and easy to follow. The author here doesnt simply advance his own agenda, but instead offers a defense to the various accusations leveled against Christianity in the best-selling fictional novel. Bock gives detailed attention to Mary Magdalene, a personality central to Browns hypothesis. Bock explains logically and historically why the idea of Jesus being unmarried as a Jewish rabbi is completely acceptable. Bock then addresses the lack of credibility of the secret, Gnostic gospels. He emphasizes that they were considered as non-authoritative long before the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. The author here also makes a few points of his own about the mindset present in The DaVinci Code and why it has such a powerful appeal to todays society. If you want to read just one book to provide a scholarly, Christian rebuttal, this title is it. The insight contained in these pages is well worth the price.

This is just another book in a long line of Christain apologetics trying to squash The Da Vinci Code message. The only Da Vinci Code Guide Ive found that actually supports the theories in Browns novel is Da Vinci Code Decoded by Lunn.

Bock has written a very fair and balanced treatment of Dan Browns The DaVinci Code. He does not exhibit any anger at all toward Browns book or Brown himself. Bock simply seeks to explain the questionable (at best) history behind The Da Vinci code and make readers of the book understand that it is wonderful fiction and should be appreciated as such (a direct quote from Bocks book), but thats all it is, FICTION. Bock quotes from several first and second century primary sources, most outside of the books that make up the current Bible, to support his contention that there is very little good history to support Browns claims in his book. In contrast to many reviewers who have dismissed this book as a hatchet job on Brown with a preconcieved idea to dismiss his claims, Bock has no problem with affirming in part a couple of Browns claims, such as the role of women in the early Church. This is the mark of a fair and balanced historical treatment. Bock fully explains that many of the facts presented as contained in actual historical documents in The DaVinci Code, including some of the gnostic gospels, simply do not support the ideas contained in Browns book. Basically, even his own sources dont even support his arguments. Therefore, many of those arguments, such as the contention that Mary Magdelines reputation was denegrated as prostitute in order to suppress her real importance to Jesus. The real historical fact is that the ONLY reference to Mary Magdeline as a prostitute was made by a Pope in the fourth century, and this is most likely due to a misreading of the first Bible passages where Mary appears. Bock explains that that passage actually speaks of another Mary as a possible prostitute but that passage introduces Mary Magdeline as a distinct seperate person from the Mary who annointed Jesus feet and was most likely a former prostitute. Mary Magdeline, most likely followed Jesus after he exercised demons from her in one of his many miracles. Mary was a disciple just as the other 12 were disciples. She also served as a disciple to the disciples in telling the story of the resurrected Jesus. No more, no less. Bock also puts the contention that Jesus as a holy Jew couldnt have been single in historical context. In fact, many strict holy Jews in the first century were single, based upon their reading of Gods instructions to them in the Bible. Bock wonderfully addresses the issue of Jesus divinity and conclusively proves, again using first century sources, some of them outside the Bible, that Jesus was definitely thought of as devine several hundred years before Nicia took place. There was no vote on Jesus divinity as Browns characters contend because that was already a well accepted fact among Christians from the first century forward. Bock does not specifically address DaVincis painting because there is no need to. Once Browns other codes are broken, which Bock does with historical precision and impeccable sources, there is no need to address DaVincis possible role in a secret society. Once the other more important codes are broken, its readily apparent that without the foundation of the book, the details of DaVincis alleged membership in a secret society (which was in fact founded in the 1960s by a French con-man, it is not an ancient society at all) simply arent worth addressing because its apparent by Bocks main argument against the other codes that these details on the face of them have no historical basis. After reading or listening to Bocks very wonderfully sourced treatment of Browns history no one can go away still convinced in The DaVinci Codes history only that it is a wonderfully written novel by a wonderfully creative author, unless they specifically choose to remain blind to well researched historical facts.