Legends, Conspiracy Theories, and the Gnostic Gospels
[...continued...]    Vargas now turns to what those who embrace this theory believe to be their strongest support - legends, conspiracy theories, and the Gnostic gospels. No historical evidence to support this belief is offered, only theory and conjecture from those who hold to it.

As part of this segment, Primetime follows the “story” to France to investigate the legends of the Knights Templars, the Priory of Sion, and other “facts” upon which Brown states his book is based. But when Vargas spoke with scholars who specialize in the study of the Grail and the so-called “Secret Societies” and legends that surround it, she found the same response as she had with Biblical scholars and art historians.

Vargas states: “We interviewed a number of scholars who specialize in medieval history and Grail mythology. The vast majority told us the Knights Templar had no particular connection to Mary Magdalene and there was no proof any Priory of Sion ever existed.”

She is told by one of these, Umberto Eco, “The Holy Grail is born as a literary invention. The historical reality of the Holy Grail is the same as the reality of Pinnochio and Little Red Riding Hood.”

Vargas’ conclusion: “Our attempt to unravel the legends and stories in the south of France have been a strange detour. We found that there was no evidence of a child of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.”

Some might think this entire program was a strange detour. However, the detour includes one final segment – a discussion of the Gnostic gospels or the Nag Hammadi texts as they are sometimes referred to after the location in Egypt where they were discovered.

The author of The Da Vinci Code tells Vargas these books, “essentially tell an alternative history to the time of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The Church made a very concerted effort to take these documents and destroy them throughout time. The question historians ask themselves is, if the Church is making such a concerted effort to destroy this information you have to assume that it was fairly explosive.”

Why is it so important to Brown, and those who believe like him, that these Gnostic gospels be viewed as credible sources? Because they are the only documents that can be produced that will even remotely support any of the other theories they hold surrounding the Grail and Mary Magdalene. However, before accepting these as a reliable source, one must first completely dismiss or reinterpret the Biblical record.

It is for this reason that Brown uses the characters in The Da Vinci Code to alter the facts about how the Bible came into being, asserting it is a fabrication of a male dominated Church that sought to deify the man Jesus rather than follow his intent to place a woman in charge of the Church and worship the goddess.

• Previous Page   • Next Page   • In This Entry   • Research Resources