The Da Vinci Con: 
    Fact and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code

It's Just a Novel (Movie)

2. Story of The Da Vinci Code: Historical Secret

3. Leonardo’s Last Supper 

4. Derivation of 'Holy Grail'

5. Mary Magdalene in the Bible

6. Priory of Sion

6a. Opus Dei

7. Questions of Jesus’s True Identity

8. Non-Christian Sources

9. Christian Sources: Biblical Texts

10. Other Apostolic Texts

11. St. Ignatius  of Antioch – AD 110

12. "Alternate" Gospels: Gospel of Peter (c. AD 130)

13. St. Justin, Martyr – AD 151

14. St. Irenaeus of Lyon – AD189

15. "Alternate" Christianities

16. Gnostic Scriptures

17. The ‘Muratorian’ Canon – c. AD 200

18. Constantine

19. Council of Nicaea - AD 325

20. St. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (c. AD 330)

21. Constantine’s Bibles

22. Codex Sinaiticus

23. Closing the Canon

24. Philosophical Issues: Diversity of Christianities

25. Philosophical Issues: Subjectivism of Belief

26. Theological Issue: Was Jesus married?

27. Other Historical Claims

"Alternate" Christianities

Marcion c. AD 140

• Old Testament "god" is evil for creating matter
• Jesus is divine only – docetist: he merely appeared to be human
• Accepted only modified Luke & Paul

Valentinus (gnostic) AD 136 – 165

• Accepts much of New Testament
• Uses ‘Gospel of Truth’

Gnosticism – AD 100-150

• Physical world corruption of spiritual realm
  • Rebellion of spiritual being creates material universe
  • Traps divine Sophia (as sparks) in (certain) human bodies
• Secret knowledge
  • Christ is lower spiritual creature sent to teach path to Supreme God
  • ‘Path’ requires knowing words of power to evade aeons (various powers and principalities)
  • one’s true self (spark of divine)
  • relationship to true reality (world is illusion)
• Secret open only to elite (sparks of divine)
• Relation to the physical world, either
  • Extreme asceticism: shun the world as evil, or
  • Extreme indulgence: world is illusory and so unimportant

Back | Home | Next