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

Questions of Jesus’s True Identity

• Who was Jesus?
  
• Who did his followers think he was?
  
• Is the Bible a reliable source for knowing the real Jesus?
  
• What do other gospels say about Jesus and are they reliable?

DVC: Mortal Jesus

• Jesus was originally regarded as a merely mortal, completely human prophet, not Son of God.
  
• This view is reflected in thousands of writings of followers and among 80 earliest (gnostic) gospels.
  
• It was not until AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea, under the Emperor Constantine, that the Catholic Church invented the idea that Jesus was divine, the Son of God.
  
• Constantine after Nicaea, compiled and re-edited the current Bible.
  
• Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reflect a revised, supernatural view of Jesus.
  
• Earliest gospels were suppressed (discovered in Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi).

Non-Christian Sources: indicates reality of Jesus, considered by his followers divine and messiah.

Biblical Sources on Jesus as divine

Non-Biblical, 'Approved' Sources on Jesus as divine

1. Other Apostolic Texts sometimes considered inspired
2. St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch – AD 110
3. St. Justin, Martyr – AD 151
4. St. Irenaeus of Lyon – AD189

'Secret' Gospels

1. "Alternate" Gospels: Gospel of Peter (c. AD 130)
2. "Alternate" Christianities: Marcion (c. AD 140), Valentinus (gnostic) (AD 136 – 165), Gnosticism (AD 100-150)
3. Gnostic Scriptures:Gospel of Truth (AD 140-180), Gospel of Thomas (AD 140), Coptic Apocalypse of Peter (c. AD 200)
4. Gospel of Philip

Lists of Approved Texts

1. St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch – AD 110 - Considers genuineness of Scriptures
2. St. Justin, Martyr – AD 151 - Cites New Testament Gospels
3. St. Irenaeus of Lyon – AD189 - Lists Four New Testament Gospels, excludes heretical ones.
4. The ‘Muratorian’ Canon: list of acceptable texts for church in Rome – c. AD 200
5. St. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (c. AD 330) – In his History of the Church, lists Four Categories of Texts
6. Codex Sinaiticus: Oldest surviving manuscript of the New Testament (from 4th c.)
7. Closing the Canon

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