Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln
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Book Reviews of Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Book Review: The Book That Launched it All
Summary: 5 Stars
It is difficult to underestimate the impact of this book. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code could never have happened without it. Many of the popular mysteries and alternative views of Jesus that we hear so much about today were launched or made better-known by this book, such as the mystery at Rennes-le-Chateau, Rosslyn Chapel, the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail legends, Lazarus as the Beloved Disciple, the Merovingians as descendants of Christ, etc. Holy Blood Holy Grail also tells of the Priory of Sion and its mission to protect the presumed modern-day ancestors of Jesus. The Passover Plot (i.e., a plot to have Jesus crucified and escape death as part of a bizarre religious conspiracy) is also discussed, although this idea had already become a bestseller in the book The Passover Plot by Hugh Schonfield. The authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail did a tremendous amount of research, and this book is thick with data. It is also a page-turner because the authors tell how they came to be led to some of their information by the cloak-and-dagger antics of the Priory of Sion which was feeding them clues. Holy Blood Holy Grail is often faulted for suggesting that the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Sion might be authentic; however, the authors suggest that the The Protocols was not a Jewish document but was more likely a document created by the Priory of Sion and later altered by anti-Semites. As to be expected, any groundbreaking research like this will be modified by later discoveries. For example, it has become clear in more recent years the the modern Priory of Sion was just a small sect started in the 1950's by a right-wing occultist, and it has no credible connection to the original Knights Templar. It is also doubtful if Leonardo da Vinci was a Grand Master in such a group even if he may have believed that Jesus had children with Mary Magdalene. Nevertheless, there is much in Holy Blood Holy Grail that still presents us with enduring mysteries that deserve further exploration. If you read it, be sure to also read more recent books that update and clarify some of the information. I notice that an illustrated version of Holy Blook Holy Grail is due to be released in October 2005--it will be interesting to see what is done with it.Book Review: Must Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I may not agree with the entire thesis of this book. But I agree that anyone should read it and not believe the propaganda being put out agasinst it by Opus Dei of the Cathoic church which has launched it's smear campaign against it. Christ was the son of God, not God. He came from a "virgin birth" because he could not lead us to God if he was of the line of Adam who used up his chance to worship God by sinning. "Salvation comes through the shedding of blood." Christ did not need to get married and have a family. He was the second Adam who came in Adam's place and did it right this time by obeying God and preparing for our return to the father. Christ was able to exercise the perfect obedience that Adam did not. Christ mends the fence, the division that allows us to be forgiven and return to the father through repentance. Christ did not need a family. We are his family. He came to gather us together. His gift to us was the Holy Grail which is the Holy Spirit freely given to all those who are drawn to him in spirit and in truth. Holy Grail = Holy Spirit and our ultimate return to God and eternal life.
What intrigues me here is the way the Catholic church's Opus Dei has concocted the De Vinci Code book in order to debunk and destroy this book. It is terrible that the Catholic Church wold deliberately muddy the waters and try to destroy anything that challenges its ultimate control. I believe the Council of churches did indeed keep important books out of the Bible that explain to us how to meditate/pray and return to Christ on our own and NOT NEED THEIR CROOKED SERVICES. This church wants power, not our independence. GOD DOES NOT DWELL IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH (any church) MADE BY HANDS. A true jew is a person who is a jew inwardly (circumcised heart) and not a circumcision of the flesh. We do not need any phoney church to tell us what to think or to debunk this book. (I just saw the whole thing on the history channel and how Opus Dei, the right wing Catholic group close to the Pope, is choosing to challenge this book with the ingedibly garbagey "De Vinci Code." We see you for what you are with you graven image idols and Pagan statues! Please know what you are reading and where it's coming from.
Book Review: Wow, somebody should turn this into a novel...
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, yeah they did. And if you are looking for a fast paced thriller then read THE DAVINCI CODE or ANGELS AND DEMONS or any of the other similiarly themed novels that have appeared recently.
HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL was written in 1982, received some good reviews and then sort of faded away. Then novels began appearing that echoed some of this research and interest in this book increased markedly. This was written as a body of serious research albeit one that was aimed at the more popular market rather than a strictly academic one.
The opening section outlines some of the authors' theories, much in the style of other 'pop research' or 'pseudoscience' works, (like CHARIOTS OF THE GODS which this has been compared to). There are many statements containing speculation - 'this could be', 'perhaps', 'it suggests'. 'it may be' or 'it seems'. Unlike other popular pseudoscience works HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL does not throw out speculations on one page and then quote them as proved fact a few pages later. Instead the authors state hypotheses, explain what lead them to make these theories and then produce facts to support their theories. The authors have done extensive research into the historical figures involved and have suggested some very interesting theories for the reader to ponder. Have I personally checked each and every reference to establish it's authenticity? No. Do the sources seem reasonable and do they conform to what I have seen in other research work? Yes. The authors methodology is consistent with current methods of historical work and appears to be rigorous in it's pursuit.
This is not a book I would recommend for the casual reader, it is not a 'light read' but any means. A scholar looking for a thorough, extensive, serious source will probably be put off by the informal style the authors' have used. This is of great interest for anyone who has read any of Dan Brown's novels (or any others in the same vein) and been curious for more background. It is also a great book for anyone who got in trouble for asking too many questions in Sunday School.
Book Review: more substantiated than the bible
Summary: 5 Stars
Many will argue that this book is pure speculation and a the events described within are a complete impossibility, yet blindly they argue in favor of the bible as if it is complete fact...It is important to understand what your beliefs are based upon..rather than just accept what you have been told by what your parents have benn told by what their parents have been told and on and on...a 2000 year old game of telephone does not lend many solid facts for a basis of strong beleifs ..
there are many many blanks and holes in the telling of the story of jesus and the early days of christianity...holes which this book seems to fill in quite nice...although not in the same story but rather in an underlying story...a story much stronger than that of the gospels and the bible...
it is also important to understand that the bible is NOT fact..it is rather a collection of stories...those who get upset at the mere thoght that the bible story is contended miss the entire point of the bible altogether..for it is not the people or the events for which the bible is important ...it is the ideas expressed in those stories and events that will survive..it is an idea that eludes 99.9% of all religious people today even..the one simple idea of...LOVE..the bible in its most basic and really only truthfull form just expresses that one must not get caught up in the problems in life..just make the most of it and you will be happy..in short the answer to life.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a very, very interesting and in depth look at our history that many historians had even forgotten, or at least not unraveled...i read it with an open mind and experienced it for all that it was for me...if you read it and in the end judge it on the basis of a telling of early european history and events that shaped it... rater than reading in with injections of faith you will enjoy this book and it will provoke a great many thoughts and ideas about what you have been told all your life...
Book Review: Where to start
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps Fr. Saugnier, a poor priest in the Langue'doc would have never found the 'Pearl of Great Price' from which came his fortunes and the beginning of a great mystery of the Priory of Zion, the lineage of the Royal Davidic Family, the mysterious works of Marc Chagal and the poetry of Blake. But, that is bygone and only mentionable upon the path set by Messrs. Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln.Come with us now to ancient and dangerous times with landmarks and esotericisms leading us to the conclusion: The Davidic Line did not die with Y'shua bar Y'usef or his, I believe, wife, Mary, the Magdalen. It spread and was preserved. The Grail was the vessel, Mary, from which the bloodline continued through the Goth's intermarriage with the Jews of Marseille.
This book is not only about the Templars and its mysterious start, but of the even more mysterious Priory of Zion who pur portedly has protected as maintained the Holy Bloodline and whose leaders are stated to include Sir Isaac Newton, Leonard DaVinci, Robert Fludd, Claude Debussey and Jean Cocteau, and members may have included Marc Chagall, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, many of the French, British and European royalty.
Adventures abound and the search unpeels like an endlessly petalled rose (I say 'rose' most purposefully).
Detail after detail after detail. Connections, connections and reinforced research that some have criticized as rather exhausting. Well, this is a serious work of research and this is what one must do to survive peer review. No apologies here.
dIf you have read Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror", Laurence Gardner's "Bloodline of the Holy Grail", or the "Dagobert's Revenge Compilation" (which I recommend most highly and which you can retrieve online by keyword) and you're still hungry for more, this is the place to start, or their next book "The Messianic Legacy".
Indispensible. Seminal. If you don't get any others, at least get this one.