Overview
Was Leonardo Da Vinci a member of the 'Priory of Sion', a secret society reaching all the way back to the Crusades"" Does his famous painting, ""The Last Supper"", contain a hidden code about this society's most precious secret? Did Jesus father children by Mary Magdalene? What was the Holy Grail? The best-selling novel ""The Da Vinci Code"" by Dan Brown has stirred the popular imagination by cleverly interweaving theories about such questions with a fast-paced fictional narrative. Many readers have been so swept away by the drama of this murder mystery that they have accepted Brown's fictional reconstruction of Christian origins and medieval history as established fact. New Testament scholar Robert M. Price, a member of the prestigious Jesus Seminar, examines the creative uses of history in Brown's novel, showing that, however intriguing Brown's fictional speculations may be, the real facts behind the novel are even more fascinating. What does the best historical evidence say about the possibility that Jesus might have survived the crucifixion? How did the Gospels come to be accepted as the established accounts of Jesus' life and why were other Gnostic traditions suppressed? How did the Roman Emperor Constantine figure in the development of Christian dogma? What was Mary Magdalene's role in early Christianity and how was it adapted in later attempts to develop a 'sacred feminine' element in Christianity? These are some of the important questions about Christianity that Dr. Price pursues in this engrossing discussion of Christian history. Price combines sophisticated historical analysis with completely accessible and witty prose in this enlightening, factually based analysis of Brown's speculative bestseller.
Full Product Details
Author: Robert M. Price
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Imprint: Prometheus Books
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9781591023487
ISBN 10: 1591023483
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 06 September 2005
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
...a good read...[a] useful corrective of the Browns' errors. -- David Barrett, The Independent, 19th May 2006.
"""...a good read...[a] useful corrective of the Browns' errors."" -- David Barrett, The Independent, 19th May 2006."
Author Information
Robert M. Price, Ph.D. (Selma, NC), professor of scriptural studies at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is the editor (with Jeffery Jay Lowder) of The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave and the Journal of Higher Criticism. He is also the author of Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today's Pop Mysticisms; The Paperback Apocalypse: How the Christian Church Was Left Behind; The Reason-Driven Life: What Am I Here on Earth For?; The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man; and Deconstructing Jesus; among other works.
