Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyones Asking

Ever order a book that you really had high expectations for, only to find out that it doesnt even talk about what you most wanted to read about??? Well, if thats the kind of book you want, then this one is for you. I am stunned by Bocks audacity to call his book Breaking The Da Vinci Code when his book CONTAINS NOTHING ABOUT LEONARDO DA VINCIS PAINTINGS!!!! Can someone explain this to me??? Some of THE most important questions everyone is asking about Dan Browns book relates to the many claims Brown makes about Da Vinci and his works of art. Bock answers none of these things. Hmmmmm. What does that say? Regarding The Last Supper and all the things Brown points out, Bock says zip, nada, nothing. He is equally silent about the Mona Lisa and the Virgin of the Rocks. What gives??? So what do you get for your hard earned money?-you get Bock beating you over the head saying, basically, Christianity is true, believe like I believe, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Dont get me wrong. being a Christian is fine. Super! But this book is called Breaking The Da Vinci Code NOT Why you should be a Christian in Spite of Dan Browns Bestseller. Bock should have used the second title. Try either the book by Lunn (Da Vinci Code Decoded) or the one by Abanes (The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code). The first is long (208 pp.), the second is short and sweet (96 pp.).

Obvious agenda Any time a book gets written to debunk another book, one must be on guard. When the subject is religion and the author holds a doctorate in theological studies, one already knows what his agenda is. He will defend the party line, of course, and use all the cliches, like using Christ (annointed one) as a synonym or even as a sirname for Jesus. The authors interchancing of Christ, Lord and Savior shows his bias. He spends a lot of words trying to disprove the DaVinci code, but in the main, his arguments are, for the most part, ipse dixit, with little reference material outside of cannonical text. Having thoroughly read Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Holy Blood, Holy Grail the Mary Magdaline Gospel, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Way of the Essenes, The teachings of the Essenes From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Hiram Key, The Second Messiah and more, I can say with some conviction that Professor Maloneys book does little to debunk the DaVinci Code and is largely a sermon reflecting his conservative religious opinion and little more. Read it if you want another opinion, but remember that he is strongly biased. For a better researched discussion with more facts and references I suggest The Templar Revelation by Picket and Prince (ISBN 0-684-84891-0) as a better way to spend your money.

I have read a couple of books on the Da Vinci code, as well as the novel (a definite page turner). While the facts are correct in this book, it seems a bit rushed to press and falls short on many issues. In trying to prove Dan Brown wrong, the author commits many of the same logical errors. The Da Vinci Code is held up by a couple of pillars: 1. The Priory of Sion: Bock completely ignores the Priory in his treatise. As this is a central thread throughout Dan Browns book, it is rather strange that a rebuttal author would ignore this material, especially when it can easily be shown that the Priory is the creation of one Pierre Plantard (1993 court testimony, 1956 incorporation documents). 2. The Nag Hammadi library: The Gnostic gospels, which have been elevated to a very high status by some theological scholars, like Crosson, Spong, Pagels and Funk. Bock does a better job here, but does not delve deep enough to present a full rebuttal argument. Although he declares a win over the code, he has really done very little to dispute the Gnostic gospels or their supporters. I agree with Bock that Dan Browns scholarship is lacking. I also agree with Bocks major points on the subject. But, Dan Brown is a novelist, while Bock is writing a critique or an apology (depending on how you view his work). While Bock presents some very good factual material, all of it seems to fall short on truly nailing the coffin shut on the subject and often raises more questions than it answers. Of course, this seems to be the rule with Da Vinci Code critiques. While not perfect itself, I prefer Cracking Da Vincis Code by Garlow and Jones over this work.

Bock certainly has written a lot about the period around the first century AD, and he draws on that experience to compose a lot of the text of this book. In that sense, Bock is doing a great service by providing a decent historical context to the assertions made in Dan Browns book. Unfortunately, Bock is not really able to address the whole set of contentions surrounding modern Wicca and goddess ritual, which is the whole point of Browns novel. Brown has already pretty much said he intended to promote goddess worship, and his claims in that area need to be addressed as well. This book doesnt do much of that. I dont know about you, but Im kind of busy, and I found it a lot easier to get through Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code. It addresses most of the same issues Bock does, but it also goes on to address the problem of Wicca that Brown poses and Bock doesnt deal with. Kellmeyers argument from the Pauline epistles against the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene is unique and powerful, and the information he provides about German influences on Wicca is also remarkable. If Dan Brown had known what Kellmeyer knew, he probably would have re-phrased a lot of his book. Whether or not you get Bocks book, you cant miss out on Kellmeyers. He wrote it in the same style Brown uses - short chapters, where each chapter addresses a single issue raised on a particular page of the novel. The issues are addressed in the same order they appear in the novel, so its easy to find the discussion you want, and a lot of the discussions are cross-linked to one another to show you how Brown wove things together. Besides, his writing is snappy and fun, so its easy to read. Bock and others could take lessons from that.

It is interesting to note the approaches to rebutting the historical claims of Dan Brown that he used as the basis for his popular novel The Da Vinci Code. While the initial challenges to Brown came from the Evangelical camp, too many of these efforts, perhaps following the proof text methodology common in much of their apologetical work, have concentrated on the minutiae of Browns asides into art and history while ignoring the more profound questions of the theological implications of his rewriting of the Christian story. While a laundry list of Browns many historical faux pas make for amusing reading, it leaves the syncretistic presuppositions prevalent in his thesis untouched. Daniel Bocks Breaking the Da Vinci Code is a marvelous exception to this pattern. By not being lured into secondary matters, he manages in a somewhat short treatment to get at the heart of Browns claims about the New Testament canon and the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Focusing on key themes within Browns presuppositions, Bock performs a thorough deconstruction of Browns ideas and shows the underlying premises to be completely without merit. Browns distorted view of Jewish ideas of marraige and celibacy, his use of later discredited Gnostic texts while discounting the canonical Gospels written centuries earlier, and his complete misreading even of his own evidence (e.g., the Gnostic texts give no evidence of Jesus ever being married) all are placed under scrutiny and Browns entire intellectual edifice crumbles into dust. Those looking for a point by point refutatation of Browns claims will have to look elsewhere. However, such efforts serve to attack the facade of Browns views while leaving the underlying structure intact. Bock has largely ignored the externals and went straight to the heart of the controversy. For this reason, Breaking the Da Vinci Code stands as the greatest response from the Protestant side and is an essential read on the topic.

Bock is partly correct in his title - he does give answers, but not to the questions that everyone is asking about The Da Vinci Code. I found Bocks book to be an arduous read, not in the level of thinking, but rather in its presentation of the facts that counter the claims of Dan Browns worldwide best-seller The Da Vinci Code. Bock walks through seven identified codes that are, in essence, the key assumptions put forth by Brown in his book; and Bock systematically presents evidence to counter the claims of Brown and others who have questioned the divinity of Christ and the authenticity of the Scriptures. Bock is honest in his assessment of the churchs dismal failure to properly address a central figure in the conspiracy theory of Brown and others - Mary Magdalene was, indeed, a victim of a very poor smear campaign at the hands of the Catholic Church under Pope Gregory the Great in A.D. 591 who first taught that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Bock demonstrates that his area of expertise is truly New Testament scholarship and presents a dizzying array of texts and historical persons to bolster this position that Mary Magdalene was not the lover or wife of Jesus Christ. Bock then walks through dozens of other proofs countering each code until he arrives at his conclusion - that the challenge to Christianity that The Da Vinci Code presents is the same, tired, old and easily-refuted claims of the Gnostics from two thousand years ago only packaged in a best-selling murder mystery this time around! Breaking The Da Vinci Code is an informative book, but not necessarily an easy read. You can tell that Dr. Bock is a New Testament seminary professor - you honestly feel that you are ready for an exam by the end of the book. The problem with the book is that, I dont believe, it prepares a Christian to really engage in a conversation with the average person who has either read the book or will see the movie and has questions - the book is almost too much information and it presents it in a way that makes the reader work too hard to understand it. I think there are better books for the average lay Christian looking to prepare himself to engage in a friendly conversation; but the book is well researched and at least under 200 pages, unlike several of the anti-Da Vinci books on the market.

This book is really an essential. It covers everything from the theory of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene, to the Canonization of the Bible, to the Secret Gnostic Gospels. A must read for those who have read the Da Vinci Code

I bought this book because I thought it was further research into the subjects covered by the original Da Vinci Code Book. The book is a rip-off on the name and contains some of the worst religious hypocrisy and dogma I have read. The Catholic Church demeans women by not allowing them any position of authority and relegates them to minor helper roles, i.e., the mother or helpmate of someone. This book attempts to refutes this accusation by claiming the church does look up to women and cites two examples: 1) Martin Luthers MOTHER who was a great influence on him. Martin Luther could not have started the religion he did without her influence. 2) The woman, who in CONJUNCTION with her husband started the Salvation Army. A mother and a help-mate. These look like helper roles to me. And yet according to these authors these examples absolve the church of their demeaning treatment of women. What about Joan of Arc, Saint Margaret of Scotland, or Eleanor of Acquitaine? Eleanor was one of the wealthiest women alive and barely 20 years old. She supported the Crusades financially and she and her other female friends marched onto the battlefield as nurses during the crusades. After that the Pope no longer allowed women to participate in the Crusades under any circumstances and in any role. If the authors have their way the status quo will continue. Women will be relegated to helper roles and allowed only minimal and non-authoritative participation. This is not what Jesus intended. According to the early Bible (the Bible we know was not formed until the third century A.D.) Christ allowed women to preach the gospel and to be fully involved in the church in any way they chose. It was not until 300 years after Christ died that women were relegated to mothers and help-mates. The authors of this book would like to continue this shameful policy. Truth means little to these authors. They are more concerned with maintaining the status quo of third century religious dogma.

Nothing in this book proves anything... If Da Vinci Code is wrong about Magdalene and the conspiracy, this book is not right either... faith is very hard to argue and everybody believes what they wanted to believe...

Ok, maybe ths book isnt all THAT fatiguing to read, but it does drag and is dry. Bock is a scholar (good point) and he writes like one (bad point). Also, as the information about this book states in the PR material Darrell Bocks research uncovers the origins of these codes by focusing on the 325 years immediately following the birth of Christ. This is a problem becasue Browns book goes farther back in history than 325 a.d. Browns underlying material dates back to the ancient goddess worship of the Mesopotamian era. I am surprised Bock did not deal too much with things like truly ancient goddess worship, Venus-related issues, etc. Clearly, Bock wanted to clear the name of Christianity more than do a complete look at all the things Brown had to say. Also, precious little material deals with the actual Priory of Sion that Brown discusses in his bestseller. Again, Bock was too concerned with simply proving the Bible, Jesus divinity, and how Christianity is true. Other aspects of the Brown-Da Vinci tale were covered not nearly as nicely as they could have been covered. He missed the more edgy issues Brown raises regarding the Knights Templar, Witch Hunts, paganism, etc. I agree with other reviewers who say that Bocks book is better than most. But it does not beat out The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code by Abanes (a younger, more contemporary author, who I believe much closer to Dan Browns age). Bocks book is hardly different from any history book on Christianity you might pick up in a Christian bookstore.