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

Although this book is easy to read, I was unimpressed by the lack of REAL, factual evidence. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, and this book tries to poke the many holes in THAT dreadful work of art. But how do you refute a work of fiction by using the same source? What I mean is, the Da Vinci code is basically saying the Bible does not tell the whole story. Ok, fine, but how is Bocks book going to refute Browns work by using the Bible and scriptures as its main source? The Bible is what they are arguing, so you cannot use the source of the problem as the answer. They are like two children saying Did not!, Did to!, and so on. Its just poor research. I want different proof.

In Breaking the Da Vinci Code, New Testament scholar Darrell Bock describes and refutes the codes behind The Da Vinci Code, which could better be understood to be the presuppositions of author Dan Brown, and those who subscribe to his Gnostic view of Christianity. Sadly, in our day and age, very few Christians, much less the general population, have any knowledge of the literature of the Early Church, except perhaps for the New Testament itself. It is because of this general ignorance that so many seem to readily buy into Dan Browns code behind the code. As I read The Da Vinci Code nearly a year ago, I was totally engrossed in the mystery, but as the story progressed, I was increasingly appalled at the history. As an amateur student of Church history, I couldnt help but wish for a single volume I could recommend to help counteract the erroneous views of Christian development that Brown promotes. Breaking the Da Vinci Code is one such volume. While each code could have a scholarly work written about it (and indeed many have been), Bock does a good job of addressing popular misconceptions about Mary Magdalene, whether or not Jesus was married, the Gnostic gospels, the development of the New Testament, and other related issues. It is significant that this book is endorsed by well respected Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christian scholars. Personally, as an Orthodox Christian, I found Bocks statements to be, for the most part, thoroughly orthodox (small o), in the sense of C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity (another book I would also heartily recommend). For further reading, I would strongly urge readers to take a look at Ecclesiastical History (also published as Church History), written by Eusebius in the 4th century. As I stated in my Amazon review of this work, it should be required reading for all thinking Christians. Other Early Church writings should be considered, such as The Apostolic Fathers, edited by Jack Sparks; or any of the volumes in Ante-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers set of 38 volumes, edited by Philip Schaff; or many of the volumes in the Ancient Christian Writers series from Paulist Press. I listened to the audio recording of Breaking the Da Vinci Code, read by Chris Fabry, as I followed along in the book. While Fabry has a clear, pleasant and convincing voice for this work, I noticed that his mispronunciation of the occasional word slightly shifted the meaning of the authors intent. Not a big deal, but worthy of note. An advantage of the book over the recording is the inclusion of a selected bibliography and a helpful, simple glossary.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative response to this book taking into consideration of the negative votes against positive reviews, I am obliged to recommend it to those serious christians who had read the Bible a number of times and understand the meaning of the death of Jesus and thus Christianity the religion well. In my opinion, the author had delivered multi-dimensional arguments (of time, culture, history, politics from many respected academics) against the suspicions raised by Dan Browns book, that Jesus had lived to marry Mary of Magdalene, Constantine had overhauled the Bible in A.D. 325 and so on. Of course, nobody can perfectly win the case unless we can travel in a time machine or Jesus suddenly shows up before us and tells it himself. However, I think this book can help christian readers to apply good probabilistic thinking to judge for themselves what truths we should really believe. I can understand that many readers dislike the book for the very strong or passionate poise the author took to defend his faith against the popularity of Dan Browns book as an authentic history and not a fiction. As a non christian colleague of mine who borrowed it from me said, The harder the author tries, the less trustworthy he seems. What a pity that my colleague knows very little and has no interest at all about the conflicts amongst the early christians for the orthodox beliefs (well documented before A.D. 325), the unsolvable discrepancies between the maintream gospels and those gnostic gospels (Its impossible to accept different personalities of the disciples amongst different gospels), the cultural background and the history of Jews (Jews, the Middle East people, and the Romans in those days never cared nor respected the role of women like the way we do in the 21st century as opposed to what Dan Brown wrote), and most importantly, what Jesus death and his subsequent rise to heaven means. Such knowledge will largely enhance his appreciation of the whole picture and that he may not judge the book primarily with the style of the author. (If his rise did not happen, hes not the one which the prophets in the Old Testaments told about the coming Messiah and Christianity is no more than a fiction). Perhaps if the author had not picked an over confident title, the receptance of the book could be much improved. Anyway, I do respect the authors effort and moral courage to take side instead of standing in the middle or being politically correct, a way which many christian academics prefer to live.

If you loved DaVinci Code or if you hated it, you must admit it did get a reaction from you....which in itself is one definition of a successful novel. Many readers have found themselves more interested in the information detailed in Dan Browns books, and if so, this book is a good choice to begin to learn about the amazing history of the Christian Church. Especially Gnosticism and the early Christian Church, and especially the creation of the New Testament Bible. For a different review....here is my review of books that build on these interests, especially the lost books of the New Testament Bible and the concepts of Gnosticism. Nearly all knowledgeable Biblical scholars realize there have been a wide range of writings attributed to Jesus and his Apostles..... and that some of these were selected for compilation into the book that became known as the Bible.....and that some books have been removed from some versions of the Bible and others have been re-discovered in modern times. The attention focused on Gnosticism by Dan Browns DaVinci Code may be debatable, but the fact is that increased attention on academics tends to be predominately positive, so I welcome those with first-time or renewed interest. At least first-timers to Gnosticism are not pursuing the oh-so-popular legends of the Holy Grail, Bloodline of Christ, and Mary Magdalene. This is great......I seldom quote other reviewers, but there is one reviewer of Pagels books who confided that he had been a Jesuit candidate and had been required to study a wide range of texts but was never was told about the Nag Hamadi texts. He said: Now I know why. The Gospel of Thomas lays waste to the notion that Jesus was `the only begotten Son of God and obviates the need for a formalized church when he says, `When your leaders tell you that God is in heaven, say rather, God is within you, and without you. No wonder they suppressed this stuff! The Roman Catholic Church hasnt maintained itself as the oldest institution in the world by allowing individuals to have a clear channel to see the divinity within all of us: they need to put God in a bottle, label the bottle, put that bottle on an altar, build a church around that altar, put a sign over the door, and create rubricks and rituals to keep out the dis-believing riff-raff. Real `Us versus `them stuff, the polar opposite from `God is within You. `My God is bigger than your God the church(s)seem to say. And you can only get there through my door/denomination. But Jesus according to Thomas had it right: just keep it simple, and discover the indwelling Divinity `within you and without you. Here are quickie reviews of what is being bought these days on the Gnostic Gospels and the lost books of the Bible in general: The Lost Books of the Bible (0517277956) includes 26 apocryphal books from the first 400 years that were not included in the New Testament. Marvin Meyers The Secret Teachings of Jesus : Four Gnostic Gospels (0394744330 ) is a new translation without commentary of The Secret Book of James, The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Secret Book of John. James M. Robinsons The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition (0060669357) has been around 25 years now and is in 2nd edition. It has introductions to each of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices and the Papyrus Berioinensis 8502. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (0140278079) by Geza Vermes has selected works....a complete work is more difficult to achieve than the publishers marketing concept indicates. His commentary generates strong reactions. Elaine Pagels has 2 books (The Gnostic Gospels 0679724532 and Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas 0375501568) that have received considerable attention lately. For many, her work is controversial in that it is written for popular consumption and there is a strong modern interpretation. She does attempt to reinterpret ancient gender relationships in the light of modern feminist thinking. While this is a useful (and entertaining) aspect of college womens studies programs, it is not as unethical as some critics claim. As hard as they may try, all historians interpret the past in the context of the present. Obviously there is value in our attempts to re-interpret the past in the light of our own time. If you want the full scholarly work it is W. Schneemelchers 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha. Also, to understand the Cathars......try Barbara Tuckmans Distant Mirror for an incredible historical commentary on how the Christian Church has handled other points of view

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...

This book was very informative. If you go to this book looking for an easy answer to all the questions rought up in the Da Vinci Code, you will be let down. The book is riddled with quotes from early church fathers and ancient Gnostic gospels. I really enjoyed this but it contains a lot of info and can be boring if you are not too interested in the topic. This is the best book that talks of the Davinci Code!

Darrell L. Bock provides a knowledegable view on The Da Vinci Code and uses his theological training to punch holes in Browns story. Yes, Ive heard people say over and over again, Its just fiction! Get over it! Sorry, that argument doesnt wash. Brown provides a preliminary page of facts that are used to back up his fiction. That the facts are wrong and widely denounced as poorly researched are brought out in Bocks book. Bock gives a timeline of when the four Gospels were written, what the real role of women were in the early Christian church and gives evidence to disprove what many people actually believe-that Jesus and Mary Magdelene married and had a child. Before anyone says again that people are smarter than to believe Browns book, I personally know of one person in my family, who, even knowing the Gospels, thinks that everything presented in The Da Vinci Code could be true. That is the danger here: Browns page of facts; His appearance on several televised specials (including Elizabeth Vargas ABC special, National Geographic specials about the validity of the book) claiming that when he researched the book, he was a skeptic, but he became a believer in what he was writing. For those of us who want our loved ones to believe in the divinity of Christ and join us in Heaven, this is no light matter. To Bocks credit, he is thoughtful, methodical, and well-versed in all the subjects brought up by Browns book. There are no sterotypical, hysterical, How dare you! ravings here. The book is concise and well-written, and best of all, an easy read for a non-expert like me. I highly recommend this to all who have doubts after reading The Da Vinci Code or would just like good information for when you come across someone who wants to debate you about Browns book.

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

Dont buy the reviews that complain about this book on the grounds of too much scripture or why doesnt he explain why Da Vinci painted such and such. If anyone out there is interested in the actual history, dont ask why Da Vinci painted things a certain way. Realize that the ONLY biographical information we have on Christ written by eyewitnesses are the canonical gospels. Whatever second or third century gnostic writings say, or whatever medieval relic-crazy communities thought, should be subjected to the question, Why should I believe that? First say goes to the New Testament, written by Jesus first century, persecuted community of followers (as opposed to power-hungry misogynists). Dan Brown doesnt even get his etymological trivia correct (e.g., one of many, heretic-check out Gal 5:20). I feel much more comfortable sitting under the consel of a New Testament scholar, such as Darrell Bock, whose credentials are doctoral and postdoctoral work at Aberdeen and Tubingen make him more qualified by far to answer these questions than someone whose research included Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and other such conspiracy theory works, which dont even get their facts straight (e.g. gnostic writings found in the Dead Sea Scrolls).

This is yet another attempt to cash in on Dan Browns brilliant thriller The Da Vinci Code. It is as dull and uninteresting a book as you will find this year. Bocks book is a bust. It may appeal to the PH.D. crowd, but if you are seeking a book that enhances the information in The Da Vinci Code, this one is a pass. Save your money unless you have trouble sleeping at night.