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Available
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Publication
HarperCollins e-books (2009), Edition: Reprint, 352 pages
Description
Despite--or rather because of--all the veneration that has surrounded the figure of Jesus for centuries, historian Baigent asserts that Jesus and his death have been heavily mythologized. Using his access to hidden archives, secret societies, Masonic records, and the private collections of antiquities traders and their moneyed clients, he explores the religious and political climate in which Jesus was born and raised, examining not only the conflicts between the Romans and the Jews, but the strife within the different factions of the Jewish Zealot movement. He chronicles the migrations of Jesus's family, his exposure to other cultures, and the events, teachings, and influences that were most likely to have shaped his early years. Baigent also uncovers the inconsistencies and biases in the accounts of the major historians of Jesus's time, including Josephus, Pliny, and Tacitus. Their enduring influence reveals that spin is not a new phenomenon.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Brandie
Okay, here's the thing. The background information he presents was interesting to me. He made a few great points in the book that really made me think. But, let me go on to say, Biagent is trying to show how the NT is maybe not all we think it is - saying they are simply stories contrived to serve
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specific purposes and don't have the innocent writing background most assume today. Then he goes on to say they are false because there is fact A. And if we assume fact B caused fact A, and then we assume fact C caused fact B and then we do some more assuming, well, that proves this really incredible thing happened instead of what The Bible says. I find a lot of what may have happened just as woven and created, if not more so, than what he says about the Bible. Just my two cents though! Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Baigent is one of the people responsible for the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and this is partially a re-iteration of theories put forward then and partially a series of new issues that he's uncovered in the years since then. Interesting, and should be required reading for both
It's a fun read, it's full of conspiracy but it is an interesting look at a different reflection on early Christianity.
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historians and archaeologists. Why? Because although the leaps of faith he takes a few times are too far it would encourage looking at the facts and thinking about them without blindly accepting the "truths" presented. I'm sure lurking within the pages of this book there are some hidden things that need further investigation but they're obscured by rambling journeys on Baigent's pet hobby-horse, that Jesus was a member of the Essene community, survived past the crucifixion, was married to Mary Magdelene, his descendents live on today, that the Roman Catholic Church knows this and keeps it secret.It's a fun read, it's full of conspiracy but it is an interesting look at a different reflection on early Christianity.
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LibraryThing member castlewalls
The very first chapter started off with a great teaser of what I expected to find throughout the book. And the last chapter had some interesting points to read, but overall this book should have been named Religious beliefs.
Like Holy Blood Holy Grail this book is all over the place, I guess
This book went way off topic and more or less described religion from the Neanderthal burials, Egyptian beliefs and several other communities that were in close proximity of the Jewish people and how some of the rituals were absorbed from each of these communities.
As far as credibility of his research, his first chapter... his proof disappeared from a college, his view of the Jesus papers cannot be confirmed because he cannot read Aramaic text. About the only thing that I would find credible in his book is the fact that the Vatican has sought out ancient written texts to destroy anything that they find heresy.
Like Holy Blood Holy Grail this book is all over the place, I guess
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Micheal did not have enough information on the Jesus Papers to actually write about his so called proof of papers that were written by Jesus long after the crucifixion. This book went way off topic and more or less described religion from the Neanderthal burials, Egyptian beliefs and several other communities that were in close proximity of the Jewish people and how some of the rituals were absorbed from each of these communities.
As far as credibility of his research, his first chapter... his proof disappeared from a college, his view of the Jesus papers cannot be confirmed because he cannot read Aramaic text. About the only thing that I would find credible in his book is the fact that the Vatican has sought out ancient written texts to destroy anything that they find heresy.
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LibraryThing member Scaryguy
A lot of hype - little, if any, catharsis.
LibraryThing member WilliamPascoe
This book is great fun. It's one of those "what if? " type of books which, to my mind, should be read with tongue firmly in cheek. the historical accuracy of a lot of the content is probably questionable & I'm not sure that the conclusions would stand critical scrutiny ...but it is entertaining &
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must be worth a read from that perspective alone. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookJunkie777
I enjoyed the book for its historical perspective. However, there is a lot of hypothetical conjecture on the authors part with regards to linking of some events to prove their theories correct. I could give you a pretty convincing argument for the existence of a Yetti, but it doesn't mean they
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exisit. The book however does make me want to read the Bible again soon from a historical viewpoint. Show Less
LibraryThing member hadden
Another of these "It could have happened this way, so it must have happened this way" examinations of ancient history. It is filled with faith that the writers of the Bible were all wrong, and that later writers who agree in part with the author were all correct. The author must be one of the
By the way, this is the same author who recently sued Brown over "The da Vinci Code" because he said Brown stole his theory of Mary Magdalene being the mistress of Christ. Since Baigent claims the theory is fact, it cannot be plagarized. After all, you can't copyright an historical event, you can only copyright fiction.
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philosophical children of Erich von Däniken's "Chariots of the Gods."By the way, this is the same author who recently sued Brown over "The da Vinci Code" because he said Brown stole his theory of Mary Magdalene being the mistress of Christ. Since Baigent claims the theory is fact, it cannot be plagarized. After all, you can't copyright an historical event, you can only copyright fiction.
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LibraryThing member tuckerresearch
Michael Baigent cashing in on The Da Vinci Code, which, of course, cashed in on the work Baigent cowrote back in the day: Holy Blood, Holy Grail. So, part of this book is a rehash of that book's thesis, with some added conjecture on Jesus and the Zealots, Jesus's lost years, and Jesus's supposed
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survival of the crucifixion. Baigent maintains that Jesus was promoted by the Zealots, but they became mad at him when he decided it was okay to "render unto Caesar" that which was Caesar's. Baigent claims that Jesus visited, lived near, and studied at one of the two Jewish temples outside the one in Jerusalem: the one on Elephantine Island in Egypt and the one at Leontopolis. Baigent chooses the Jewish temple at Leontopolis, built by Onias III as Josephus first said, and it was the temple of the Zealots. This gives Baigent leeway to imply that Jesus's Jewish religion was crossed with various Egyptian ideas, like that of Ma'at (the scales of justice), mysticism (like the Book of the Dead for the living), and, oddly, being entombed or en-caved like Osiris. Finally, building off his Holy Blood, Holy Grail theories, Baigent claims a Church of England vicar contacted them in the 1980s, said that way back in the 1930s, his boss another Church of England man, told him that back in the 1890s he had been called to Saint Sulpice in Paris, France, to translate a set of documents that showed Jesus was alive in A.D. 45, etc. Then, in the early 2000s, Baigent claims he saw this document and/or similar documents (confusion here) that were from A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45 (confusion here) that showed Jesus was alive, etc. Baigent implies that the document he heard about in this third-hand, one hundred year game of telephone was the source of Bérenger Saunière's mysterious wealth and the foundation of all the Priory of Sion stuff midwifed by Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Of course, all the people in his game of telephone are quite dead. The documents Baigent supposedly sees in the 2000s are all quite nowhere to be seen, studied, verified, etc. There are lots of forgeries in the world of ancient documents. And, by the way, it is very rare that documents of such sort can be dated so precisely as A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45. So, some scholarly supposition in Baigent's style, some alternative history and theology. Then a bunch of wink wink nudge nudge "trust me, would I lie" supposition and, frankly, malarkey. By the by, the baddies in Baigent's narrative are the same folk in most of these new agey, new Christ-y books: the Roman Catholic Church, conservative Christians, Paul of Tarsus, the Patriarchy, Academe, etc. Trope central. Interesting in spots; derivative, exploitative, and speculative to the point of incredulity in others. Show Less
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Original publication date
2007-02-27