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A Murder of Angels Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:11 pm
Since the movie's been out, there seems to be a growing amount of Christian propaganda pointing out each and every inaccuracy in the movie and the book. I've read several of these books claiming to "break Da Vinci's Code" and have been repeatedly disappointed over how the authors make many attacks against the story but in no way give you evidence that any elements of the story may be true. However, while Opus Dei humbly points out inaccuracies concerning their own organization, the Catholic Church in general remained silent. By the way, from here on I will be assuming you've read the book or at least seen the movie, so if you haven't stop reading. To understand the situation, you will need to understand one fact. The fact that fundamentalist Christians don't want revealed: In mystic Christianity, Christ was said to be married to Mary Magdalen, and to have fathered a sacred lineage. It should also be understood however that Christianity was never a goddess worshiping cult. There is not a dualistic God/Goddess godhead in Christianity. If the marriage of Jesus can be proven through apocryphal scripture and other historical clues, why wouldn't the Church speak out more against Dan Brown and his writings? Because at the end of the book, the Grail fanatic turns out to be the bad guy and the Church comes out on the good side. Dan Brown, while not agreeing with the teachings of the Church, has friends in the Vatican. Those of you who have read Angels & Demons know that throughout that book, Langdon is on the Church's side. Take a look at the acknowledgments at the end of that book, and you will see that Brown used inside information when doing his research. He even met with the pope privately. The Church didn't speak out against the Da Vinci Code because they didn't have to. Enough hype has been driven into this story that the public is now likely to treat it as a passing fad. It can even be argued that some people have even become more faithful, asking their pastors if the allegations are indeed true. True believers of the grail story will have to continue to be a small, nearly unheard of group. (This article was my inspiration for this thread.)
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:54 pm
You have to understand that The Da Vinci Code is fiction. Dan Brown, in his protests, has stated that he was inspired by to write it. What am getting it (and I really do love to recemmond this book smile ) is for you to read The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail...no way am I critercising you...just letting you know there's a non-fictional point to The Da Vinci Code. If you've heard of it am sorry and I'll shut up sweatdrop
In my view I think The Da Vinci is all overrated and now pretty much franchised!
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A Murder of Angels Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:45 pm
Not only have I heard of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but I also have a copy sitting on my shelf. That book, however, seems "stretched" in places... I find it very hard to believe that Christ was NOT crucified, as the authors assert. Even followers of the Gnostic traditions that do believe in a bloodline of Christ, find that book somewhat embellished. It contains interesting theories though.
That said, I'm afraid I don't quite follow what you're trying to say in your post... sweatdrop I do agree that Da Vinci has become over commercialized though.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:02 pm
Though I haven't read it, I've listened to enough commentaries on the work to know a moderate amount about it. Firstly, it IS a work of fiction and a poorly written one at that (so says my dad, who is a very qualified judge of literature given his former occupation). The work being fiction does not diminish a book's importance, however. From some standpoints, the entire Bible is fiction, or rather mythology synthesized together from preexisting iconography that was available at the time.
I hope that it isn't treated as a passing fad, but not because I think what The DVC says is correct. I hope it leaves a mark because Christianity is in need of a shift of focus that will orient it in a direction better suited for the modern techno-scientific culture we now live in. The DVC makes one push in a direction that might save Christianity as a system and that direction is one that allows greater freedom of interpretation of the sacred text. There are others who have been trying to push this, but I have not been following this in great detail.
At any rate, much of the disillusionment with Christianity in the modern day comes in part from people taking things either too blindly or too literally. Both in the end produce a conservative stagnation when faced with eras of rapid change (of which we are in now!). Metaphorical or unconventional readings of sacred texts could inject Christianity with the refreshment it needs to stop it from loosing adherents by giving it greater flexibility and room to grow as a theology. Instead of having the priest tell you what your sacred text means, why not let the individual speak their take on the message? I think many Christians do this in practice anyway, but it isn't within the cannonized direction of their religion. There's too much good in the Bible to just let it die from stagnation!
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sora-kun~keyblade master~
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:07 pm
what people dont seem to relize is that dan brown acctualy said time and time again that he never once claimed that any thing in either the da vinci code or angels and demons was real or factual.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:08 am
sora-kun~keyblade master~ what people dont seem to relize is that dan brown acctualy said time and time again that he never once claimed that any thing in either the da vinci code or angels and demons was real or factual. Really? Angels and Demons Author's Note References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual (as are their exact locations). They can still be seen today. The brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual.The Da Vinci Code Fact: The Priory of Sion [...] is a real organization. [...] All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate. Check it out... It's on the first page of each book, respectively. Granted, it was a strongly embellished account of historical events, The Da Vinci Code seems to be accurate, for the most part. The Priory of Sion may have never truly existed (though there have been rumors of them dating back centuries), but the theories of the messages and symbolism hidden in Da Vinci's paintings was believed by many people before the book ever came out. And so forth.
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A Murder of Angels Captain
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sora-kun~keyblade master~
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:04 am
A Murder of Angels sora-kun~keyblade master~ what people dont seem to relize is that dan brown acctualy said time and time again that he never once claimed that any thing in either the da vinci code or angels and demons was real or factual. Really? Angels and Demons Author's Note References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual (as are their exact locations). They can still be seen today. The brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual.The Da Vinci Code Fact: The Priory of Sion [...] is a real organization. [...] All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate. Check it out... It's on the first page of each book, respectively. Granted, it was a strongly embellished account of historical events, The Da Vinci Code seems to be accurate, for the most part. The Priory of Sion may have never truly existed (though there have been rumors of them dating back centuries), but the theories of the messages and symbolism hidden in Da Vinci's paintings was believed by many people before the book ever came out. And so forth. yeah...he says that all the time in the interveiws he gets
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:25 pm
Oh, man, are people still talking about this?
The Da Vinci code is a work of fiction meant to shock as many Christians as possible, so that it can get free publicity, and thus become a best-seller. Nobody gives a load whether it's true or false.
NOBODY.
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:38 pm
There is such a thing as "historical fiction". Yes, some of the groups in the book like Opus Dei and the Illuminati and so forth do exist, however there is no reason to believe that the story is true.
Besides, back when the Gnostics were around, they were an incredibly small sect of mystics who took quite a number of liberties with already establish Christian theology, and were denounced as heretics many many times by the Catholic church. The reason, I suppose, the church isn't bothering to point out all of the flaws and inaccuracies in the book(s) is because they assume that people are smart enough to know the difference between fiction and history. Your first guess should be which section the book is in the bookstore....
And, Axeman, you would be surprised to find out just how many people do believe that The DaVinci Code is a history book.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:56 pm
There are those who believe it's true. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a real, bestselling (I believe), book that Dan Brown used a lot for his basis in the Da Vinci Code. I personally have no solid belief pertaining to the book, but I think it's something interesting to think about.
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A Murder of Angels Captain
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:24 pm
Sapphire_Magic There are those who believe it's true. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a real, bestselling (I believe), book that Dan Brown used a lot for his basis in the Da Vinci Code. I personally have no solid belief pertaining to the book, but I think it's something interesting to think about. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a real book, but most scholars and Historians consider it "Pseudohistory," meaning a fictionalized account of real history. The book claims that Christ did NOT die on the cross, but that he and Mary Magdalene were married and had at least one child after escaping across the Mediterranean Sea and ending up in France. The child, a girl names Sarah, went on to be one of the founding members of the Merovingian bloodline, the earliest kings of France. The authors of the book further claim that after the Merovingian bloodline fell out of rulership of the country, a secret order was formed to protect the bloodline of Christ, called the Priory of Sion. They further claimed that they knew who some of the supposed modern day living descendants of Christ were. There are few or no books outside of Holy Blood, Holy Grail that claim the Priory of Sion to be real. The majority of scholarly works disprove the Priory as being fiction. And there is well-documented evidence of Christ's crucifixion from non-Christian sources. Dan Brown borrowed heavily from this book, but the book from the very beginning was nothing more than a story written to gain money and attention.
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