Human Skeletal Remains Discovered at Rosslyn Chapel

Posted on December 8, 2011 by MSH

Rosslyn Chapel and its medieval associations are chronologically out of order for this blog, but since the chapel figures in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code quackery, I thought this was worth a mention. No, the remains aren’t that of Mary Magdalene or any of Jesus’ descendants. As one archaeologist at Archeoblog explains in an excerpt:

Archaeologists now believe the skeletons were placed there when the chapel was abandoned during the Reformation, in the 17th century, by local people who wanted to bury their relatives on consecrated ground. They lay under the stone for more than three centuries until the slabs were lifted two years ago.

I can hardly wait until $imcha Jacobovici gets wind of this. Just wait … he’ll find some way to match the DNA from one of these Rosslyn skeletons to the bone fragments of his “Jesus family tomb” and voila! … another TV special and revenue stream!

Technorati Tags: da vinci code, Dan Brown, rosslyn chapel, skeletons

Dan Brown and the Grail That Never Was

Posted on September 23, 2011 by MSH

That’s part of the title of this 2004 scholarly article that examines Brown’s Jesus bloodline mythology. I don’t believe I’ve posted it before (going through the archives this weekend). The author is apparently a medievalist. It’s a succinct, readable dismantling of Brown’s bogus history. Here’s the abstract:

Dan Brown’s bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, has enthralled many readers, but many others have pointed out his errors and raised objections to his dubious conjectures. Of particular interest to Arthurians is Brown’s conspiracy theory (appropriated from other sources) concerning the Grail, but a discussion of that subject also requires consideration of his presentation of Church history and of the role that art plays in the elaboration of the Grail theory.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: bloodline, da vinci code, Dan Brown, holy blood, holy grail, Jesus, san greal, sang real

The Talpiot Jesus Tomb

Posted on January 20, 2011 by MSH

An emailer asked me about this today, and I was quite surprised that I had never posted this paper I wrote on the so-called Jesus tomb. I blogged about the tomb back in 2008, but I never posted this link (at least that I could find quickly). So, here it is.

Technorati Tags: inscription, Israel, Jacobovici, Jerusalem, Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, ossuary, Talpiot, tomb

Jesus and Mary Magdalene: Husband and Wife in the Gnostic Gospels?

Posted on September 16, 2010 by MSH

I came across this video of a presentation I gave some years ago on this topic. I really should keep track of this stuff. Had a full beard then. The point of the presentation is to show that Gnostic gospels (the “real Bible” to conspiracists and Dan Brown fans) does not have a single line indicating Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, or that they had a romantic/sexual relationship. It’s bunk (at least if we take the Gnostics for our source).

Michael Heiser: Gnosticism (part 3) – “Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene Married?” from Guy Malone on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: Gnostic, Gnostic Gospels, Jesus, kiss, married, Mary Magdalene, sexual

The Gospel of Thomas: Is it Really Earlier than the Canonical Gospels?

Posted on July 22, 2009 by MSH

Many scholars think so, especially those trotted out by the Discovery Channel, PBS, etc. A lot of scholars disagree, and for good reasons, but that isn’t as media-sexy.

Here’s a good article on recent re-consideration of the “earliness” of Thomas. It’s by Nick Perrin of Wheaton College, whom I know. Nick spoke as part of a lecture series I coordinated in Bellingham, WA a couple years ago on this topic. The article is a bit technical, but I think non-specialists in biblical studies will follow it. I post it since there is so much paleobabble surrounding the Gospel of Thomas. You all ought to know that it’s not so neat a picture as the popular media would have it.

Technorati Tags: Gospel of Thomas, Nag Hammadi, Tatian

Prepping For More Dan Brown Nonsense About Solomon’s Temple

Posted on May 5, 2009 by MSH

I’m sure we’ve all heard the earth-shattering news by now, that Dan Brown’s sequel to The DaVinci Code (hereafter DVC) is due out on September 15. I’m relieved that he got it to us before 2012.

Brown’s sequel is now entitled, The Lost Symbol. It was going to be titled The Solomon Key, or so his website told us in the wake of DVC’s success. His website informed readers that the sequel had something to do with freemasonry in America, but that it was also tied to the material in DVC.

I’m quite certain Brown will say something about how Solomon’s temple was created to somehow transmit some lost Egypto-Gnostic secret knowledge, and about how that knowledge was brought to America via freemasonry. While Brown made people wait years for the sequel confirmation, PaleoBabble is far more responsive. Let’s get the debunking started right away. If you’re a freemason or a Dan Brown sycophant, you may want to stop reading now.

One of the things I’m sure Brown’s “meticulous research” (his phrase in the DVC, which was subsequently hacked to bits by scholars of all religious persuasions all over the world) will have overlooked (since it doesn’t further the Gnostic idea) is the fact that Solomon’s temple was not modeled after Egyptian temples. It is distinctly Syro-Palestinian, with a dash of Phoenician elements (the Bible tells us Hiram of Tyre sent Solomon help in the construction). Toward making that point, here’s an article from BAR about a non-biblical temple that is the closest in design to the Bible’s description of Solomon’s temple ever found.

Technorati Tags: archaeology, Dan Brown, freemasonry, Lost Symbol, Solomon, Syria-Palestine, Syro-Palestinian, temple

PaleoBabble

Your antidote to cyber-twaddle and misguided research about the ancient world.

Category Archives: Dan Brown