From: Ted Davis (tdavis@messiah.edu)
Date: Sat Sep 20 2003 - 10:20:26 EDT
Bob mentioned:
"The DaVinci Code" by Dan
Brown, which deals with Mary Magdalene and Jesus, the Holy Grail, and a lot
of other history.
I read it. It's certainly original and clever, and as far as I can tell
draws on a lot of genuine history. However, please be aware that the
alleged involvement of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton with the "Priory of
Sion" is pure fiction.
For Newton, I have grave doubts about it. My only hesitation about entirely
denying this is that I don't know the Newton manuscripts as well as I do
those of Boyle. For Boyle, I can assure you that this is not only pure
fiction, but ridiculous fiction. Boyle was a deeply pious Christian (no
hypocrisy here or secret adherence to a heterodox theology) who regarded
Jesus as the second person of the Trinity. And, although he granted that
marriage was a divine institution, he saw so many rotten marriages all
around him (esp involving his sisters Mary and Katherine, who were his
closest friends), that he advised people to remain chaste (as he did). It's
simply incredible, that Boyle would believe that Jesus married Magdalene.
If anyone knows the address of the author of this novel, incidentally, I'll
be happy to let him in on this. The author says that one of his main
interests is religion and science; his treatment of it in this book will not
exactly advance public understanding.
ted
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