Did anyone else find the idea of a whole secret society being formed to protect the tomb of Mary Magdalene implausible? It seems the emphasis of the PS was Mary, not any other examples of the Sacred Feminine. No Isis, no Artemis, Venus, etc.

I don't understand why she would be worshiped as a goddess. How is she an example of the Sacred Feminine? Just because she was righteous, slighted and her true history was "erased" by the church? She was completely human just as Jesus purportedly was.

Insights anyone??

If I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion: I think the case that Brown was trying to make was that Jesus was the Son of God but had a very human life, one which included Mary Magdalena. Having a wife, and thus having a child, Mary Magdalena would be continuing Jesus' bloodline, his royal or "divine" bloodline, by being like Jesus' mother Mary, who bore God's son.

I believe this is where Brown's argument lies, that Jesus' descendants, thus the descendants of the Messiah. Since they would be borne through Mary Magdalena, she herself has claims to divinity, like Hercules who was half mortal, half immortal. There is evidence to suggest, further, that many people worshipped Gods like Isis and Venus as half mortal and half Divine.

At least this is what I am guessing.

hmm... so they are worshiping the first carrier of the "divinity" rather than those who are direct blood descendants? well, i suppose Mother Mary is worshiped for similar reasons i do not fathom, but that's a whole different can of worms!

so the PS believes in Christ as part divine and also believes in the whole Sacred Feminine thing? i'm still not very convinced. oh well, it's just a book. but thanks for the post anyway!

You are undoubtedly correct, I think the book's appeal stems from the way Christianity unfolded throughout history (that as a Catholic I can assure you Brown's chronicling is accurate). Since Brown's testament requires a certain leap of faith just like any religion, it seems highly plausible that Christianity has been covering something up. Likewise Brown's account of how it "really happened" or what was intended scares people, because deep down in their unconsciousness many people could find this account just as plausible and compelling.

I am no conspiracy theorist, but if one were to look at the way Christianity began treating women (something Christianity's Jewish roots did not preach nor believe in), one has to ask themselves, is the Church really afraid that indeed Jesus entrusted his Church into the hands of Mary Magdalena, a woman? I do believe its hard to argue that the case brought forth by Brown is not a compelling one, but like I said still requires a certain leap of faith.

Indeed, I found myself imagining it's plausibility all the way through.
In fact, my suspension of disbelief was, er, suspended so much so that I found myself asking how much of this could actually be proven wrong, let alone verified as fiction in the first place.

In fact, I quite like the idea of this being true. Brown does not through the 'truth' of religion into question, but on the grounds of Jesus being a human and creating children with Mary Madalena, I, as an atheist, find the concept of Jesus being a real (albeit amazingly influential) human being very compelling and I can appreciate how such a turn of events would be covered up by the church in order to continue their faith in a man who was created by God Himself.

No wonder Christians don't like it - no matter that DVC is most likely fictitious - it's perceived as threatening to take away faith from an already fictitious concept (arguably)...

I can't believe that anyone takes a load of old toss like "The Da Vinci Code" seriously enough to discuss it in public.

Precisely. This is made worse by the fact that the Priori de Sion have been proven time and again to be purely myth anyway.

I have to say I agree with you Mark. The book obviously wasn't meant to be taken seriously, why are we discussing it? It's kind of like saying "could JK Rowling actually be a witch who's writing about her world to us muggles?"

She could be...

Plausible deniability is as subjective as the person who perceives it! ;)

of course it is not meant to be another episode of the New Testament! but why wouldn't any book be worthy of being discussed?

some people have different concepts of fun. i'ld rather jibe at a bad book any day than do some sudoku :P