Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyones Asking

Breaking the Da Vinci Code was a wonderful read. Enlightens the soul that the truth is always in the Holy Scripture, and never in the mind of man. Have recommended to my friends. Robert C. Frank

Despite the overwhelmingly negative response to this book taking into consideration of the negative votes against positive reviews, I am obliged to recommend it to those serious christians who had read the Bible a number of times and understand the meaning of the death of Jesus and thus Christianity the religion well. In my opinion, the author had delivered multi-dimensional arguments (of time, culture, history, politics from many respected academics) against the suspicions raised by Dan Browns book, that Jesus had lived to marry Mary of Magdalene, Constantine had overhauled the Bible in A.D. 325 and so on. Of course, nobody can perfectly win the case unless we can travel in a time machine or Jesus suddenly shows up before us and tells it himself. However, I think this book can help christian readers to apply good probabilistic thinking to judge for themselves what truths we should really believe. I can understand that many readers dislike the book for the very strong or passionate poise the author took to defend his faith against the popularity of Dan Browns book as an authentic history and not a fiction. As a non christian colleague of mine who borrowed it from me said, The harder the author tries, the less trustworthy he seems. What a pity that my colleague knows very little and has no interest at all about the conflicts amongst the early christians for the orthodox beliefs (well documented before A.D. 325), the unsolvable discrepancies between the maintream gospels and those gnostic gospels (Its impossible to accept different personalities of the disciples amongst different gospels), the cultural background and the history of Jews (Jews, the Middle East people, and the Romans in those days never cared nor respected the role of women like the way we do in the 21st century as opposed to what Dan Brown wrote), and most importantly, what Jesus death and his subsequent rise to heaven means. Such knowledge will largely enhance his appreciation of the whole picture and that he may not judge the book primarily with the style of the author. (If his rise did not happen, hes not the one which the prophets in the Old Testaments told about the coming Messiah and Christianity is no more than a fiction). Perhaps if the author had not picked an over confident title, the receptance of the book could be much improved. Anyway, I do respect the authors effort and moral courage to take side instead of standing in the middle or being politically correct, a way which many christian academics prefer to live.

All that Dr. Bock seems capable of is mouthing religious ideals. I bought this little book hoping to get a more detailed look into some of the views that were expressed in The DaVinci Code. Instead a got a lecture on how right and pure the early church fathers were and pages of Dr. Bocks defense of his Christian faith. Dr. Bock should confine his writings to church publications and not try to make money off popular best sellers. Rather tacky!

I guess that we all went a little crazy in college in one way or another. Instead of radical partying, I took to reading gnostic gospels and other non-canonical early Christian writings. Thus, when I worked through The DaVinci Code, I found the history to be laughable. With the approach of the movie and surrounding hype, I started looking for a good book to recommend to my church members who had questions. Darrell Bocks book, Breaking the DaVinci Code, filled the bill nicely. While backed by comprehensive scholarship and a thorough understanding of early Christian literature, Bock made his discussion in such a way that any reasonably intelegent person should be able to grasp the relevant concepts. He includes a comprehensive glossary of relevant terms and a fairly good bibliography. His treatment of complex topics neither ignores the complexity nor assumes the complexity beyond the grasp of the reader. The only weakness of the book is that Bock narrowly focused on the issues raised by Brown, making it less useful once Brown has faded from public discussion. For now, it is a book that every Christian that is serious about appologetics should read.

If you loved DaVinci Code or if you hated it, you must admit it did get a reaction from you....which in itself is one definition of a successful novel. Many readers have found themselves more interested in the information detailed in Dan Browns books, and if so, this book is a good choice to begin to learn about the amazing history of the Christian Church. Especially Gnosticism and the early Christian Church, and especially the creation of the New Testament Bible. For a different review....here is my review of books that build on these interests, especially the lost books of the New Testament Bible and the concepts of Gnosticism. Nearly all knowledgeable Biblical scholars realize there have been a wide range of writings attributed to Jesus and his Apostles..... and that some of these were selected for compilation into the book that became known as the Bible.....and that some books have been removed from some versions of the Bible and others have been re-discovered in modern times. The attention focused on Gnosticism by Dan Browns DaVinci Code may be debatable, but the fact is that increased attention on academics tends to be predominately positive, so I welcome those with first-time or renewed interest. At least first-timers to Gnosticism are not pursuing the oh-so-popular legends of the Holy Grail, Bloodline of Christ, and Mary Magdalene. This is great......I seldom quote other reviewers, but there is one reviewer of Pagels books who confided that he had been a Jesuit candidate and had been required to study a wide range of texts but was never was told about the Nag Hamadi texts. He said: Now I know why. The Gospel of Thomas lays waste to the notion that Jesus was `the only begotten Son of God and obviates the need for a formalized church when he says, `When your leaders tell you that God is in heaven, say rather, God is within you, and without you. No wonder they suppressed this stuff! The Roman Catholic Church hasnt maintained itself as the oldest institution in the world by allowing individuals to have a clear channel to see the divinity within all of us: they need to put God in a bottle, label the bottle, put that bottle on an altar, build a church around that altar, put a sign over the door, and create rubricks and rituals to keep out the dis-believing riff-raff. Real `Us versus `them stuff, the polar opposite from `God is within You. `My God is bigger than your God the church(s)seem to say. And you can only get there through my door/denomination. But Jesus according to Thomas had it right: just keep it simple, and discover the indwelling Divinity `within you and without you. Here are quickie reviews of what is being bought these days on the Gnostic Gospels and the lost books of the Bible in general: The Lost Books of the Bible (0517277956) includes 26 apocryphal books from the first 400 years that were not included in the New Testament. Marvin Meyers The Secret Teachings of Jesus : Four Gnostic Gospels (0394744330 ) is a new translation without commentary of The Secret Book of James, The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Secret Book of John. James M. Robinsons The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition (0060669357) has been around 25 years now and is in 2nd edition. It has introductions to each of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices and the Papyrus Berioinensis 8502. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (0140278079) by Geza Vermes has selected works....a complete work is more difficult to achieve than the publishers marketing concept indicates. His commentary generates strong reactions. Elaine Pagels has 2 books (The Gnostic Gospels 0679724532 and Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas 0375501568) that have received considerable attention lately. For many, her work is controversial in that it is written for popular consumption and there is a strong modern interpretation. She does attempt to reinterpret ancient gender relationships in the light of modern feminist thinking. While this is a useful (and entertaining) aspect of college womens studies programs, it is not as unethical as some critics claim. As hard as they may try, all historians interpret the past in the context of the present. Obviously there is value in our attempts to re-interpret the past in the light of our own time. If you want the full scholarly work it is W. Schneemelchers 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha. Also, to understand the Cathars......try Barbara Tuckmans Distant Mirror for an incredible historical commentary on how the Christian Church has handled other points of view

Im a conservative Christian and a student of early church history. I read the Da Vinci Code. As entertainment, I found it puerile (see my review); as history, I found it mostly laughable. That said, Darrell Bocks book is a surprisingly weak and shallow attempt at refutation (I hesitate even to use the word refutation, so feckless is this effort). First, Bock ignores some of the more obvious historical untruths in Dan Browns book, such as the claim that Constantines conversion to Christianity was at best a deathbed decision, if it occurred at all. Second, his reasoning is often amazing shallow. I found in most instances that he simply introduces his position, cites minimal evidence in support of it, and then pronounces the case closed, in his favor of course. At times, its hard to tell whether hes agreeing or disputing some of the writers he cites in defending his positions. Talk about vacillating! This is shoddy work, and hardly that of a scholar. If youre looking for a lucid and logically constructed refutation of The DaVinci Code, look elsewhere, cuz this sure aint it!

I rarely review books unless I recommend them. However, Dr. Bocks style of religious paranoia is growing very tiresome, so comment is needed. It is certainly OK to have deeply-held religious beliefs, and Bock is entitled to his. It is also OK to defend those beliefs, and Bock clearly intends to do so. There are many wonderful people in this world who are devout Christians. On the other hand, it is intellectually shoddy to accuse people of pernicious agendas just because they believe differently than you. That is where Bock abuses the credentials of his PhD and contributes to the bad reputation of Texas-style fundamentalism. (Bock is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and past president of the Evangelical Theological Society.) To Bock, Dan Brown had sinister motives for writing The Da Vinci Code: one can spot an agenda expressed through the novels key characters. For some mysterious reason, he also feels a need to go after an unrelated author, Elaine Pagels, because she takes the Nag Hammadi documents seriously by darkly hinting about her, There is an agenda here. The only agenda these people have is a desire to express religious and historical ideas that they find interesting or compelling. Dr. Bock is quite welcome to state where he differs in opinion and why, but it is very unscholarly of him to accuse people he disagrees with of being influenced by evil motives. If you are interested in separating fact from fiction in The Da Vinci Code, a much better book is Bart Ehrmans Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code.

Darrell L. Bock provides a knowledegable view on The Da Vinci Code and uses his theological training to punch holes in Browns story. Yes, Ive heard people say over and over again, Its just fiction! Get over it! Sorry, that argument doesnt wash. Brown provides a preliminary page of facts that are used to back up his fiction. That the facts are wrong and widely denounced as poorly researched are brought out in Bocks book. Bock gives a timeline of when the four Gospels were written, what the real role of women were in the early Christian church and gives evidence to disprove what many people actually believe-that Jesus and Mary Magdelene married and had a child. Before anyone says again that people are smarter than to believe Browns book, I personally know of one person in my family, who, even knowing the Gospels, thinks that everything presented in The Da Vinci Code could be true. That is the danger here: Browns page of facts; His appearance on several televised specials (including Elizabeth Vargas ABC special, National Geographic specials about the validity of the book) claiming that when he researched the book, he was a skeptic, but he became a believer in what he was writing. For those of us who want our loved ones to believe in the divinity of Christ and join us in Heaven, this is no light matter. To Bocks credit, he is thoughtful, methodical, and well-versed in all the subjects brought up by Browns book. There are no sterotypical, hysterical, How dare you! ravings here. The book is concise and well-written, and best of all, an easy read for a non-expert like me. I highly recommend this to all who have doubts after reading The Da Vinci Code or would just like good information for when you come across someone who wants to debate you about Browns book.

This is NOT a breaking of Da Vincis codes. This is NOT a book that answers the questions everybodys asking. Instead, Bock just presents a treatise that defends Christianity as a religion, beginning with Constantines era around 325 A.D. As other reviewers have commented, this is a most shocking display of false advertising in that Bock steers clear of making any attempt to address what Dan Brown has said about hidden codes in Leonardos Da Vincis works of art-terrible. Bock also ignores other important aspects of Browns book: for example, goddess worship, ancient religions, symbology. Bock seems completely out of touch with what people are really asking. Dont waste your money fellow readers.

Mr. Bocks writing style is not the greatest but he does do a good job of explaining very clearly why Dan Browns book is a fictional novel based on a fictional theory. You can call me many things, Actively Religious is not one of them. I read Mr. Bocks book because Dan Browns book was simply too incredible to believe. If you would like a better understanding of what historians and biblical scholars understand about the beginnings of Christianity, I recommend you read it. If by the end of the book, you still believe the Da Vinci Code gives an accurate historical depiction then you probably also believe a vast right wing conspiracy forced Bill Clinton to have sex with Monica.