Early History that Inspired The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown's book raises a very important question: If they--meaning the leaders of the church--suppressed so much of early Christian history, what else don’t we know about? What else is there to be known? And as a historian, I think it’s a really important question because the answer means a great deal. -- Elaine Pagels

The religious girders that frame the edifice of Dan Brown’s plot are built upon the foundations of early Christian history and, in particular, the set of Gnostic Gospels found in 1945 near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. These documents, which have led to remarkable discoveries about an alternate tradition later suppressed, form the backdrop of another artful blending of fact and fiction in The Da Vinci Code. In Chapter 58, which takes place in Lee Teabing’s sumptuous study, Sophie Neveu and Robert Langdon are handed a copy of these lost Gospels in a leather-bound … poster-sized edition to demonstrate with irrevocable proof that the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.

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This is a lot to think about. Do you believe that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife? Is your opinion based on your existing religious beliefs? Share your perspectives.

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There is no doubt the Nag Hammadi texts have yielded a treasure trove of documents permitting a richer, more nuanced and, perhaps, even more radical interpretation of the words of Jesus, the role of his followers, and the interpretation of early Christianity. They help shed light on a time when the many contending schools of Christian worship were interwoven and the definitive canon had not yet been created. Specifically, they give our era a glimpse into a different tradition--the Gnostic tradition--that conflicted with the interpretation of Jesus’s preaching found today in the orthodoxy of the New Testament. More explosively, in terms of the history of the church, they suggest a much more important role for Mary Magdalene as a disciple and close companion to Jesus. They also suggest more interest in seeking inner knowledge and self-development than what we traditionally understand as the philosophy of the New Testament. And the Gnostics of Nag Hammadi seemed to feel less need for churches and priests. They seemed perfectly comfortable interpreting their own gospels and sacred books without intermediation--an idea institutionalized Christianity would find threatening.

Certainly they seem to emphasize a balance between the masculine and the feminine, the good and the evil in mankind, and the importance of Mary Magdalene as an apostle. Beyond that, did the word companion mean marriage or was it simply a fellow traveler? What of the seemingly explicit reference in the Gospel of Philip to Jesus kissing Mary Magdalene frequently on the mouth? Factual description or metaphor? And if metaphor, metaphor for what? Are these Gnostic Gospels really telling us that a more humane, more the spirit is within you emphasis and a strongly anti-authoritarian, pro-feminine tradition existed that was purposely marginalized and shoved aside as heresy by history’s Christian winners?

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See also:

• Codes, Symbols, and Other Clues
• Cracking The Da Vinci Code at the Louvre
• Glossary of Terms
• Mary Magdalene and the Sacred Feminine

• Secret Societies
• The Da Vinci Code Effect
• The Dan Brown Revelations
• The Early Days of Christianities
• The Sacred Feminine
• Origin of the Holy Grail Legends