DaVinci Code: The Truth Behind the Fiction - Part 8

DaVinci Code Part 8 - Mary Magdelene

I know, I know…nine days since my last post on DaVinci. What can I say – I got busy! As promised we’re going to begin to look at the Mary Magdalene issue in some detail. I’m going to upset some of you who like suspense…there is no evidence that Jesus was married. Even more depressing for those who love a good twist, ABC News did a special in 2003 called “Jesus, Mary, and DaVinci” and even the liberal media couldn’t find evidence of Mary being the wife of Jesus!

Strangely enough this is one of the “big claims” of the DaVinci Code and yet there are two important things that virtually negate this claim as a problem for Christianity:
1. Nothing in the Bible even hints to Jesus and Mary being married.
2. Jesus being married would not have lessened his divinity in any way.
So, we have a false claim in the novel that, even if it were found to be true in the future would not in any way alter our view of Jesus or of his divinity.

So, where did this tall tail come from? The first popularized version of this assertion came from a book written in the eighties called “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.” This book was a best-seller in the eighties and makes wild claims about Christianity, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and a child that was born from their union. The claims of course are based on no scholarly research and this is made painfully (for the authors of the book) evident in the ABC News Special. Brown used this book as the basis for his DaVinci Code. As many of you know Brown was sued by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail a few months ago. The case was thrown out of court.

Others who wish to wed Jesus and Mary look to two documents written a few centuries after Jesus was resurrected. One is called the Gospel of Philip. Before I go further to look at the passage in this document I’m going to explain where this and other documents like it came from. Many people who were trying to further their own perspectives on Christianity especially in the second and third century A.D. would often write their views in these types of documents and then pass it off as though it was written by one of the apostles (which it couldn’t have been because none of the apostles lived two hundred years) to give the writing credibility. This was common practice. So, these “gospels” have no merit as a reliable source for insight into Christianity.

But…just to satisfy anyone who might say that I am discrediting these sources so that I don’t have to address them, I’m going to look at two of these documents starting with the “Gospel of Philip.” The passage in Philip that supposedly shows that Jesus and Mary were married is:
Philip 63:33-36: “And a companion of the … Lord [probably], Mary Magdalene. He loved Mary more than [all] the disciples, and he used to kiss her [often] on the ________. He used to kiss her ________ on the ________. The rest of [the disciples were offended]. They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?’”
The Philip document we have is damaged because of its antiquity so there are sections missing where there is a line or three dots present instead of text. For, those of us who want this to be a compelling passage we might put “mouth” in the area that is damaged. Then we could claim like some do, “See, he kissed here on the mouth…that means they were married!” However, “head” or “cheek” or “hand” would fit nicely as well. We simply do not know where Jesus kissed Mary according to this historically unreliable text.

But, there’s more to say about this text specifically.
Until then…
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)

Todd Phillips