The DaVinci Code is out in paperback and the hardcover is still hanging around the bestseller lists while better and more worthy books have come and gone. The movie is coming up next month, spreading its gospel of rumors and distortions and fictional accounts of conspiracy. The Templar Legacy is on the best seller lists with its take on hidden Gnostic gospels that would demolish traditional Christian dogma. The Holy Blood, Holy Grail guys have another "nonfiction" book out beating the same dead horse that Jesus survived and married Mary Magdalene. A recent study reports Jesus may have walked on ice, not water.
And then there's Judas' gospel, "lost" for a millennium or more, that is finally seeing the light of day. It's supposed to be written in the second century, so can't be direct from the fink himself.
"God made me do it!" he whines in this gospel. "I was vital to His fulfilling the prophecy!"
Which, if true, would call into question the nature of Christ's sacrifice, making his crucifixion God playing with loaded dice instead of letting free will fulfill prophecy, demolishing (you guessed it) traditional Christian dogma.
Gnostic gospels exist. What is it in our nature that makes us eager to believe that they are concealing deep dark secrets? Why do so many want to believe they're truthful but are willing to doubt the official gospels? Doesn't that tell us more about ourselves?
It seems to make no difference that these gospels are in print, available in many book stores and over the internet. Even available in Catholic bookstores, which have no obligation to carry them.
The Council of Nicea in the fourth century put together the New Testament that we know today. They had to go through a lot of manuscripts and texts that purported to be the word of God, true accounts of Jesus' life, the Apostles' lives and works, letters and sayings, etc.
Critics and conspiracy theorists assert that they destroyed the texts that emphasized Jesus' humanity, while keeping the texts that emphasized Jesus' divinity. While that may be, if they were truly trying to determine the will of God, perhaps that was God's will. But people are much more inclined to cry coverup; some, depending on their agendas, see the jettisoned material as proof that the Church Fathers were hiding all kinds of alternate viewpoints.
Couldn't it be that a lot of the rejected material was repetitive, poorly written, obviously fraudulent, or clearly pushing someone's personal agenda? It happens in books and articles that are written about current events or figures in the news. There have been numerous books about John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill. Does anyone accept everything each book asserts as, you'll pardon the expression, gospel? Maybe some, but many seek out various sources -- news items, eyewitness accounts, rebuttals from friends and enemies.
To get back to Mr. DaVinci. Why did he put himself in The Last Supper facing away from Christ? Did he see in the apostles cowards who turned away from Jesus in fear for their lives that night? And did he put himself in like that as a wry comment on his own weaknesses and imperfections? Or, if he was an atheist, maybe he just did it for laughs. Heck, if he was just a joker, we're lucky we didn't get Peter making rabbit ears behind Christ's back.
Did he paint them without halos to emphasize their humanity? Was this because he was giving a hidden sign that he had sympathy for the Gnostic viewpoint, who saw Jesus as human, not divine? Or was it his own personal viewpoint that Jesus, while God, still had a mortal body? Or that the apostles, about to run away in the Garden of Gethsemane, hadn't earned their halos yet?
DaVinci was a man of genius living in times dominated by Popes and kings and dukes and what have you. Was he a Gnostic? Was he an atheist? Does any of this matter today when we look at his paintings?
I think I'm going to write my own Gnostic conspiracy book. It will deal with an obscure sect of Rosicrucian’s who are the guardians of a holy relic that was suppressed by the Church in the 5th century. Yes, it's the Holy Spice Rack of Galilee -- made by our Savior himself, in his carpentry shop. It was an item of such poor quality, showing total ignorance of basic carpentry principles, that many at the Council of Nicea felt it was a fraud put forward to prove that Mary was, in fact, a single mother. Joseph was obviously not around to teach Jesus his trade, which meant he took a powder when he found out that Mary was with child, which would cast doubts about Jesus' divinity. I feel I will have a ready audience.
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