The best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code has sparked a vigorous debate by raising a number of provocative questions—most notably, was the historical Jesus really a married man? Could he have even been a father? Do his direct descendants still survive today? In an hour-long ABC News special, "Jesus, Mary and da Vinci," Elizabeth Vargas explores these and other controversial theories about the lives of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, who some scholars believe was not a prostitute, as she is often portrayed, but rather Jesus' wife -- and perhaps even the mother of his child. "Jesus, Mary and da Vinci" airs Monday, November 3 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
Sigh. As though this "debate" is so new and unique." The Da Vinci Code contains almost nothing that hasn't already been written in Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982), The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail (1993), or The Templar Revelation (1998)—all books that rely on a sorry mix of poor (or absent) scholarship, vague speculation, anti-Catholic sentiment, and breathless hypothesizing. Those books, in turn, are based on ideas that have been around for quite some in esoteric, occultic, and feminist circles. Sandra Miesel has summarized this madness up quite well: "The Lie and the Hour have met."
Vargas travels to the Holy Land, Italy, Scotland, France and other locations around the world to investigate what evidence exists to support some of these extraordinary claims in an effort to separate fact from legend.
Wow. As we all know, travelling to the Holy Land, etc. immediately validates the search and adds credibility to the claims. Which is probably why Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, makes a big deal about travelling all over the world "researching" for his book—even though everything in it could be obtained from books and travelogues.
Vargas finds plenty of disagreement among theologians and historians about whether there is evidence to suggest that Jesus was married. "The weight of evidence that we have suggests to me the contrary, that in fact he was a celibate," says Elaine Pagels of Princeton University. "I think it's entirely plausible to think that Jesus may have been married," counters Karen King of Harvard University. "It was a normal practice for Jewish men. It would also be normal not to mention that he had a wife." In the Bible there is no mention of Jesus being married.
As Mark Shea noted on his blog, it's rather scary when Pagels—author of The Gnostic Gospels (1979) and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003) —is the voice of reason in this "debate."
Vargas said ABC had not found any proof as to whether Jesus had a wife, but could not completely discount the theory either. "For me, it's made religion more real and, ironically, much more interesting - which is what we're hoping to do for our viewers," she said.
Translation: "This theory makes religion more entertaining and less demanding; it also sensationalizes the person of Jesus while obscuring, or even eliminating, the truly (and true) sensational reality of His life, death, and resurrection."
