Beyond the Da Vinci Code (History Channel)
by Will Ehbrecht
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DVD details
Actor: Claudia Coloma, Danny Burstein, Jean-Luc Chaumeil, Stephen Wozniak, Timothy FrekeDirector: Will Ehbrecht
Brand: A and E Home Video
Producer: Alisa Curran
Producer: Barbara Gangi
Producer: Debbie Supnik
Producer: Frank R. Desiderio
Producer: Gary H. Grossman
Writer: Rob Blumenstein
Writer: Thomas Quinn
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- The Da Vinci Code has raised questions about religion, art, and faith across the globe. Now, take a 2000 year journey through time with THE HISTORY CHANNEL® to examine the surprising truths and controversial ideas set forth in Dan Brown's worldwide bestseller. Did Jesus marry Mary Magdalene? Have their descendents been protected by a secret society from the Dark Ages all the way up to the
DVD Reviews of Beyond the Da Vinci Code (History Channel)
DVD Review: Not Balanced, Not Scholarly.
Summary: 1 Stars
This DVD presents the appearance of being unbiased because it presents counterevidence to the Da Vinci Code from the Medieval and post-Medieval eras. However, readers of the Da Vinci Code and viewers of this DVD are most interested in PRE-MEDIEVAL history, most especially the life of Jesus and the first centuries after his death. Unfortunately, the pre-Medieval facts and historical theories considered in this DVD are those which are most congenial to the revisionist historical accounts of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, and The Da Vinci Code. The pre-Medieval historical facts most condemning of the revisionist position are not mentioned.
Thus, so far as pre-Medieval history goes, this DVD misses major facts and strongly supportable theories, as if Gandhi's name were left out of India's independence, or Hitler's name out of the causes of WWII. The following four points [1]-[4] regarding pre-Medieval history should suffice to encourage viewers to do more homework in order to supplement the woefully weak and one-sided pre-Medieval "evidence" presented in this DVD, which pretends to support both revisionist and non-revisionist explanations equally.
[1] The Council of Nicea:
Timothy Freke states in the DVD interview that not agreeing with the conclusion of the Council of Nicea (325CE) probably meant death, but Constantine's 313CE Edict of Milan guaranteeing freedom of religion to all faiths was still in effect. Christianity did not become a state religion until Theodosius in 392, and even then pagans and heretics practiced their faiths with a relative impunity. (Certainly, persecutions against non-Christians did pick up speed from the 400s.) The post-Constantine / post-Nicea pagan emperor Julian even suppressed Christianity for a time in the mid 300s. However, the DVD strongly suggests a monolithic Christianity brutally enforced from Nicea onward, through the death penalty.
> All the historical records which we have of this council (misspelled as the Council of "Mycea" in the DVD scene selection!) indicate that the Council basically covered the questions of the Arian heresy, the celebration of Passover, and the status of believers who had lapsed in their faith due to the persecution of Christians immediately previous to Constantine. The primary sources documenting the Council include the writings of Athanasius, who was himself banished for a time while the Arians took the upper hand with the emperors. If the emperors were so set on destroying the works of their enemies, as the DVD suggests, they would have had the chance with Athanasius.
> The Da Vinci Code claims that it was a very close vote at the Council whether or not the divinity of Jesus was to be recognized, but all members present, including the Arians, acknowledged the divinity of Jesus. Further, it was not a close vote, but the Athanasian party (whose leader Athanasius was soon to be banished by the Arians) won by a vote of 300 to 2.
> As to the question of Christians believing in the divinity of Jesus, even pagan authors such as Pliny the Younger (late first century) and Lucian of Samosata (mid second century) record that the Christians worshiped Jesus as a god. Voices presented in the DVD strongly suggest that Jesus was not considered divine until Nicea (325CE).
[2] The Gnostics: The DVD presents this group as being a major feature of the Council of Nicea, but there is no evidence whatsoever that this was the case. Further, the revisionist thesis presented in the DVD presents the Gnostics as close to the teachings of the historical Jesus, but the DVD fails to note that for the Gnostics, all matter is evil and all spirit is good. This radical dualism led the Gnostics toward Docetism and denying the humanity of Jesus. This central humanity-denying tenet of historical Gnosticism is completely opposite to the revisionist thesis argued for in the DVD, which claims that Jesus was considered much more human by pre-Nicene Christian groups (especially the Gnostics).
[3] The Nag Hammadi Library: The DVD presents its discovery as a radically new window into Gnostic doctrine, a treasury of previously unknown knowledge perhaps deviously hidden by church authorities. But the basic points of Gnostic doctrine have been available for the educated since their inception, preserved for pre-Nag Hammadi research by the writings of Christian, Neo-Platonic, and Pagan contemporaries.
[4] The Gospel of Philip: The only statement given is by revisionist Margaret Starbird. She correctly notes that the text states that Jesus kisses Mary Magdalene, but the tone set by the DVD is that this is strong evidence for a romantic relationship between them. The DVD does not provide the context available in The Gospel of Philip itself, nor even in the New Testament. Not only do several of the letters of Paul encourage believers to greet each other with a holy kiss, but the Gospel of Philip (58:34-59:4) states: "For this reason we all kiss one another. We receive conception from the grace which is in one another." The fact that Gnostic texts use sexual imagery in metaphorical and spiritualized senses is also not mentioned. In other words, the fact that Jesus kisses Mary is presented in the DVD only in our contemporary cultural context, where a kiss is more likely to be interpreted as romantic or erotic.
Description of Beyond the Da Vinci Code (History Channel)
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