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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
The Vigin and the Priest will challenge you on many levels
By Brian Kannard
I read this book while on a trip to New York a few weeks ago and was quite impressed with Gibbs' scholarship. Mark's work on the life story of Jesus is as well thought out and logical as anything I've read by the Schonfields and Baigents of the world.
The central thesis in this work is that Jesus and John the Baptist were actually brothers. As the pair grew up, the destiny of their birthright forced them into the Messianic mould. This was achieved by the hands of the Essenes shaping the pair into following Old Testament models of heroic brother's roles in Jewish society. John, feeling that he should be the Messiah, forsakes his scripted role and his brother in the process.
The stance is as controversial as Gibb's argument is compelling. Drawing from religious traditions and texts of "heretical" Christian groups, Islam, and present day Christian sects; Gibbs reads between the lines of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth and early years to make his argument. The views of the Gospel accounts are that they have sometimes been reworded to make Jesus into the figure many accept him as.
Supporting these assertions, Gibbs sites that Johannite thought has permeated into more modern times. The near veneration of John the Baptist by medieval artists, Freemasonry, and the Knights Templar are used as evidences of Gibbs views of the Gospels.
Much like Schonfield's works, Gibbs brings a sharp distinction between faith and reason. The Virgin and the Priest is not a text for those who unwaveringly incorporate Jesus as divinity into their belief system. However, if you wish to examine the life of Jesus in a more historical and alternative context, you will not be disappointed in what is presented.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful.OUTSTANDING! Some things really are hidden in plain sight!!
By Herber Frazier
I don't know who Mark Gibbs is, never heard of him before but I certainly hope to hear from him again! I'm on a beach vacation, and was searching Amazon for SOMETHING (anything) to challenge my mind, give me something new in this mystery I study, and I found it in The Virgin and The Priest.
This is an amazingly well-researched book. I consider myself to be well-read on the subject, you name it, I've read it. And yet Gibbs's refreshing book just joined all the pieces of the puzzle I've had in my mind for many many years. After all my reading and study I always retained a big ? in my head...yes, all this leads somewhere, but WHERE? What am I missing?
Gibbs lays it all out putting the pieces of the puzzle in my head deftly together. I still have questions (would like to hear more from Gibbs on Mary Magdelene and Rennes le Chateau/Perillos) but for the BIG picture, I get it.
This book is for all the others out there like me, knowing there is a *rest of the story* (or rather the right story) but not able to piece it together. This book is not for those whose life and existance depends on one particular religious ideology. I'm all for people believing in whatever they need to get through the day, but for myself, I prefer the truth, or, as much of the truth as is possible to acknowlege/discern this far down the road. And unlike the faithful, I also prefer proof (pix or it didn't happen). I found all that and more in this book!
Amazingly the paintings I'd pondered over(and over) many times were seen with new eyes and light bulbs began to go off in my head. Trust me, when one studies the "theories" of the sacred geometrists ones brain just wants to explode and ask, "How on earth is it possible that you believe the artists knew that hundreds of years later you would draw meaning from their paintings by drawing geometrical figures over them??" I will never understand that, but the field is rampant and ferverant (not to mention vicious, as is the traditional art historian field..just try to get a new thought into either group and you'll be drawn and quartered). Needless to say it was a very pleasant surprise to read Gibb's easy to understand, and "plain as the nose on your face" explanations for the imagery in the artwork.
I would have never read this book had I not been plain and simple WILD with desperation for something to read on the subject that was available on the Kindle. And I'd have never chosen one in which there was so little written about, no information on the author to be found, and, I admit sadly, the fact it was self-published also put me off. I have never been so wrong or soundly chastsized. After reading this book, one understands straight off that had Gibbs even tried to seek out a publisher, one likely never would have materialized. I read the two glowing reviews and thought.."ok well his mom and dad like it". Never have I been more glad to be wrong.
Thank you Mr. Gibbs for putting the pieces together for me. I can rest a bit now...but not for long. I'm still sorting out the mysteries of Perillos and Rennes le Chateau, the enigmatic Knights and the Cathars, but now I find myself wondering how it all fits together with the revelations in your book, because I'm certain that it does. IS THIS the secret that caused a priest to loose his religion (so to speak?) is THIS the secret that Kings would pay to know, that Popes would pay to keep secret? I don't know, but there's something here.
For the ultra religious, as I've previously stated, it would be best to skip this book unless you're ready for a whole new Zeitgeist.
Product Description
The Virgin and The Priest is the absolute must-read. One by one, it shatters the sacred cows of Christianity to explain the truth of what really happened two thousand years ago. The Gospel Infancy Narratives are deciphered to break an embedded code that protected the identity of Jesus' father from those deemed incapable of receiving it. Jesus was the younger brother of John the Baptist,and their father was murdered for breaking the Law on adultery. Sibling rivalry lay behind Jesus' failure to gain public acceptance. Overwhelming evidence is presented to show that the Dead Sea Scrolls are not only an unedited version of New Testament events, but one of the manuscripts is a letter from John the Baptist sent to Jesus. The hitherto baffling images of Renaissance masterpieces are explained to prove the existence of a heretical counter-culture that knew the secret of Jesus' parentage, but revered John the Baptist as the true Christ.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6023986 in Books
- Published on: 2008-02-03
- Released on: 2008-02-03
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 307 pages
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