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By basing his novel on an ancient legend Dan Brown has raked up coals of a controversy dead already in the 4th century.

There were many legends about Jesus in those early years of Christianity. The main controversy revolved around the question whether Jesus was human or divine.

In time most Christian denominations rejected the legends that Jesus was human and the belief that Jesus is divine became the basis of Christian belief.

Dan Brown's a scholar of these ancient legends.

To the chagrin of Christians especially the Catholic Church, he's resurrected them from oblivion for reconsideration in the DaVinci Code. The result is an interesting and controversial mystery novel.

According to the legend, known as the legend of the Holy Grail, Jesus was human and loved Mary Magdalena with an earthly, human love married her and she carried his child. She was the Holy Grail and the child she was carrying is Jesus' blood.

The thing that probably angers the Church most is the enormous popularity which the book enjoys, demonstrating the willingness of many Christians to consider the possibility that Jesus was human and not divine.

The book is entertaining because the reader is constantly being tantalized by the possibility that the legend is true and that the Catholic Church is involved in a gigantic plot to hide this truth from the Christian public.

An exciting conflict, full of deceit, subterfuge and murder goes on between the Catholic Church, who's hiding the legend, the professor of esoteric texts who's trying to prove its truth, various black hearted criminals who're ready to commit murder to make a packet out of blackmailing the Catholic Church and the police inspector who's trying to bring these criminals to justice.

It's important to understand that Brown never created the legend neither was he the first to use it as a theme; Leonardo DaVinci used the legend in his paintings, especially the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

Several books told the legend long before the DaVinci Code:

In 1972 Australian author Donovan Joyce told it in his book The Jesus Scroll, in 1982 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, 1996 The Children of the Grail by Peter Berling.

Learn more about this author, Leon Gork.
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