Robin Griffith-Jones

Here, Griffith-Jones (Master of the Temple Church, London; The Four Witnesses: The Rebel, the Rabbi, the Chronicler, and the Mystic) takes a trendy Da Vinci Code topic and provides the scriptural and historical background that gave writers like Dan Brown license to cast Mary Magadalene as Jesus's presumed wife. Following a Gospel survey paying special attention to John's treatment of Mary, Griffith-Jones turns his focus to Gnostic works of the second and third centuries, and herein lies the work's primary strength. Unlike Susan Haskin in the impressive cultural history Mary Magdalene: Truth and Myth, Griffith-Jones here situates Mary in the canonical Christian scripture and then demonstrates Gnosticism's imaginative use of Mary as a site of incarnational theology, sexual dimorphism, and Sophia/Wisdom in creation. In the last chapter, he considers her evolution in aesthetic and cultural terms, with illustrations charting her evolution from repentant prostitute into an eroticized sexual figure embodying physical intimacy with the risen Christ. In Mary, claims Griffith-Jones, we glimpse our fundamental striving to understand what it means to be an embodied human being. An accessible read whose greatest usefulness is its Gnostic analysis; recommended.--Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic Seminary Lib., Pittsburgh Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Misunderstood Legacy of Mary Magdalene, the Woman Closest to Jesus

Beloved Disciple

The figure of Mary Magdalen has fascinated and perplexed people for centuries. She is portrayed in the Gospels as a neurotic woman, possibly with a past, yet she is the first to encounter the risen Christ and he charges her with the responsibility of proclaiming the resurrection. She is therefore Christianity's first evangelist - a difficult concept for churches with exclusively male hierarchies who prefer to think of her as just a reformed prostitute. The belief that Mary Magdalen was married to Jesus and that the Church has tried to suppress this truth was not invented in recent years but is almost as old as Christianity itself. This gives a grand tour through 2000 years history, art and tradition with surprises and discoveries all the way.

The Woman Whom Jesus Loved

Mary Magdalene

David Park

First full-length survey of the Temple Church, from its foundation in the twelfth century to the Second World War.

History, Architecture, Art

The Temple Church in London

Eric Fernie

Essays exploring the influence of the sacred buildings of Jerusalem on architecture worldwide.

Re-imagining the Sacred Buildings of Jerusalem

Tomb and Temple

The Temple Church in London, the historic spiritual home of the Knights Templar, and the final resting place of crusading knights, features large in Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code'. Every Friday, the Master of the Temple Church, Robin Griffith Jones gives a talk to up to 200 tourists on the Da Vinci trail. This popular and accessible book is based on this weekly talk. It begins by setting out Dan Brown's understanding of Christianity and the role of the Church, which are vastly different from the Church's understanding of these things, and then explores how much of Dan Brown's version is true, how much is plausible and how much is fanciful. Covering all the main elements of the book - the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, the Knight Templar, Leonardo's 'Last Supper', Jesus, Mary Magdalene and more, this is an illuminating companion that sets the record straight.

The Da Vinci Code and the Secrets of the Temple

The Master of the Temple Church in London--one of the pivotal locations in "The Da Vinci Code"--examines the true historical background of important elements in the novel, including the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, and the Knights Templar.

Robin Griffith-Jones

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