The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci
Overview
Dan Brown’s international bestseller The Da Vinci Code has raised many questions in the minds of readers.
- Was Jesus really married to Mary Magdalene?
- Did he father a child with her?
- Did Constantine suppress the earliest Gospels and invent the doctrine of Christ’s divinity?
- Do the Gnostic Gospels represent the true Christian faith which the early church sought to supplant?
The Da Vinci Code, in blurring the lines between fact and fiction, popularizes the speculations and contentions of numerous more serious books that are also attracting wide attention. How should we respond to claims that we now have documents that reveal secrets about Jesus, secrets long suppressed by the church and other religious institutions? Do these new documents successfully debunk traditional views about Jesus and early Christianity?
Ben Witherington III confronts these claims with the sure-footedness of a New Testament scholar, yet in the plain language that any interested reader can follow. He takes us back to the early centuries after Jesus’ death and tells us what we can really know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the canonical Gospels, and their Gnostic rivals.
With Logos Bible Software, The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci is easily searchable. Scripture passages appear on mouse-over, and all cross-references are linked to the other resources in your digital library, making this collection more powerful and easier to access than ever before for scholarly work or personal Bible study. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference, such as finding every mention of “Mary Magdalene” or “Gnostic Gospel.”
Key Features
- Biblical perspective on The Da Vinci Code
- Based on scholarly research
- Accessible to the general reader
Praise for the Print Edition
In these few pages, an eminent New Testament scholar not only explodes the follies of The Da Vinci Code but also dissects the claims of certain scholars to find in the Gnostic Gospels a historically authentic Jesus and an alternative Christianity. Timely and compelling!
—William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Unlike so many critiques that carefully mince words, Ben Witherington explains exactly why currently popular attempts to treat the historical Jesus in a revisionist manner are so wide of the mark. Beginning with a bang by noting ’seven deadly errors’ right on through the conclusion, Witherington pulls no punches while showcasing his wonderful sense of humor. Here the reader is treated to an excellent evaluation, making points that many of us wish were made far more frequently. This book is simply a delightful read.
—Gary R. Habermas, Distinguished Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy, Liberty University
Ben Witherington won’t stop at refuting the historical errors of The Da Vinci Code. He will not rest until he refutes the novel’s spiritual error as well. Witherington names the narcissism at the heart of the Gnostic revival and offers the New Testament's God-centered good news in its place.
—David Neff, editor, Christianity Today
Product Details
- The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci
- Author: Ben Witherington III
- Publisher: IVP
- Publication Date: 2004
- Pages: 208
About the Author
Ben Witherington III is Amos professor for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY, and is on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University, Scotland.
Top Highlights
“Gnosticism was not only out of line with mainstream Christianity, it was also out of line with Judaism as well.” (Page 33)
“These ideas are too different from those we have known.’” (Page 35)
“Paul’s use of father language reflects the new situation that began with the arrival, death and the resurrection of Jesus. God isn’t referred to as ‘Father’ when Paul speaks about the heritage and future of Israel in Romans 9–11. Nor is God’s fatherhood related to Abraham in Romans 4. The story of Jesus, not the story of Israel,* undergirds the references to the fatherhood of God in Paul’s letters.” (Pages 161–162)
“As any scholar who has studied the Dead Sea Scrolls will tell you, there isn’t anything Christian about them. They are the documents and library of early Jews who lived at the Dead Sea. No Christian documents have been found there. The Dead Sea Scrolls don’t ‘speak of Christ’s ministry’ at all.” (Page 80)
“‘Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?’ (1 Corinthians 9:5, italics added). Here Paul certainly would have mentioned the example of Jesus being married had it been so.” (Page 31)
- Title: The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci
- Author: Ben Witherington III
- Publisher: IVP
- Print Publication Date: 2004
- Logos Release Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Mary Magdalene, Saint › In literature; Jesus Christ › In literature; Christian saints in literature; Christianity in literature; Brown, Dan, 1964 › -Da Vinci Code
- ISBNs: 9780830898060, 9780830832675, 9781596441477, 9781596441484, 0830898069, 083083267X, 159644147X, 1596441488
- Resource ID: LLS:GOSPELCODE
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:20:22Z
Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. A prominent evangelical scholar, he is also on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. His other works include The Indelible Image, Women and the Genesis of Christianity, The Gospel Code, A Week in the Life of Corinth and commentaries on the entire New Testament. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications and is a frequent contributor to Patheos and Beliefnet. Witherington is an elected member of the prestigious Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. He is a John Wesley Fellow for Life, a research fellow at Cambridge University and a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Biblical Literature, Society for the Study of the New Testament and the Institute for Biblical Research. He previously taught at institutions like Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. An ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church and a popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings around the world. He has led numerous study tours through the lands of the Bible and is known for bringing the text to life through incisive historical and cultural analysis. Along with many interviews on radio and television networks across the country, Witherington has been seen in programs such as 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline and the Peter Jennings ABC special Jesus and Paul—The Word and the Witness