Jesus bloodline

A Jesus bloodline is a hypothetical sequence of direct descendants of the historical Jesus and Mary Magdalene, or some other woman, usually portrayed as his alleged wife or a hierodule. Differing and contradictory versions of a Jesus bloodline hypothesis have been promoted by numerous books, websites and films of non-fiction and fiction in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which have almost all been dismissed as works of pseudohistory and conspiracy theory. According to a qualified majority of professional historians and scholars from related fields, there is no historical, biblical, apocryphal, archaeological, genealogical or genetic evidence which conclusively supports this modern hypothesis. [Bart Ehrman, "Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine", Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0195181401, quoted at [http://www.religionfacts.com/da_vinci_code/jesus_married.htm] ] Hypothetical Jesus bloodlines should not be confused with the biblical genealogy of Jesus or the historical relatives of Jesus and their descendants known as the "Desposyni".

History of the hypothesis

The Jesus bloodline hypothesis which held that the historical Jesus had married Mary Magdalene and fathered a child with her was first postulated by Donovan Joyce in his 1973 book "The Jesus Scroll". [Donovan Joyce, "The Jesus Scroll, a time bomb for Christianity?" p. 97-98 (Sphere Books, 1975; ISBN 0 7221 5103 9).] In his 1977 book "Jesus died in Kashmir: Jesus, Moses and the ten lost tribes of Israel", Andreas Faber-Kaiser explored the legend that Jesus met, married and had several children with a Kashmiri woman. The author also interviewed the late Basharat Saleem who claimed to be a Kashmiri descendant of Jesus. [Andreas Faber-Kaiser, "Jesus died in Kashmir: Jesus, Moses and the Ten lost Tribes of Israel" (London: Gordon and Cremonesi; 1977).] Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln developed and popularized the hypothesis that a bloodline from Jesus and Mary Magdalene eventually became the Merovingian dynasty in their 1982 controversial non-fiction book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail",cite book| author = Baigent, Michael; Leigh, Richard; Lincoln, Henry| title = The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail| publisher = Corgi| year = 1982| id = ISBN 0-552-12138-X] in which they asserted: cquote|The symbolic significance of Jesus is that he is God exposed to the spectrum of human experience - exposed to the first-hand knowledge of what being a man entails. But could God, incarnate as Jesus, truly claim to be a man, to encompass the spectrum of human experience, without coming to know two of the most basic, most elemental facets of the human condition? Could God claim to know the totality of human existence without confronting two such essential aspects of humanity as sexuality and paternity? We do not think so. In fact, we do not not think the Incarnation truly symbolises what it is intended to symbolise unless Jesus were married and sired children. The Jesus of the Gospels, and of established Christianity, is ultimately incomplete - a God whose incarnation as man is only partial. The Jesus who emerged from our research enjoys, in our opinion, a much more valid claim to what Christianity would have him be.

In her 1992 book "Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story", Barbara Thiering also developed a Jesus and Mary Magdalene bloodline hypothesis, basing her historical conclusions on her application of the so-called Pesher technique to the New Testament. [For a discussion between Barbara Thiering and Geza Vermes surrounding this, see http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2065] [Thiering, Barbara (April, 2005). [http://www.pesherofchrist.infinitesoulutions.com/Pesher/Marriage_of_Jesus.html The marriage of Jesus] ] In her 1993 book "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail", Margaret Starbird developed the hypothesis that Saint Sarah was the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and that this was the source of the legend associated with the cult at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. She also claimed that the name "Sarah" meant "Princess" in Hebrew, thus making her the forgotten child of the "sang réal", the blood royal of the King of the Jews. [Margaret Starbird, "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail", Bear & Company, 1993.]

In his 1996 book "Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed", Laurence Gardner presented pedigree charts of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the ancestors of all the European royal families of the Common Era.cite book| author = Gardner, Laurence | title = Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed | publisher = Element Books | year = 1996 | id = ISBN-10: 1852308702] His 2000 sequel "Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning and the Ancient Bloodline of Jesus" is unique in claiming that the Jesus bloodline can truly be traced back to Adam and Eve but that the first man and woman were primate-alien hybrids created by the Anunnaki of ancient astronaut theory.cite book| author = Gardner, Laurence | title = Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning and the Ancient Bloodline of Jesus | publisher = Element Books | year = 2000 | id = ISBN-10: 1862048096] The 2000 book "Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-Le-Chateau and the Dynasty of Jesus", Marylin Hopkins, Graham Simmans and Tim Wallace-Murphy developed the hypothesis that a Jesus and Mary Magdalene bloodline was part of a shadow dynasty descended from twenty-four high priests of the Temple in Jerusalem known as "Rex Deus" - the "Kings of God".cite book| authors = Hopkins, Marilyn; Simmans, Graham; Wallace-Murphy, Tim| title = Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-Le-Chateau| publisher = Element Books| year = 2000| id = ISBN 1862044724]

The 2003 conspiracy fiction novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown accepted some of the above hypotheses as being valid. Elements of some Jesus bloodline hypotheses were propounded by the 2007 documentary film "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" by Simcha Jacobovici focusing on the Talpiot Tomb discovery, ["The Lost Tomb of Jesus" (The Discovery Channel), first transmitted on 4 March 2007.] which was also published as a book entitled "The Jesus Family Tomb". [Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino,"The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History"(HarperOne, 2007).] In the 2008 documentary film "Bloodline", Bruce Burgess, a filmmaker with an interest in the paranormal, claims to have found several mummified corpses (one of which is allegedly Mary Magdalene) in Rennes-le-Château, France, which supposedly prove the existence of a Jesus bloodline.Cinema Libre Studio, " [http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/tomb-discovered-in-france-considered,355964.shtml Tomb Discovered in France Considered Knights Templar - When Excavated, Findings May Challenge the Tenets of Christianity] ", "earthtimes.org", 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.]

Claimants

The following is a list of notable persons who have publicly claimed to be from a Jesus bloodline:
* Basharat Saleem, the late Kashmiri caretaker of the Martyr's Tomb of Yuz Asaf in Srinagar. [ [http://www.tombofjesus.com/core/majorplayers/the-tomb/the-tomb-p7.htm The Tomb of Jesus Christ] ] [ [http://travel.news.yahoo.com/b/rba_daily/rba_daily4337 Mystery of the Martyr's Tomb: Part Two] ]
* Michel Roger Lafosse, a Belgian false pretender to the throne of the former Kingdom of Scotland. [Laurence Gardner, "Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed" p. 338 (Element Books Limited; 1996).] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/mar/24/features11.g26 The Man Who Would Be King] ]
* Kathleen McGowan, an American author, lyricist, screenwriter.cite paper| author = Los Angeles Times | title = Author takes leap of faith with theory of Mary Magdalene | date = 2006 | url = http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/09/24/features/arts_leisure/doc4516016043ec6535192766.txt | accessdate = 2008-04-15] cite paper| author = Carol Memmott | title = Is this woman the living 'Code'? | date = 2006 | url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-07-17-magdalene-book_x.htm | accessdate = 2008-04-15 ]

Adherence

In reaction to "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", "The Da Vinci Code", and other controversial books, websites and films on the same theme, a significant number of individuals in the late 20th and early 21st centuries have adhered to a Jesus bloodline hypothesis despite its lack of substantiation. While some simply entertain it as a novel intellectual proposition, others hold it as an established belief thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed.Bertrand Ouellet, " “But you, who do you say that I am?” Proclaiming Jesus Christ after the Da Vinci tsunami", officecom.qc.ca, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.] Prominent among the latter are those who expect a direct descendant of Jesus will eventually emerge as a great man and become a messiah, a sacred king who rules a world government, during an event which they will interpret as a mystical second coming of Christ.cite book| author = Baigent, Michael; Leigh, Richard; Lincoln, Henry| title = The Messianic Legacy| publisher = Henry Holt & Co | year = 1987| id = ISBN 0805005684]

The eclectic spiritual views of these adherents are influenced by the writings of iconoclastic authors from a wide range of perspectives. These writers often seek to challenge modern beliefs and institutions through a re-interpretation of Christian history and mythology. They also seek to advance and understand the equality of men and women spiritually by portraying Mary Magdalene as being the apostle of a Christian feminism, [Claire Nahmad and Margaret Bailey, "The Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene: Including the Lost Verses of The Gospel of Mary, Revealed and Published for the First Time" (Watkins; 2006).] and even the personification of the mother goddess or sacred feminine, [Elizabeth Clare Prophet, "Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine: Jesus’ Lost Teachings on Woman" (Summit University Press; 2005).] usually associating her with the Black Madonna. [Ean Begg, "The Cult of the Black Virgin" (1985).] Some wish the ceremony that celebrated the beginning of the alleged marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene to be viewed as a "holy wedding"; and Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their alleged daughter, Sarah, to be viewed as a "holy family", in order to question traditional gender roles and family values. [Margaret Starbird, "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail" (Bear & Company; 1993).] Almost all these claims are at odds with scholarly Christian apologetics, and have been dismissed as being New Age Gnostic heresies. [Bart D. Ehrman, "Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code – A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine" (Oxford University Press, 2004).] [Ben Witherington III, "The Gospel Code - Novel Claims about Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci", pages 172-173 (InterVarsity Press, Illinois; 2004).]

No mainstream Christian denomination has adhered to a Jesus bloodline hypothesis as a dogma or an object of religious devotion since they maintain that Jesus, believed to be God the Son, was perpetually celibate, continent and chaste, and metaphysically married to the Church; he died, was resurrected, ascended to heaven, and will eventually return bodily and visibly to earth, thereby making all Jesus bloodline hypotheses and related messianic expectations impossible.

Many fundamentalist Christians believe the Antichrist, prophesied in the Book of Revelation, plans to present himself as descended from the Davidic line to bolster his false claim that he is the Jewish Messiah. The intention of such propaganda would be to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of Jews and philo-Semites to achieve his Satanic objectives. [cite book| title =Jerry Falwell and the Jews| author =Merrill Simon| year =1999 (first edition)| publisher =Jonathan David Pub| ISBN-10 =0824603001| ISBN-13 =9780824603007] An increasing number of fringe Christian eschatologists believe the Antichrist may also present himself as descended from the Jesus bloodline to capitalize on the popularity of the hypothesis.

Criticism

Jesus bloodline hypotheses parallel other legends about the flight of disciples to distant lands, such as the one depicting Joseph of Arimathea traveling to England after the death of Jesus, taking with him a piece of thorn from the Crown of Thorns, which he later planted in Glastonbury. Historians generally regard these legends as "pious fraud" produced during the Middle Ages. [Roger Sherman Loomis (Editor),"Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. A collaborative history". Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1959.] [ Reginald Francis Treharne, "The Glastonbury Legends: Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur", London, Cresset Press, 1969] [Joseph Armitage Robinson, "Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and St Joseph of Arimathea", University Press, Cambridge, 1926]

The Jesus bloodline hypothesis from the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is not contained in any of the "Priory of Sion documents" and was dismissed as fiction by Pierre Plantard in 1982 on a French radio interview, as well as by Philippe de Cherisey in a magazine article. [Quoting Pierre Plantard: "I admit that 'The Sacred Enigma' (French title for 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail') is a good book, but one must say that there is a part that owes more to fiction than to fact, especially in the part that deals with the lineage of Jesus. How can you prove a lineage of four centuries from Jesus to the Merovingians? I have never put myself forward as a descendant of Jesus Christ" (Jacques Pradel radio interview on 'France-Inter', 18 February 1982).] [Philippe de Chérisey, "Jesus Christ, his wife and the Merovingians" (Nostra – 'Bizarre News' N° 584, 1983).] Plantard only claimed that the Merovingians were descended from the Tribe of Benjamin, [Pierre Jarnac, "Les Mystères de Rennes-le-Château: Mèlange Sulfureux" (CERT, 1994), ] which contradicts the hypothesis of a Jesus bloodline as the missing link between the Merovingian line and the Davidic line from the Tribe of Judah. The notion of a direct bloodline from Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and its supposed relationship to the Merovingians (as well as their alleged modern descendants: House of Habsburg, Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, Clan Sinclair, House of Stuart, House of Cavendish, and other noble families), is strongly dismissed as pseudohistorical by a qualified majority of Christian and secular historians such as Darrell Bock and Bart Ehrman, [Darrell L. Bock, [http://www.leaderu.com/theology/wasjesusmarried.html Was Jesus Married?] ] [Bart Ehrman, "Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine", Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0195181401, quoted at [http://www.religionfacts.com/da_vinci_code/jesus_married.htm] ] as have journalists and investigators such as Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who has an extensive archive on this subject matter.

In 2005, UK TV presenter and amateur archaeologist Tony Robinson edited and narrated a detailed rebuttal of the main arguments of Dan Brown and those of Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, "The Real Da Vinci Code", shown on Channel 4. ["The Real Da Vinci Code", Channel Four Television, presented by Tony Robinson, transmitted on 3 February 2005] The programme featured lengthy interviews with many of the main protagonists, and cast severe doubt on the alleged landing of Mary Magdalene in France, among other related myths, by interviewing on film the inhabitants of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the centre of the cult of Saint Sarah.

The Jesus bloodline hypothesis from the book "Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-Le-Chateau and the Dynasty of Jesus" hinges on the testimony of the authors' anonymous informant, "Michael", who claimed to be a "Rex Deus" scion. Evidence supporting the hypothesis was supposedly lost, and therefore cannot be independently verified, because Micheal claimed that it was contained in his late father's bureau, which was sold by his brother unaware of its contents. Some critics point out the informant's account of his family history seems to be based on the dubious work of Barbara Thiering, [McKeown, Trevor W. [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry01.html#rex What about the Rex Deus dynasty’s influence on Freemasonry?] in the "Anti-masonry Frequently Asked Questions", 5 May 2004] and identify him as being Michel Roger Lafosse.Fact|date=June 2008

Robert Lockwood, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh’s director for communications, sees the notion of the Church conspiring to cover-up the truth about a Jesus bloodline as a deliberate piece of anti-Catholic propaganda. He sees it as part of a long tradition of anti-Catholic sentiment with deep roots in the American Protestant imagination but going back to the very start of the Reformation of 1517. [Maier, Craig. [http://www.pittsburghcatholic.org/newsarticles_more.phtml?id=1659 ‘Da Vinci’ proves Catholic] in "Pittburgh Catholic", April 27, 2006]

Although Jesus bloodline hypotheses were not submitted to the judgment of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars involved in the quest for the historical Jesus from a liberal Christian perspective, they were unable to determine whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a matrimonial relationship due to the dearth of historical evidence. They concluded that the historical Mary Magdalene was not a repentant prostitute but a prominent disciple of Jesus and a leader in the early Christian movement."The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus" (1998), Harper SanFrancisco, ISBN 0-06-062979-7] Bart D. Ehrman, who chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, commented that, although there are some historical scholars who claim that it is likely that Jesus was married, the vast majority of New Testament and early Christianity scholars find such a claim to be historically unreliable. [Bart D. Ehrman, "Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code", pages 153, and 195-196 (Oxford University Press, 2004).]

Ultimately, the notion that a person living millennia ago has a small number of descendants living today is statistically improbable. [F. M. Lancaster, [http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/supp/ancestor_paradox.html The Ancestor Paradox] ] Steve Olson, author of "Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins", published an article in "Nature" demonstrating that, as a matter of statistical probability:

Historian Ken Mondschein ridiculed the notion that the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene could have been preserved:

Chris Lovegrove, who reviewed "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" when first published in 1982, dismissed the significance of a Jesus bloodline even it were proven to exist despite all evidence to the contrary:

Notes