The truth behind the Da Vinci code: a historian explores what we really know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine

232 Pages·2004·1.774 MB·English

by  Emperor of Rome Constantine I;Brown, Dan;Saint Mary Magdalene;Ehrman, Bart D.;Jesus Christ

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AHistorian Reveals What We Really Know
about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine
BART D. EHRMAN
2004
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
www.oup.com
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ehrman, Bart D.
Truth and fiction in The Da Vinci Code : a historian reveals what we
really know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine /
by Bart D. Ehrman.
p. cm. Includes index.
ISBN 0-19-518140-9
1. Brown, Dan, 1964- Da Vinci code.
2. Constantine I, Emperor of Rome, d. 337—In literature.
3. Constantine I, Emperor of Rome, d. 337—Religion.
4. Mary Magdalene, Saint—In literature.
5. Christian saints in literature.
6. Jesus Christ—In literature.
7. Christianity and literature.
8. Christianity in literature.
I. Title.
PS3552.R685434D3335 2004
813'.54—dc22 2004056805
Credits for illustrations. Fig. 1: Vanni/ Art Resource, NY;
Fig. 2a (caves): Bart Ehrman; Fig. 2b (scrolls): Israel Museum, Jerusalem;
Figs. 3 and 4: Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, CA;
Fig. 5: British Library, London; Fig. 6: Rylands Library, University of Manchester;
Fig. 7: André Held; Fig. 8: Scala/ Art Resource, NY.
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Robert Miller, friend and editor extraordinaire
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Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Part 1: The Emperor Constantine,
the New Testament, and the
Other Gospels
1. The Role of Constantine in Early Christianity 3
2. The Discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls
and the Nag Hammadi Library 25
3. The Other Gospels 47
4. Constantine and the Formation of the
New Testament Canon 73
viii CONTENTS
Part 2: Jesus and Mary Magdalene
5. The Historical Sources for Jesus 97
6. The Historical Jesus of Our Sources 119
7. Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Marriage 141
8. The Feminine in Early Christianity 163
Epilogue 185
Notes 191
Index 199
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I would like to thank two people for helping me write this book.
The first is my friend and editor at Oxford University Press,
Robert Miller, who conceived of the idea, convinced me to pur-
sue it, and read the manuscript with a scrupulous eye to detail.
The other is my former student, Andrew Jacobs, at the Univer-
sity of California, Riverside, whose careful and extensive com-
ments on an original draft of the book far exceeded anything
that friendship or collegiality could have asked.