The Holy Grail: The Legend, the History, the Evidence [Paperback]

Justin E. Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001 | ISBN-10: 0786409991 | ISBN-13: 978-0786409990

The existence of the Holy Grail has long been debated, and many of these debates focus on the intellectualized or psychological aspects of it. This work explores the events that gave rise to the legend of the Holy Grail and pays special attention to the texts that form the body of the legend, as well as historical facts about the life of Christ, the Crusades, and the fall from grace of the Knights Templar. The book examines the legitimacy of the claims made by several present-day believers and also introduces a new theory of multiple grails (and the evidence supporting this theory), which, the author believes, answers many of the otherwise unanswered questions surrounding the Holy Grail.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The legend of the holy grail, like much dubious history of its vintage, encompasses a veritable labyrinth of divergent, often directly contradictory stories. It is not one legend but many, from King Arthur to the Knights Templar to the mysterious village of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Merovingian bloodline. This being the case, Griffin's slight but eminently readable essay should be considered an introduction to the subject rather than a definitive analysis of it. He posits several different theories on the identity of the grail and, investigating the origins and significance of various contenders, assesses them with convincing dispassion. He approaches the material as historian, scientist, and detective by turns, and is able to reach crisp, clearheaded conclusions while calling up as many questions as he answers. A reader who finds the Holy Grail intriguing but whose knowledge of it comes primarily from Monty Python and Indiana Jones films will find this an exemplary place to start an exploration of the vast, mysterious world of grail lore. Will Hickman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Justin E. Griffin, a network technologies specialist at the University of Tennessee, lives in Knoxville.

Product Details

• Paperback: 157 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786409991
• ISBN-13: 978-0786409990
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,806,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An unscholarly disappointment, January 9, 2003

By 

WitchGrrl (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Holy Grail: The Legend, the History, the Evidence (Paperback)

I've never studied much about the Holy Grail, though the occult is a long-standing interest of mine. I thought that this book might be a good place to start an exploration. It looked short and sweet, and the editorial review here was favorable. Boy, was I wrong! The facts that Griffin cites don't substantiate his conclusions, and he doesn't even attribute them. The book (or at least the first few chapters of it, I stopped reading midway in disgust) is full of lofty references to the breadth of research required for a study of the Grail. If Griffin did research, I didn't find any evidence of that. (Footnotes, man! Footnotes are your friends!) And also, even though my understanding of the history and legend surrounding the Grail is extremely limited, he didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. Very disappointing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but non-essential, April 16, 2004

By 

Trixie "cupcakejones" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Holy Grail: The Legend, the History, the Evidence (Paperback)

I confess I'm obsessed with the Grail, the Knights Templar, Mary Magdalene, the Tarot. Blame that doggone DaVinci Code. This quest-no pun intended-led me to Griffin's book.

The good news is it's short and it does have some interesting historical asides (Jesus' blood would have been preserved by Joseph of Armimathea in the Grail because it was the Jewish burial tradition to bury spilt blood with the deceased.) The bad news is the book badly needs an editor. Information is repeated over and over, sometimes within paragraphs of each other. Griffin, while clearly passionate about his subject, is also clearly not a career writer-the cover says he's a network specialist. He's capable but his prose lacks a certain polish and elegance. He also has a slight Christian bias, occasionally not separating historical fact from mythology. For example, Griffin states that Joseph of Armimathea established the first Christian church at Glastonbury and carried with him 2 cruets of Christ's blood. I believe Joseph's founding of Glastonbury and in fact his presence in the British Isles is legend-supported by incidental historical details but nonetheless not fact. However Griffin presents it this way and uses this legend as a jumping off point for a whole line of reasoning. That and few other instances made me question the information and conclusions provided.

This book is a good supplement or jumping off point but should not be considered the alpha and omega of your own quest for the Grail legend. Good luck, fellows knights!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Conjecture and huge leaps of logic, May 12, 2004

By 

Becky Lalaya (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Holy Grail: The Legend, the History, the Evidence (Paperback)

I suppose the best one can say about Griffin's The Holy Grail: The Legend, the History, the Evidence is that at least it provides an interested reader with a basic Grail vocabulary. And it's short. That's the good news. The bad news is that Griffin stretches remote possibility/hearsay-types of anecdotes and tries to represent them as facts. Lots of passive voice ("it has been determined that..." or "it is thought that..."), absolutely no direct source citation for his "facts." The bibliography at the back is no substitute for solid in-text source citation to substantiate every assertion! My conclusion: When you try to concretize a metaphor, all you end up with is nebulous, dubious, unsubstantiated speculation disguised as historical inquiry (for example, check out Griffin's "analysis" of Longinus's spear, or the "findings" of St. Helena in Jesus's tomb). Skip this book.