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The Marian Conspiracy (Hb)

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What happened to the Virgin Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus? This mystery has existed for essentially two thousand years. True, there is the widespread belief that she ascended bodily into heaven. However, this `belief' was never put forth until well after the alleged events themselves, when Pope Pius XII decreed the Assumption Dogma. Indeed, even the term "virgin", describing Mary the Mother of Jesus , may, Author Graham Phillips suggests, be a poor translation of the Hebrew `almah': `a young woman'. Phillips offers an alternate theory to the standard account: after Jesus' crucifixion, his mother Mary escaped to England with other Christians, and found her final earthly resting place in Anglesley, surrounded by the earliest Christian community in the British Isles.

Through archeological evidence, historical documents, and logical, albeit subjective, conjecture, Phillips begins his complex and fascinating story with the assertion that the Mary we know as The Virgin was in reality the daughter of a high priest, and therefore of considerable social standing. In accordance with this stature, she married Antipater, the eldest son of King Herod. Through the machinations of his sinister sister Salome, Herod decided he wanted his younger son Philip, and not Antipater, to succeed him to the throne. Antipater and his family were subsequently murdered in order to extinguish that bloodline and any claims to Herod's power base. Mary, by now pregnant with Antipater's child, somehow escaped into Egypt. She was escorted and protected by the elderly Joseph, who eventually married her. Enraged that a legitimate heir to his throne (Jesus, at this point arguably King of the Jews) may have escaped the carnage, Herod, acting on faulty intelligence, ordered all infants in Bethlehem to be slaughtered. Of course, his grandson escaped, and the world was changed forever.

And that is just the start! The plot thickens, as it were, to document the post-crucifixion flight of Joseph of Arimathea, accompanied by Mary, who is by that time under his protection, from Palestine to the area of the northern-most reaches of the Roman Empire. Establishing a Christian community in Britain, Joseph built a chapel later attested to by St. Augustine in 597. Augustine writes to the Pope describing the chapel, where some of Jesus' original disciples worshipped; a chapel that was `sacred to Mary, the Mother of God'.

This is a fantastic and intricate read. It is a real life detective story that takes the reader from Vatican archives to Roman ruins in Ephesus; wanders through Arthurian legend to rest amidst ancient ruins on a "holy" island in Britain. It questions the most basic of Christian traditions about the origins and birthright of Jesus, and yet in no way desecrates the teachings of Christ or the most basic of that enlightened being's wisdom. I have read some of these theories as put forth by other authors and scholars, but none have written so convincingly, or with so much tangible authority as exists in the prehistoric and other records.

Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in Biblical archeology and Grail mythology, and who has an open mind.

I have recently become a fan of Mr. Phillip's books, and this book is no exception to why that may be. The Marian Conspiracy is a `unique and fresh' perspective on a story that we all think we know so well. Again he takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery, laying out theory after theory that we can accept or not; but those insights are certainly one to deeply consider on the level of one's belief. We so readily accept our faith without question, but it is ever more interesting to view the human side of the reality it may hold.

I highly recommend this book for any reader, for it brings the symbolisms of religion to life.

This is the first edition of the book. It was re-released as The Virgin Mary Conspiracy five years later with added material. If one wants to read this book, get that title instead. My full review is on that book, but I will give a sampling here.

Author Graham Phillips delves into the great mystery of who the Virgin Mary is. There is so little written of her in the Bible, and the Catholic Church created most of the stories of her life. Mr Phillips goes on an odyssey to find out the truth by interviewing theologians and archeologists. The journey itself is quite fascinating along with the information found.

I recommend the book The Virgin Mary Conspiracy as it is the updated version of The Miriam Conspiracy. If one is going to get the book, it might as well be the more complete one.

Was King Herod Jesus' grandad? Could Joseph of Arimathea have been Jesus' yuppie kid brother? Was the Virgin Mary the Holy Grail, and is she/it buried somewhere in Britain? Were the Druids Christians? Why did the Church conceal the truth for two millennia and why did it fall to Graham Phillips to uncover it? Why does he always answer a question with another question? Why shouldn't he? Am I the Emperor Napoleon? My name has almost the same number of letters, I'm the same height give or take a foot, plus I've been to Corsica and Paris, so why not?

As an example of a modern genre of pseudo-scholarship this book is rather well done. It contains some outright howlers when it strays into areas of actual historical knowledge, such as an idiosyncratic account of the early Church and some bizarre reflections on the Goths. Wisely, though, the author sticks mostly to gray areas where speculation is free. He's had plenty of practice and this is one of his best tales. Personally I wouldn't buy it - I prefer my fiction straight - but there are many who will.

Mariam is the real name of 'Mary' in the time of Yeshua (Jesus.) Mary Magdalene for instance was really Mariam of Magdala.