Customer Reviews

Tomb of God: The Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2000 Year Old Mystery

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I wrote a favorable review in September of '98 and have not changed my opinion. Let me say that I agree that the geometrical arguments are difficult -- this is not light reading. I doubt that the reviewers who dismiss this book out of hand have patiently spent the time required to digest the analyses presented. I have gone over this book in detail several times since my first review. I have laboriously checked the authors' diagrams, and they are what they purport to be: a geometrical solution to the mysterious "parchments" that are in reality a treasure map and not simply biblical passages in latin. (I have taught geometry in high school and have designed and built sundials involving geometric calculations.) I do not necessarily agree with the religious and historical conclusions the authors draw. However, this book presents a genuine contribution to the history of painting -- something that other reviewers have missed. I and others have found other ancient paintings (not mentioned in this book) which also are laid out on the "sacred Platonic geometry" hidden in those parchments that are the center of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. The color reproductions and careful illustrations in this book alone make it worthy of consideration. One must realize that this book was written in part to refute Henry Lincoln, (Holy Blood, Holy Grail, etc) author of competing books with his own solutions to the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. Mr. Lincoln was at one time a writer for the BBC, and seems to have failed to decipher properly the geometric code hidden in the parchments, which made a poor French priest go from rags to riches in the 1890's. Tomb of God is a scholarly work with sixteen pages of research notes that can be checked; explanatory appendices; an extensive and useful bibliography; a good index; excellent color plates including reproductions of the paintings analysed and a photograph of the solution site. It includes the analysis of a Templar map of Jerusalem from the 1300's. The paintings cannot be forged for they are in museums -- and the analyses are far from arbitrary -- an observation that could only come from one who was unable to follow them. It is unfortunate that the authors (one a civil engineer) did not have a better editor. To their credit they checked the position of churches and castles in S. France with satellite-derived Global Positioning Instrumentation to establish that the geometry hidden in Poussin's "Et In Arcadia Ego" paintings was confirmed on the landscape of Southern France. One reviewer calls attention to a TV documentary that attacked this book. It is so easy for a TV documentary to criticize a book . . . while it would be next to impossible to defend properly on TV the complicated arguments involved. To me, it is evidence of the book's importance and quite commendatory to the authors that a TV documentary attacking their Tomb of God was aired in the first place. I am only arguing that the authors have succesfully deciphered the mysterious puzzle of the parchments. This alone makes the book a worthwhile mystery and detective story. I do not argue that they have proved that anything is buried at the spectacular mountain site they reveal. I believe they went too far in saying anything about Jesus being buried there. This is so controversial that it spoils it for those who might otherwise enjoy the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the puzzle of the parchments that made a poor priest fabulously wealthy and has caused the mountain village of Rennes-le-Chateau to be a tourist mecca. If you enjoy a mystery, a detective story, and detailed investigations reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's writings, give this book the benefit of the doubt. Skip the detailed geometrical arguments, ignore the religious implications, and enjoy the intriguing puzzles and their solutions for what they are worth. Suspend disbelief and appreciate the effort that went into Tomb of God (a better title might have been selected) This book will raise questions in your mind which may lead to the reading of other approaches to a mystery that has enchanted many intellectually inclined readers -- especially on the other side of the Atlantic.

The only reason I don't rate this book a 10 is that the opening chapters, while very interesting, and well written (considering what they contain) are not easy to get through, due to the extreme complexity of the subject. I shudder to think what a casual reader who had never read anything before about the mysteries surrounding the little village of Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France (the works of Henry Lincoln, especially) would make of them. But if you have read any of Lincoln's books, or seen any of his TV documentaries on the subject, don't miss this book. The authors, an archeologist and an engineer, make Lincoln look like a bumbling amateur by deftly maneuvering through a complex mine-field of clues, real and false, that led Lincoln far down the wrong trail. In several chapters of detailed detective work, they demonstrate with geometric logic (pun intended) that the real treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau (or that general area) is not Templar gold, or some vague ancient Holy Place, but the tomb of Jesus, its existence and location kept secret by some few initiates over the centuries because denial of the physical resurrection and assumption of Jesus was grounds for the most excrutiating punishments of the Catholic Inquisition. The closing chapters are much easier to follow, and explore the question of how the body of Jesus came to be buried in a secret location in what was then Gaul and who was responsible for keeping the secret all these centuries, in encoded paintings, parchments, gravestones, and landmarks. (Here it helped that I had just recently read Bloodline of the Holy Grail and The Hiram Key, q.v.) Unfortunately for those of us who would like to see the authors' thesis put to the ultimate test, the site the authors show to be indicated by all these clues is on private land and not likely to be excavated. But even if human remains were to be found there, it would be impossible to prove whose they were. Jesus left no fingerprints or DNA samples on file anywhere to compare them to. ! But the authors make an extremely convincing case. If you're interested in the origins and true nature of Christianity, or just love a good (true) mystery, you'll find this book well worth the effort it takes to follow the evidence.

For Those Who'll Believe Anything

This work combines the lure of a "Search for Lost Treasure" story with the sinister attraction of a murder mystery, the "Lost Wisdom of the Ancients", the dark world of the occult, the deepest secrets of the Knights Templar, the secret knowledge of the Rosicrucians, the hidden meaning of certain paintings, and a fantastic religious conspiracy that has supposedly remained hidden for almost 2000 years.

The authors are clearly members in good standing of the current school of English "religious conspiracy" theorists. "The Tomb of God" is an eerie but fascinating read, as you join the authors in their "quest" for the secret of Rennes-le-Chateau, bouncing back and forth between high-school geometry, Latin, French, history, art, religion, and cartography. The book is handsomely printed, with many pictures, drawings, color plates, and even a fold-out map. The authors provide a highly interesting smattering of all the above in pse! udo-scholarly fashion -- but the main glue that ultimately holds the book together is the unbridled speculation and imagination of the authors themselves. Those with a scholarly bent may enjoy the ride for its own sake, but are likely to find many serious flaws in this work. To start with, the most critical foundation and source material used by the authors is neither primary nor trustworthy -- it is in fact largely unverifiable. Many other items start out as "legends" and wind up as facts. Other crucial material (such as the "Chess Code" in "Parchment #2") is missing altogether -- we must accept the authors' own conclusions on "blind faith". In other areas there is almost a paranoic tendency to read "hidden" meanings into common geometrical forms and linear angles. Many of the authors' geometric constructions (an essential part of their theory), and the interpretations given to them in context are purely arbitrary. There is also a distressing tendency to "fiddle" wit! h information to make it fit the theory -- nowhere is this ! more evident than the use of anagrammatic phrases when the original phrase will not do.

In short (and meaning no disrespect), using the exact same methods em-ployed by these authors, I would have little difficulty locating the "site" (The Tomb of God) right in my own back yard. The authors claim that they were successful in their "quest" in locating the Tomb containing the Body of God (Jesus Christ) -- but this is also very conveniently unverifiable (the "site" is buried under hundreds of thousands of tons of solid rock and is not likely to be excavated soon, if ever).

The "mystery" of Rennes-le-Chateau has several other far more plausible (and less sensational) explanations that are known to scholars and historians. The authors, unfortunately, do not discuss any of them at length, and although I enjoyed the book, I closed it with the uneasy feeling that I had been "had" by two guys who were writing off their vacations abroad for tax reasons and working all their spec! ulations into a sensational theory (and book) that would attract a lot of curious people and could never be disproven. Having read their theory in its entirety, I myself have one question I would like to ask the authors: If someone went to all that trouble to hide the "body of God" somewhere in the middle of a mountain, and then remove all obvious clues to its existence and/or whereabouts (leaving only hidden, occult clues), then why NAME the mountain "Body of God" ("Cardieu") (i.e., "Corps Dieu", pronounced "Cardieu" in Languedoc) ???

Richard. Andrews, & Schellenberger present a series of interesting and thought provoking soloutions to an old mystery in this book. From their creative use of geometry, to their careful selection of clues, to the relationship that each holds to each other it is aparent that there is something to thier theories.

However, it is doubtful that they have come upon a perfect soloution to the puzzle, but a fine starting point none-the-less.

The principle flaw seems to be a reluctance to get to the root of the search, opting instead to return to redundant geometry that, while offering wonderful insights into the art and philosophy of the Renaissance mind, will quickly bore the average reader. Much of the book seems to be the authors' need to feed thier egos. "Look how clever we are, we discovered this line here!" But the book's greatest sin will be found in its departure from dogmaticly acceptable thought. It's controversial nature will no doubt offend many as heretical and will automatically come under attack by opponents to objective thought.

Despite the authors endless posturing throughout the book it is an entertaining work and for anyone who is a student of the Rennes Le Chateau mystery it provides some wonderful diagrams, illustrations, and photographs. There is no doubt that the authors have indeed stumbled onto some wonderful new facts in this mystery but, as with all works of this type, it should be taken with a grain of salt until someone with a shovel sets out to prove these theories once and for all.

I am writing a third favorable review of "The Tomb of God" (others -- 05/24/00 and 09/01/98), because after studying the geometric method used by the authors to solve the puzzle of the parchments and the paintings of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery, I have applied their "Teniers Method" to the paintings of J. Vermeer (1632-1675), a famous Dutch master painter. The fact that this method uncovered for me the concealment of a secret geometric map of Jerusalem and southern France in at least 8 of Vermeer's masterpieces is testimony to the reliability and credibility of the authors..."Tomb of God" is a difficult book for anyone who expects light reading. Appreciating it hinges on the reader's ability and determination to follow geometric analyses of ancient parchments and paintings. Those who were unable or unwilling to do so dismiss the book in the harshest terms; many who verified the geometry for themselves -- or who trusted the authors' expertise -- were rewarded with a stunning discovery, and they rated this book the 5 stars it deserves. This is a controversial book because the authors refute the claims of other investigators. I am in agreement with these refutations, for I am familiar with the refuted work. This is an ultracontroversial book because the authors have jumped to a conclusion about Jesus Christ that few are able to share -- myself included. This book is important enough that the BBC of London devoted a documentary to the discrediting of the authors -- a sure sign that the book touched a sensitive nerve. This book is worth the attention of serious students of many disciplines: history of maps, paintings, Christianity, Judaism, the Crusades, Knights Templars, Rennes-le-Chateau, Freemasonry, and the Holy Grail legends and romances. Highest recommendation.

Hey, I love the Rennes mystery books as much as the next mildly eccentric reader -- as a historian by profession, most of these books count as a guilty pleasure and a welcome relief from jargon-filled critical analysis. However, this book is the worst of the bunch, in my opinion -- the conclusions are completely unsupportable, the geometry is relied upon without recognition of the tenuous nature of many of their assumptions, and it's almost completely unreadable. No matter how shaky the arguments are in many of the other books, at least the books themselves are a good read. Not this one.

The mystery of Rennes-le-Chateaux is undoubtably facinating, but that's no excuse for producing something as poor as this. It's by now totally discredited (I saw it described as a "notorious hoax" in the Observer a while back), especially since being torn to shreds by TimeWatch (a British History program), during which the authors were shown to have not made any attempt to check some of the most basic facts underlying their theories. Strictly for the gullible.

Beware this i a HYPER SPECULATIVE book, I bet they wrote it just for the money! The geometry in the parchmnets from Rennes is even not funny. This book will cause the creator of the chypher in the parchments - Antonios Bigou to turn his side in the grave! I have been into the "mystery of Rennes le Chateau" for several years. I even traveled all the way from Sweden to visit the place, which I also can recomend you to do. I have read many many books about the subject, but very very few god ones. Belive me, if you really want to get into the problem I suggest that you order some serious books; check of course "The holy blood and the holy grail" it's a OK. standard introduction. If you want god pictures and hot info. check out Bibliotheque National. "The one that search will find." "The Tomb of God" are among the kind of books that puts the Rennes problem into a very bad and unserious shape. Remeber you were at least warned to buy this book. Sober and serious people will be smart enough to after a very short inspection avoid this book.

- Summa Scientia Nihil Scire -

P.S I have got the book myself and are not against it because some religious causes.

This book has a great deal for the Thinking Man and Woman: Buried Treasure maps disguised as Old Master Paintings and Ancient Parchment Texts. Shadowy figures with roots in ancient history -- The Priory of Sion, The Rosicrucians, The Gnostics, The Cathars, The Freemasons, The Knights Templar, The Celestines, The Merovingians, The Visigoths, The Romans, The Earliest Christian-Jews -- all with profound secrets to hide. All with religious and political axes to grind. A theory of the burial of the remains of Jesus Christ! and the relocation of his bloodline through Mary Magdalene in the Languedoc region of Southern France. A poor village priest suddenly made wealthy by his discoveries: perhaps with hush-money, and perhaps by blackmailing the Church. The Languedoc where Pontius Pilate and the descendants of Herod the King were exiled in dishonor: the region that has harbored heretics ever since the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire. What else from the tunnels under Jerusalem's Temple of Solomon is buried there in France at the rediscovered "Site" on the Rose Line -- a line of longitude passing right through Paris. Is the tomb of Jesus on a mountainside near the notorious Visigoth mountain village of Rennes-le-Chateau? All this in the Tomb of God and more. This is one of the few books I've read for the second time -- right after the first. For those who are geometry buffs, the authors explain in detail how they analysed paintings and texts for hidden map geometry -- "The Geometry" -- known for centuries only to the cognoscenti, supposedly those descended from refugees from the Holy Land who migrated to S. France after Jesus was crucified. However, the geometric arguments are quite involved and best skimmed over for the first reading, until the reader gets a handle on the enormous scope of the secrets revealed in this book. I have spent many pleasant hours studying the geometric arguments which lead to the stunning revelation of an enormous Star of David laid out on the map of the countryside of S. France -- all defined by the building of ancient churches, chateaus, and stone crossses -- all in conformance with "The Geometry" which is contained in its ealiest manifestation in a "map within a map" -- that of the Jerusalem of the Knights Templar in the 1300's. At the center of it all? After three years' research the authors are convinced that they have located the buried remains of Jesus, and they call for the immediate excavation of "The Site" -- a colossal undertaking of mining engineering that will require the sanction of the government of France among others. Now that there is no fear of being tortured and burned at the stake by an Inquisition, all this is coming out -- beginning quiety in the 1890's and culminating recently in a miniseries on BBC and a number of books of which this is arguably the best. The authors propound a religious approach to Christianity in conflict with the received wisdom preached for centuries by both Catholics and Protestants. The authors make a plausible claim to have found Le Sang Reale -- The San Graal -- The Holy Grail of song and story. I'll be studying and referring to this work for the foreseeable future. Highly recommended to the intellectually inclined.

Andrews and Schellenberger have written a fascinating detective novel, but, unfortunately, they are attempting to pass it off as history and religion. Weaving historical facts with conjecture and intrigue, they argue a theory which suggests that the shadowy Knights Templar discovered the body of Jesus under the ruins of the Herodian temple in Jerusalem. They then spirited it away to a mountain in France where it is now buried. How convenient that the authors were unable to dig on the conjectured site! I am very sorry to see books like this because they blur the line between history and fantasy so powerfully as to confuse and deaden the mind. I am all for enlightenment and the liberation of knowledge from those academics who feel that intellectual prowess is their private kingdom. But silliness like this is not the answer.