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A Bible conspiracy theory is any conspiracy theory that posits that much of what is known about the Bible is a deception created to suppress some secret, ancient truth. Some of these theories claim that Jesus really had a wife and children, or that a group such as the Priory of Sion has secret information about the true descendants of Jesus; some claim that there was a secret movement to censor books that truly belonged in the Bible, etc.

This subject should not be confused with deliberately fictional Bible conspiracy theories. A number of bestselling modern novels, the most popular of which was The Da Vinci Code, have incorporated elements of Bible conspiracy theories to flesh out their storylines, rather than to push these theories as actual suggestions.

Contents 1 Common theories 1.1 New Testament 1.2 Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail 2 Books 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Common theories

[edit] New Testament

In the book The Christ Conspiracy, The Greatest Fable Ever Sold, Jesus and Christianity were created by members of various secret societies, mystery schools and religions to unify the Roman Empire under one state religion, and that these people drew on numerous myths and rituals which existed previously and then constructed them into Christianity that exists today. ^[1]

[edit] Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail

Some common hypotheses are that:

• Mary Magdalene was one of the apostles of Jesus, possibly even the only disciple, but this fact was suppressed by the early Church.^[2]
• Jesus had an intimate relationship with Mary Magdalene which may or may not have resulted in marriage, and/or children; their continued bloodline is then said to be Christianity's deepest secret.^[2]

[edit] Books

• The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History, Michael Baigent (2006)
• Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God?, Morton Smith (1978)
• The Jesus Dynasty, James Tabor (2006)
• Jesus the Man: New Interpretations from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Barbara Thiering (1993)
• The Jesus Scroll, Donovan Joyce (1972)
• Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (1982)
• The Templar Revelation, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince (1997)
• The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy (1999)
• The Jesus Conspiracy: The Turin Shroud and the Truth About the Resurrection, Holger Kersten and Elmar R. Gruber (1994)

[edit] See also

• Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
• Jesus myth hypothesis
• Zeitgeist, the Movie
• Panbabylonism
• Desposyni
• Jesus bloodline
• Holy Grail

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Atwill, Joseph (2003). The Roman Origins of Christianity. J. Atwill. ISBN 0-9740928-0-0. 
• Atwill, Joseph (2005). Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus. Berkeley, Calif.: Ulysses. ISBN 1-56975-457-8. 
• Bushby, Tony (2001). The Bible Fraud: An Untold Story of Jesus Christ. PacificBlue Group. ISBN 978-0957900714. 
• Cooke, Patrick (2005). The Greatest Deception: The Bible UFO Connection. Oracle Research Publishing. ISBN 978-0972434737. 
• Doherty, Earl (2005). The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus. Age of Reason Publications. ISBN 978-0968925911. 
• S, Acharya (1999). The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 978-0932813749. 
• Harpur, Tom (2005). The Pagan Christ:Recovering the Lost Light. Toronto, Canada: Thomas Allen Publishers. ISBN 0-88762-195-3. 
• Phillips, Graham (2001). The Marian Conspiracy. Pan Books. ISBN 978-0330372022. 
• Faber Kaiser, Andreas (1977). Jesus died in Kashmir: Jesus, Moses and the ten lost tribes of Israel. Gordon & Cremonesi. ISBN 978-0860330417. 
• Thompson, Thomas L. (2005). The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08577-6. 
• Wells, G. A. (1999). The Jesus Myth. Chicago: Open Court. ISBN 0-8126-9392-2. 

[edit] External links

• Joseph Atwill's homepage
• Joseph Atwill interview
• Gospel of Titus
• Criticism of Caesar's Messiah by Robert M. Price