Notes

• "As historian Bart D. Ehrman shows in this book, The Da Vinci Code is filled with numerous historical mistakes. Did the ancient church engage in a cover-up to make the man Jesus into a divine figure? Did Emperor Constantine select for the New Testament - from some 80 contending Gospels - the only four Gospels that stressed that Jesus was divine? Was Jesus Christ married to Mary Magdalene? Did the Church suppress Gospels that told the secret of their marriage? Bart Ehrman thoroughly debunks all of these claims. But the book is not merely a laundry list of Dan Brown’s misreading of history. Throughout, Ehrman offers a wealth of background information - all historically accurate - on early Christianity. He describes, for instance, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are not Christian in content, contrary to The Da Vinci Code); outlines how scholars of early Christianity determine which sources are most reliable; and explores the many other Gospels that have been found in the last half century."–BOOK JACKET