Her most conspicuous symbol, the ointment jar or pot, is an especially potent symbol, and one which we recognize as belonging also to Psyche and to Pandora. Mary Magdalen may be recognized as a figure of very ancient, pre-Christian origin. The Vessel of Mary Magdalen (the Holy Grail?) ONLINE ESSAY originally presented in Witcombe, "Conversations with a Cunning Serpent: Eve, Art, and the Image of Woman," Sweet Briar College Friends of Art lecture given at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, October 18, 1996, and subsequently revised and included in Images of Women in Ancient Art: Issues of Interpretation and Identity In this form, she typified the prevailing attitudes towards women and sex. Like Eve, Mary Magdalen was associated with the dangers of the flesh. The Church's presentation of Mary Magdalen as a whore was a convenient counter-type to Mary the virgin. This is an alternative way of exploring the mystery of the Holy Grail.Professor Christopher Witcombe, Art HistoryĬONTENTS & SCHEDULE RESOURCES Mary Magdalen and the Sacred Feminine Mary Magdalene’s importance in the church is elevated because she is the Holy Grail, the wife of Jesus. The purpose of The Da Vinci Code is to explore the connections between faith and knowledge, and ultimately what is truth? Brown's novel breaks away from the traditional Christian views. The theories posed are open to the reader's interpretation. The book is fiction and Brown never claims that it is true. Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in existence.ĭan Brown's novel explores another way of looking at Christianity despite criticisms from the Catholic Church for inaccurate descriptions of Christianity, art, history, and architecture. Monks and nuns are not part of Opus Dei, which means the character of Silas would not exist. are led by a bishop or prelate, the head of Opus Dei. The Sangreal documents, the Purist documents, and the Magdalene diaries are supposedly the documentation that explains and tells the whole story about Mary Magdalene and her relationshi.
The grail relics including the bones of Mary Magdalene and documentation confirming the bloodline were kept secret and hidden in Rosslyn Chapel. Pope Gregory VI did connect her with the unnamed prostitute in Luke 7:36-50, but the biblical text does not explicitly state that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. No evidence exists that proves the church started this story to cover up her marriage to Jesus. The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret-her role as the Holy Grail” (Brown 320). That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church. Leigh Teabing, a friend of Robert Langdon’s explains, "Magdalene was no such thing. After his crucifixion, Mary fled to France where she had a daughter, Sarah. One statement Brown makes about Mary Magdalene is that the early church created a “smear campaign” against Mary Magdalene to conceal the truth that she was married to Jesus. He also makes several statements about Mary Magdalene based off of these sources. Brown uses many sources such as the canonical gospels, the non-canonical gospels, the Priory of Scion, Opus Dei, and Da Vinci’s works of art. He meets cryptologist Sophie Nuveu and they embark on a quest to interpret the message Sauniére left behind before his death.
The story begins when symbologist Robert Langdon investigates Jacques Sauniére's murder, the curator of the Louvre. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code explores an alternative Christian history where the Holy Grail is not a chalice, but a woman, Mary Magdalene.