More Truth Revealed...

Page 232:

Not factual: Constantine was a Pagan all of his life and was only baptized into Christianity on his death bed and then only because he was too weak to resist.

Actual:Constantine actually converted from Paganism to Christianity in 312 CE after a vision on the battlefield. It is true that he was not baptized until just before his death. Many Christians did this, thinking it was safer. Baptism was believed to have magic powers: it wiped away all sin. By waiting until the end of life to be baptized, one could lead a life on sin and have everything forgiven. The suggestion that he didn't want to be baptized seems very doubtful. He was probably anxious to be baptized in order to obtain forgiveness of his sins.

Page 232:

Not factual: "In 325 AD, [Constantine] decided to unify Rome under a single religion. Christianity."

Actual: Constantine did issue the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, which formally established freedom and toleration of all religions, including Christianity. ".... Theodosius and his western counterpart Gratian, [only] recognized Christianity as the official religion of the Empire in 380".

http://www.unrv.com/culture/christianity.php

Page 234:

Not factual: "Fortunately for historians...some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert...these documents speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms."

Actual: The Dead Sea Scrolls were actually found in the 1940s. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained no gospels. The scrolls contained no Christian writings at all; they were entirely made up of Jewish documents.

Page 245:

Not factual: "...Jesus was a Jew...and the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried."

Actual: The Essenes -- one of the major Jewish traditions during Jesus lifetime -- required its men to be unmarried.

Page 248:

Not factual: Mary Magdalene is identified as being of the House of Benjamin. Her family tree is known.

Actual: Nothing at all is known of Mary's tribe or family tree.

Serious historical mistakes:

• His claim that five million witches were burned at the stake by the Catholic Church is patently false. The actual number has been set at around 60,000 at the most.
  
• He claims that the Knights Templar (arguably the oldest military order), were not protectors of Holy Land pilgrims, but were rather keepers of the grail story who blackmailed the Vatican with their “secret.”
  
• According to Brown, Pope Clement V had the Knights rounded up, burned at the stake, and their ashes thrown into the Tiber river in Rome.
  
• In all of the Vatican bashing Brown seems to overlook that the popes were not always in Rome. Clement V lived in Avignon, not Rome!
  
• Brown also seems to think that the Merovingians founded France (p. 257) which they did not.

But Brown also makes some rather elementary mistakes in reasoning.

He is quick to have the characters point out that history is written by the victors, and the “real” history is often subjugated. He quotes Napoleon as once saying, “What is history but a fable agreed upon?” (p. 256). Yet only a few pages earlier he states that Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdelene is “...a matter of historical record.” (p. 244).