Michael Baigent (1948–2013)
Author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail
About the Author
Michael Baigent was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1948. He studied religion and psychology at the University of Canterbury, where he graduated in 1972. Before becoming an author, he was a commercial photographer. His first book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which was released in the show more United States as Holy Blood, Holy Grail, was written with Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln and was published in 1982. The book hypothesized that Jesus had married Mary Magdalene and that their descendants were protected by a secretive group called the Priory of Sion. He and co-author Richard Leigh unsuccessfully sued Random House UK for copyright infringement, over similarities between their work and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Baigent's other works included The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, The Jesus Papers, and Racing toward Armageddon. He died of a brain hemorrhage on June 17, 2013 at the age of 65. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Michael Baigent
Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World (2009) 79 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Baigent, Michael Ferran Meritxell
- Other names
- Meehan, Michael Barry (birth name)
- Birthdate
- 1948-02-07
- Date of death
- 2013-06-17
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Nelson College, New Zealand
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (comparative religion and philosophy)
University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand (Psychology)
University of Kent (M.A.) (Mysticism and Religious Experience) - Occupations
- non-fiction writer
factory worker
editor - Organizations
- Canonbury Masonic Research Centre
Freemasons
United Grand Lodge of England - Short biography
- Baigent was born in March 1948 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He grew up in Motueka and Wakefield. His father left the family when he was 8 years old, and Baigent took the name of his maternal grandfather, Lewis Baigent. He attended Canterbury University, Christchurch, initially intending to study science, but then switched to studying comparative religion and philosophy, studying Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. He traveled to Australia and Southeast Asia, later returning to Auckland where he received a BA in Psychology. He later earned an MA in Mysticism and Religious Experience at the University of Kent.
A Freemason and a Grand Officer of the United Grand Lodge of England, he was editor of Freemasonry Today. He was a trustee of the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre.
Baigent died from a brain haemorrhage on June 18th 2013. He is survived by his wife, Jane, two daughters and two step-children. - Cause of death
- brain haemorrhage
- Nationality
- New Zealand
- Birthplace
- Nelson, New Zealand
- Places of residence
- Motueka, New Zealand
Wakefield, New Zealand
Bath, England, UK - Place of death
- Brighton, Sussex, England, UK
- Burial location
- New Zealand (ashes)
- Map Location
- New Zealand
Members
Reviews
When I bought and read this book in the 1980s I was younger, more gullible, and less cynical; I lapped it up, couldn't put it down, felt myself gasping at each new 'revelation', each new historical link that seemed to show that Christianity (or what we know of it now) was based on a Big Lie, each unfolding of a centuries' old "secret society".
It has had two legacies. One, the birth of a sadder, more cynical me when I discovered through BBC documentary that the so-called 'secret' Prieuré Du show more Sion - supposedly the guardians of the knowledge of Jesus's "descendants" : the "Holy Blood" of the title - was nothing more than a scam dreamed up by French con-men in the 1950s, fed to and swallowed whole by British researchers in the 70s. This was later picked up by Dan Brown and woven into The Da Vinci Code, though he was cleared of plagiarism by British courts (presumably only because a lie cannot be plagiarised!).
And yet... there is another legacy too. The role of the Emperor Constantine in shaping what we now recognise as "The Church", was never so sharply brought into focus before this book, and has never receded since. Some of the book rehashes popular myth, other parts breathe new life into long-forgotten historical eras (the Merovingian dynasty, the Cathars), and for the latter we should be grateful.
The way to approach this book is complex : it is a highly captivating semi-fictional detective story; it is a vivid document of historical phases of the Christian era; it deals in shams that have now been exposed. What it never fails to do is to make you question 'inherited certainties', and for that, we owe it a vote of thanks. And Dan Brown owes it a far bigger vote of thanks as without it, The Da Vinci Code could never have been written. show less
It has had two legacies. One, the birth of a sadder, more cynical me when I discovered through BBC documentary that the so-called 'secret' Prieuré Du show more Sion - supposedly the guardians of the knowledge of Jesus's "descendants" : the "Holy Blood" of the title - was nothing more than a scam dreamed up by French con-men in the 1950s, fed to and swallowed whole by British researchers in the 70s. This was later picked up by Dan Brown and woven into The Da Vinci Code, though he was cleared of plagiarism by British courts (presumably only because a lie cannot be plagiarised!).
And yet... there is another legacy too. The role of the Emperor Constantine in shaping what we now recognise as "The Church", was never so sharply brought into focus before this book, and has never receded since. Some of the book rehashes popular myth, other parts breathe new life into long-forgotten historical eras (the Merovingian dynasty, the Cathars), and for the latter we should be grateful.
The way to approach this book is complex : it is a highly captivating semi-fictional detective story; it is a vivid document of historical phases of the Christian era; it deals in shams that have now been exposed. What it never fails to do is to make you question 'inherited certainties', and for that, we owe it a vote of thanks. And Dan Brown owes it a far bigger vote of thanks as without it, The Da Vinci Code could never have been written. show less
Michael Baigent cashing in on The Da Vinci Code, which, of course, cashed in on the work Baigent cowrote back in the day: Holy Blood, Holy Grail. So, part of this book is a rehash of that book's thesis, with some added conjecture on Jesus and the Zealots, Jesus's lost years, and Jesus's supposed survival of the crucifixion. Baigent maintains that Jesus was promoted by the Zealots, but they became mad at him when he decided it was okay to "render unto Caesar" that which was Caesar's. Baigent show more claims that Jesus visited, lived near, and studied at one of the two Jewish temples outside the one in Jerusalem: the one on Elephantine Island in Egypt and the one at Leontopolis. Baigent chooses the Jewish temple at Leontopolis, built by Onias III as Josephus first said, and it was the temple of the Zealots. This gives Baigent leeway to imply that Jesus's Jewish religion was crossed with various Egyptian ideas, like that of Ma'at (the scales of justice), mysticism (like the Book of the Dead for the living), and, oddly, being entombed or en-caved like Osiris. Finally, building off his Holy Blood, Holy Grail theories, Baigent claims a Church of England vicar contacted them in the 1980s, said that way back in the 1930s, his boss another Church of England man, told him that back in the 1890s he had been called to Saint Sulpice in Paris, France, to translate a set of documents that showed Jesus was alive in A.D. 45, etc. Then, in the early 2000s, Baigent claims he saw this document and/or similar documents (confusion here) that were from A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45 (confusion here) that showed Jesus was alive, etc. Baigent implies that the document he heard about in this third-hand, one hundred year game of telephone was the source of Bérenger Saunière's mysterious wealth and the foundation of all the Priory of Sion stuff midwifed by Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Of course, all the people in his game of telephone are quite dead. The documents Baigent supposedly sees in the 2000s are all quite nowhere to be seen, studied, verified, etc. There are lots of forgeries in the world of ancient documents. And, by the way, it is very rare that documents of such sort can be dated so precisely as A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45. So, some scholarly supposition in Baigent's style, some alternative history and theology. Then a bunch of wink wink nudge nudge "trust me, would I lie" supposition and, frankly, malarkey. By the by, the baddies in Baigent's narrative are the same folk in most of these new agey, new Christ-y books: the Roman Catholic Church, conservative Christians, Paul of Tarsus, the Patriarchy, Academe, etc. Trope central. Interesting in spots; derivative, exploitative, and speculative to the point of incredulity in others. show less
A relative sent me a copy of the book several years ago (before The Da Vinci Code, which plays off this book's claims). It's utterly ludicrous, but a textbook example of how to play a con game with the public using little-known or half-remembered episodes and characters from ancient and medieval history.
The trick is to come up with a fictional past that people will want to believe in (in this case: Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and just as you always suspected, the whole church show more establishment is a fraud). Then write a tedious narrative full of mystifying language about how we, the authors, were inexorably drawn to believe this theory in despite of all our dry-as-dust scholarly colleagues with their timorous reliance on careful sourcing.
All this padding is essential; it adds heft to your book, which increases its air of authority. But be sure to spice it up here and there with quick-moving passages that assert really wild and sexy claims (like, a lineal descendant of Jesus will someday assert a claim to rule all of Europe). These will be the only parts most readers will absorb, so give them arresting subheadings.
Readers will underline these passages and email their friends, then ask their ministers about them. Soon one or two scandalized churchmen can be counted on to rail against your book on TV. You'll be invited to appear as well, for the sake of balance, and all you have to do is act the role of a maverick but dedicated scholar.
Then the paperback comes out, graced with a lengthy introduction in which you express, with cherubic innocence, your shock at all the uproar about your humble and sincere efforts to uncover the truth. History Channel, here we come. show less
The trick is to come up with a fictional past that people will want to believe in (in this case: Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and just as you always suspected, the whole church show more establishment is a fraud). Then write a tedious narrative full of mystifying language about how we, the authors, were inexorably drawn to believe this theory in despite of all our dry-as-dust scholarly colleagues with their timorous reliance on careful sourcing.
All this padding is essential; it adds heft to your book, which increases its air of authority. But be sure to spice it up here and there with quick-moving passages that assert really wild and sexy claims (like, a lineal descendant of Jesus will someday assert a claim to rule all of Europe). These will be the only parts most readers will absorb, so give them arresting subheadings.
Readers will underline these passages and email their friends, then ask their ministers about them. Soon one or two scandalized churchmen can be counted on to rail against your book on TV. You'll be invited to appear as well, for the sake of balance, and all you have to do is act the role of a maverick but dedicated scholar.
Then the paperback comes out, graced with a lengthy introduction in which you express, with cherubic innocence, your shock at all the uproar about your humble and sincere efforts to uncover the truth. History Channel, here we come. show less
I'm only about a third of the way through, so I suppose it gets better - but this is dense, plodding, (very small type), and it manages to include *every single one* of the fallacies commonly employed by writers of crank paperbacks, all at once. (seriously - somewhere I have an essay catagorizing them all with examples from *one chapter* of this book.)
The occcasional tidbits of fact slipped in (such as the mystery of what Sauniere found and the cutting of the Elm) are fascinating, though. show more Too bad they're weighted down with tons of unreliable speculation, so I have no idea what I can believe without checking the sources. Instead of playing on the reader's idiocy to try to convince them it's all God's honest truth, somebody should write this (admittedly fascinating) story as fiction.
Only, you know, do it well. show less
The occcasional tidbits of fact slipped in (such as the mystery of what Sauniere found and the cutting of the Elm) are fascinating, though. show more Too bad they're weighted down with tons of unreliable speculation, so I have no idea what I can believe without checking the sources. Instead of playing on the reader's idiocy to try to convince them it's all God's honest truth, somebody should write this (admittedly fascinating) story as fiction.
Only, you know, do it well. show less
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