A Bible conspiracy theory is any

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that posits that much of what is believed 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.

Common theories

Jesus-myth theory

Some proponents of the

Jesus-myth The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...

or Christ-myth theory consider that the whole of Christianity is a conspiracy. American author

Acharya S Dorothy Milne Murdock (March 27, 1960 – December 25, 2015), better known by her pen names Acharya S and D. M. Murdock, was an American writer supporting the Christ myth theory that Jesus never existed as a historical person, but was rathe ...

(Dorothy Murdock) in ''The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold'' (1999) argues that Jesus and Christianity were created by members of various secret societies, mystery schools, and religions, that these people drew on numerous myths and rituals which existed previously, and that the church then constructed these ideas into Christianity by suppressing the originally intended understanding. In the 1930s British spiritualist Hannen Swaffer's home circle, following the teachings of the native-American spirit "Silver Birch", also claimed a Jesus-myth.

Church suppression of reincarnation conspiracy

Some New Age believers consider that Jesus taught reincarnation but the

Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...

suppressed it. Geddes MacGregor in ''Reincarnation in Christianity'' (1978) suggests that Origen's texts written in support of the belief in reincarnation somehow disappeared or were suppressed.

Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail

Some common

hypotheses A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

are that: *

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

was one of the

apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

of Jesus, possibly even the only disciple, but this was suppressed by the early Church. * 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. '' The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'', by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln (1982) is seen by many as the source of that plotline in '' The Da Vinci Code''.

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 ''The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ'' is a book written by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince and published in 1997 by Transworld Publishers Ltd in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. It proposes a fringe ...

'', Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince (1997) * ''

The Jesus Mysteries ''The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?'' is a 1999 book by British authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, which advances the argument that early Christianity originated as a Greco-Roman mystery cult and that Jesus was i ...

: 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) * ''History of the First Council of Nice: A World's Christian Convention, A.D. 325; With a Life of Constantine'', Dean Dudley (1880)

References

External links

''History of the First Council of Nicea: A World's Christian Convention, A.D. 325; With a Life of Constantine''
by Dean Dudley, via Internet Archive. {{Conspiracy theories Christian Bible Conspiracy theories