Hitler’s Pope – The Secret History of Pius XII   John Cornwell   ISBN 0-670-87620-8

Backed by a wealth of new research, Cornwell tells for the first time the history of the career of Eugenio Pacelli, the man who as Pius XII was Pope during the Second World War and arguably the most powerful churchman in modern history.  In the first decade of the last century, as a brilliant young Vatican lawyer, Pacelli helped shape an ideology of unprecedented papal power, during the 1920s he employed cunning and moral blackmail to impose that power in Germany.   In 1933 Hitler became his perfect negotiating partner and a concordat was established which granted religious and educational advantages to the Catholic Church in exchange for Catholic withdrawal from social and political action.   The ‘voluntary’ abdication of political Catholicism imposed from Rome facilitated the rise of Nazism.   By exploring the story of Pacelli’s early career, including his patent anti-Semitism, Cornwell makes a firm and final indictment of Pope Pius XII’s scandalous wartime silence and its consequences.   He concludes that in the latter half of John Paul II’s reign the policies of Pius XII have re-emerged to threaten schism in the Catholic Church.

Background reading for those interested in exploring the workings of one of Western Civilization’s most powerful institution – one that has held sway over so many hearts and minds.

The Perfect Heresy – The Life and Death of the Cathars Stephen O’Shea      ISBN 1-86197-350-0

The fascinating story of the Cathar movement in Southern France, from a revolutionary flowering to its hideous suppression by a crusade of Church and King.  A very well informed and highly readable account of one of the great religious and social crises of the Middle Ages, the book offers an intelligent analysis of the heresy and the conflicting theories surrounding it.

Wonderfully accessible history of the brutal suppression of the Cathar heresy in the French Langeudoc by the Roman Inquisition.  The Cathars had a different perspective of the life and times of Jesus – and the aftermath of the crucifixion – than did orthodox teaching.  But, then, orthodox teaching is only orthodox because it managed to silence the alternative perspectives.

The Brother of Jesus                Hershel Shanks & Ben Witherington III    ISBN 0-8264-7430-6

The discovery of a first century burial box with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” set the world of biblical archaeology abuzz.   Could this be the first tangible proof of Jesus’ existence?   The inscription on the burial box – or ossuary – is said to refer to Jesus of the Bible, his father Joseph and his brother James, the head of the Jerusalem Church.   The ossuary and its inscription are now regarded as authentic by top scholars in the field; they represent the first visual, tangible, scientific evidence of Jesus’ existence.   The implications are monumental for our understanding of Jesus, his family and the Jewish Christian movement during the formative years of Christianity.  The discovery has also rekindled an ancient debate over whether Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin throughout her life – a doctrine that still divides Catholics and Protestants.   Hershel Shanks, a central figure of biblical archaeology, recounts the story of the ossuary’s discovery and authentication.  Ben Witherington III, a leading New Testament scholar, shows how the discovery reveals surprising facts about a story people thought they knew: how Jesus was raised in a large, religiously conservative Jewish family; how his brothers and sisters were sceptical about his claims – until he died; how Jesus’ brother James went on to head the Jewish Christian movement in Jerusalem, becoming the leader Peter and Paul looked to for guidance and approval; how James brokered the major church controversy of the first century and wrote a book of the Bible; how he was martyred and soon written out of history by the Church of Rome.   The dramatic discovery of the ossuary allows us to become reacquainted with the towering historical figure the apostle Paul called a “pillar of the church”.

Detailed and well researched, this book explores Jesus’ legacy in the middle-East and how his teachings were carried on by his closest followers, led by his own brother, James, right up to the third century, when Roman orthodoxy, and political will, extinguished what would now be viewed as a heresy.   But, then, orthodox teaching is only orthodox because it managed to silence the alternative perspectives.

Jesus: The Evidence                            Ian Wilson                                 ISBN 0-75380-499-9

Just who was Jesus?  And what can one believe about him?  Was he really born of a virgin?  Could he genuinely heal the sick?  Did he truly ‘rise from the dead’ three days after his execution?  Was he or is he the ‘Son of God’?   The original edition of this book offered answers to these questions so dispassionate yet compelling that it became an instant bestseller.   But discoveries about Jesus did not stand still.  In 1986 a fishing boat in which he might have sailed was retrieved from the Sea of Galilee.  In 1990 the bones of his priestly arch-enemy Caiaphas were found in a Jerusalem tomb.   In 1995 scraps of the Matthew Gospel preserved at an Oxford college became recognised as probably the oldest in the world, written within little more than thirty years of Jesus’ lifetime.   Now Ian Wilson has incorporated these and many other new findings into this fully revised and beautifully illustrated new edition, which brings us closer than ever to the real Jesus and his times.

An orthodox examination of the background knowledge and history that lends a greater understanding to Jesus’ time.

Genesis Unveiled                                 Ian Lawton                                ISBN 1-85227-028-4

In a ground-breaking reappraisal of the most revered ancient texts and traditions from around the globe, Ian Lawton uncovers startling evidence that could change the way we think about our origins.   The texts point to a lost ‘golden race’ that walked the earth tens of thousands of years ago and who held a far more sophisticated worldview than we readily associate with early man.   There exists a universal mythology of fallen angels and sages bringing wisdom and civilisation to the earth.  Lawton has spent ten years analysing the foundations of this belief and has formulated an extraordinary hypothesis: that the evolution of the modern human race received its most supreme cultural impetus around 100,000 years ago – the time of the first ritual burials – when highly advanced souls first incarnated in human form.   These ‘angels’ taught their fellow humans that the soul lived on after death; that the physical world around them was not the only reality and that higher states of consciousness could be achieved by following a spiritual path.   However, the texts also reveal that this worldview became increasingly marginalised, replaced by a preoccupation with the material and physical world until, ultimately, the forgotten race perished in a worldwide catastrophe of 11,500 years ago – at the end of the last Ice Age.  With chapters on mythology, evolution, archaeology and science, Genesis Unveiled is a remarkable and scholarly work that bravely combines history, philosophy and theoretical physics to spectacular effect.   Enlightening and educational, this impressive analysis of how the world’s secular and religious belief systems have failed to properly interpret records of our extensive cultural prehistory attempts to provide credible answers to the most timeless and profound questions: where to we come from and why are we here?  Above all, it argues that the hidden history of our forebears has profound implications for the human race at the start of the twenty-first century.

Don’t let the title put you off – this book is essentially a compendium of extracts from some very ancient Eastern and native writings and spiritual traditions that goes some way towards proving that long ago, our ancestors had a far better understanding of awareness, life, peace and happiness than us so-called civilized people have.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception          Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh            ISBN 0-09-925703-3

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves 20 miles to the east of Jerusalem between 1947 band 1956.   Now the authors uncovers what has been called “the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century”: the story of how and why up to three-quarters of the eight hundred ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, hidden for some nineteen centuries, have, until very recently, remained concealed from the world.   Through interviews, historical analysis and a close study of both the published and unpublished material, the authors reveal the true cause of the bitter struggle between scholars.  These documents disclose nothing less than a new account of the origins of Christianity and an alternative and highly significant version of the New Testament.   This book is the sensational true story behind the religious scandal of the twentieth century.

An insight into the manner in which a large find of historically significant documents relating to the founding years of Christianity have been suppressed by the Roman Church for over half a century – if you’re into this kind of thing!

The Sion Revelation                             Lynn Picknett / Clive Prince        ISBN 0-316-73249-4

In their bestselling books Turin Shroud: In Whose Image and The Templar Revelation, which Dan Brown cites as an influence for The Da Vince Code, the authors unvcovered age-old conspiracies surround secret knowledge of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, much of which concentrated on the activities of the individuals and groups allegedly connected with the Priory of Sion.   Now they look more closes at this French-based organisation, the centre of much controversy, said to be the ancient protector of great religious and historical secrets.  Written in a similar style to The Stargate Conspiracy, where the authors argued that apparently bizarre belief systems actually hide real activity on behalf of intelligence agencies and of military and political movers and shakers, this book will reveal just how important the Priory of Sion really is – and why we should all care.

An investigative journalistic exploration of the hoax that is the Priory of Sion – who has been working in the background and why.  It’s always useful to hear more than one side of a story.

Bloodline of the Holy Grail               Laurence Gardner                      ISBN 1-86204-152-0

This extraordinary and controversial book begins where others have ended.   Gardner has been granted privileged access to European Sovereign and Nobel archives, along with favoured insight into Chivalric and Church repositories.   He proves for the first time that there is a royal heritage of the Messiah in the West and documents the systematic and continuing suppression of records tracing the descent if the sacred lineage by regimes down the centuries.   This unique book gives a detailed genealogical account of the authentic line of succession of the Blood Royal from the sons of Jesus and his brother James down to the present day.   It casts penetrating new light on the Bible story and onto the enigmatic figures of Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene and on the real truth behind the Arthurian legends and the Holy Grail.  

What might be termed “revisionist history” – the book is good background reading for those interested in exploring the way “the world has been pulled over our eyes” to quote “The Matrix” (see separate entry)

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail       Michael Baigent / Richard Leigh / Henry Lincoln

ISBN 0-09-968241-9

A vast number of people have become enthralled with the story of the 19^th century French priest who, in his mountain village in the Pyrenees discovered something which enabled him to amass a great fortune of millions of pounds.  The tale begins with buried treasure and involves secret societies, the Knights Templar and the Cathar heretics.  Now, after more than ten years of research, the authors publish the results of their enquiry into this enigma.  What really lies at the core of the discovery of Rennes-le-Chateau is not material riches but a secret – of controversial and explosive proportions which encompasses the whole of Western civilisation.  The secret is no mere historical curiosity – its repercussions stretch all the way to contemporary politics and the entire edifice of Christian faith.   The enigma extends to our own days, implicating such men as de Gaulle and Malraux.  It casts a new light on events such as the Crusades and the Renaissance.  Most startlingly, it pertains to the origins of Christianity and the identity of Jesus.

A book that spawned so many others, ultimately including “The daVinci Code” – “revisionist history” which explores the aftermath of the crucifixion up to modern times – but see “The Sion Revelation” (separate entry)