The Virgin Mary Conspiracy: The True Father of Christ and the Tomb of the Virgin

By Stefan Isaksson

The Virgin Mary Conspiracy: The True Father of Christ and the Tomb of the Virgin
Graham Phillips
Bear & Company
280 pages
ISBN: 1591430437

Ok, so I admit, I’d come up with a whole lot of preconceived ideas about this book way before I’d read the first page. Especially since the book has the word “conspiracy” in its title. I simply though this was going to another one of those books where the author has the most bizarre ideas possible and at the same time completely lacking in any sort of argumentation skill whatsoever. Quite frankly, I thought the book was going to suck. Hard.

But oh, the mysteries of life…

Because man, was I wrong. The Virgin Mary Conspiracy turned out to be a highly entertaining yet at the same time quite scholarly and well-written piece about the origins of Christianity and the fate of the Virgin Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus. As with most other books where the origins and history of Christianity is being questioned it’s a great help if the reader knows at least something about the history of religion, but Phillips writes in way that makes the reasoning comprehensible even for a reader with only the slightest of knowledge about these things.

And also, sometimes the book is actually quite exciting, especially when Phillips talks about his travels across the world, the people he meets, and places he visits.

Nowadays hardly a day goes by without the news on TV and in magazines mentioning at least something about Dan Brown and his world famous Code, so obviously the market is quite open for a well-written book such as The Virgin Mary Conspiracy, where some of Christianity’s dogmas are questioned and re-written.

If what Phillips says turns out to indeed be the truth, then much of our history needs to be re-written too, but if you don’t have any interest in religion and find Christianity to be a complete bore, then you might not appreciate this book very much.