Imagine if they made the "Rushdie Code"

[Xiahou]

Your point about additions and deletions over the years may be apt. However, does this not then invalidate pretty much everything (on a host of subjects, not just the life of Joshua bar Joseph) in the Western canon prior to 1400? If so, what are we left with aside from modern archeological evidence?

It's too late, and Im too lazy to look all of this up again- but I think he's wrong anyway. Afaik, there are a few suspect words in the passage Don quoted, but I believe it's widely accepted by historians. There are passages on Jesus written by Josephus that some suspect were modified significantly- but I don't believe that was one of them.

The thing that really struck me as silly about the DaVinci code was that it contends Jesus was mortal, not divine. So, if that was true, he was just another man with some great ideas. Why the hell would a super-duper secret society go to so much trouble to protect and nurture the bloodline of someone who's no more special than you or I? If he wasnt divine, as the book contends, what's the signifigance?