The Tomb of God

The Tomb of God is a 1996 speculative non-fiction book by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger, which charted as a number one bestseller. It claimed that the body of Jesus Christ was reburied in the 12th century on Pech-le-Cardou (Mount Cardou)^[1] in Rennes-le-Château. They arrived at this idea through tracing map references within the parchments described in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail.^[2] However, the authors do not succeed in locating the tomb or evidence relating to it on the mountain itself.

The book became the focus of a BBC 2 documentary "The History of a Mystery" shown in September 1996, in which the authors faced difficult questions over their methods and assumptions.^[3] The theory is not taken seriously by academic scholars.^[4]

References

^ L'Événement du jeudi - 1998 698-704 p94 "... par les Templiers et enseveli dans le plus grand secret sur le mont Car- dou (mont du Corps de Dieu, en occitan). ... anglais, Paul Schellenberg et Richard Andrews, veulent fouiller le mont Cardou pour découvrir le vrai Saint-Sépulcre."
^ The Tomb of God, pages 423-424: "There can be no doubt that a secret location has been identified which logic and sheer weight of evidence has led us to believe is a place of concealment for an object of extraordinary value. More than three years of exhaustive research has enabled us to reach the conclusion that the 'treasure of Rennes' is not of intrinsic worth — it is not the legendary treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem, coins or ancient jewellery." In the 'Afterword' to their book, the authors state on page 427: "We had come to the conclusion that Mount Cardou is the last resting-place of the remains of Jesus Christ, God on earth; it is, in fact, the Tomb of God."
^ Lynne Truss, Demolishing an absolutely fabulous theory (The Times, 18 September 1996)
^ Daniel Clark Dead Or Alive- 2007 - - p105 "In The Tomb of God,1 Paul Schellenberger and Richard Andrews proposed a conspiracy theory to beat them all. They suggested that Jesus' bones were removed in the twelfth century and now lie buried in south-western France, under tons of ..."

Bibliography

Richard Andrews, Paul Schellenberger, The Tomb of God: The Body of Jesus and The Solution To A 2000-year-old Mystery (London: Little, Brown, 1996 ISBN 0-316-87997-5).

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[1] L'Événement du jeudi - 1998 698-704 p94 "... par les Templiers et enseveli dans le plus grand secret sur le mont Car- dou (mont du Corps de Dieu, en occitan). ... anglais, Paul Schellenberg et Richard Andrews, veulent fouiller le mont Cardou pour découvrir le vrai Saint-Sépulcre."

[2] The Tomb of God, pages 423-424: "There can be no doubt that a secret location has been identified which logic and sheer weight of evidence has led us to believe is a place of concealment for an object of extraordinary value. More than three years of exhaustive research has enabled us to reach the conclusion that the 'treasure of Rennes' is not of intrinsic worth — it is not the legendary treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem, coins or ancient jewellery." In the 'Afterword' to their book, the authors state on page 427: "We had come to the conclusion that Mount Cardou is the last resting-place of the remains of Jesus Christ, God on earth; it is, in fact, the Tomb of God."

[3] Lynne Truss, Demolishing an absolutely fabulous theory (The Times, 18 September 1996)

[4] Daniel Clark Dead Or Alive- 2007 - - p105 "In The Tomb of God,1 Paul Schellenberger and Richard Andrews proposed a conspiracy theory to beat them all. They suggested that Jesus' bones were removed in the twelfth century and now lie buried in south-western France, under tons of ..."

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