Cracking the Symbol Code : The Heretical Message within Church and Renaissance Art

London: Watkins Publishing, 2005. Soft cover. As New. 309 pages, illustrated, includes index and bibliography. The tail is lightly bumped, else an immaculate copy. "In this explorative work, the author gives the real history of Christianity, as revealed in the hidden symbols used by such heretical groups as the Knights Templar and the Freemasons to preserve true spiritual knowledge." CONTENTS: Section 1: In the beginning. The birth and development of sacred symbolism The legacy of ancient Egyptian gnosis Section 2. The Bible, Egyptian origins of Judaism and two conflicting views of Jesus The Bible and the Israelites Two conflicting accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Section 3. Early Christianity and the development of Christian symbolism. St Paul, the early history of the church and the foundations of Christian symbolism The consolidation of Christian Europe and the foundations of church symbolism The glory of the Gothic Section 4; The hidden streams come to the surface. Sacred geometry and 'La langue verte The hidden streams within the Church The outward reality of Chartres Cathedral The mystical interior of Chartres Cathedral The veneration of the Black Madonna The Grail, the Tarot trumps and the demise of the Templars The mystical symbolism within Rosslyn Chapel The continuing initiatory stream Heretical symbolism in Renaissance paintings The controversial craft of Freemasonry.