Fiction not fact - Rated 
If you consider this book as fiction, you won't be wrong and it might be an enjoyable read. But -- Christian or not -- if you regard it as fact, you will have been duped by Mr B. By his own admission, he does not understand the languages of the documents he writes about. Worse, the document no longer exists, the guys who showed it do him are dead. What kind of academic proof is that? Mr B. is not an historian anyway and never uses proper application of research. And hey, it's the Church that kept this "knowledge" hidden. Not that old chestnut again... If this book is explosive, it is only because it consists of hot air mixed with lies. I had to give it one star because I can't give it zero!
Interesting but flawed - Rated 
This book was an interesting read, but hardly the "new evidence" exposing a cover up, as hyped by the cover blurb.
Essentially, the book is pure speculation and presents no evidence at all that Jesus actually survived the crucifiction. Baigent takes a pile of second hand facts and weaves them into his own theory of events, with little or no corroberation. The "Jesus Papers" of the title never appear, and so must be considered figments of a febrile imagination in the absence of hard copy.
Baigent attempts to be "scholarly" in presentation, but ultimately fails completely. This book will do no good to his reputation, and I certainly would not buy any of his works again.
Yawn..... - Rated
I found the first part of the book really interesting i.e. the part based on sound historical research. As soon as the book gets into Egyptian mysticism it slides into speculation and, more importantly, complete dreariness. I had been so engaged by the first part that I kept plugging away at the mysticism stuff in the hope that I would eventually find something to recapture my interest....unfortunately, nothing turned up. A real disappointment given how much fun I had reading The Holy Blood & The Holy Grail (back when it was first published!).
Interesting theory, but nothing new - Rated 
Interesting, but nothing new in this field, April 13, 2007
This book is essentially a look from a different angle of the author's original thesis expounded in his best seller "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." In that book, Jesus survived his crucifixion by being taken down early, and traveled with his wife Mary Magdalene to southern France. His subsequent issue was protected by the Knights Templar and other secret societies through the ages. A 30's male lives in Paris today who is a direct descendent of Jesus.
In this review, Michael Baigent spends considerable space examining the activities of the Catholic church in rigorously suppressing all competing variations of early Christianity. Clearly aggrieved by Catholic critics, he describes in great detail how that sect has diverged almost 180 degrees from Jesus' own teachings: recklessly killing nonbelievers in the name of Christ and demoting women to an inferior status.
In this work, Baigent has become transfixed by his latest theory; that Jesus visited, learned and preached an Egyptian form of mysticism having to do with leaving the body to visit the Kingdom of Heaven and returning to carry on good works on Earth. He explores various secret caverns and strings together hypothetical claims that link Egyptian mysticism with a few tantalizing phrases in the gospels and other ancient writings. Far too much exegesis is allowed on Egyptian mystery cults, and the work seems like two books strung together in just the way that HBHG seemed to be two books under one cover--the history of the Templars, and the escape of Jesus and Mary.
It is an interesting slant, but none of this is particularly new, and many others have tread this ground in one way or another. Baigent is too crafty for my taste in gliding over whether or not he believes that some of the secrets and secret states of these Ur-Christians are supernatural. Anyone who has spent this much effort (a lifetime) debunking the Jesus of Faith should at least confess whether or not he believes there is anything at all supernatural about the founder of Christianity. Otherwise, it seems as if he is holding open (without having to defend) the possibility of an altered state beyond that of Timothy Leary. Hmmmm. Maybe time for another book...
Well-written book, badly researched conspiracy theory - Rated
Baigent's book is yet another example of pseudo-scholarship at its finest. He pours through mountains of information to reach already-drawn conclusions that, frankly, aren't all that believable. The worst part of the book is the grand reveal of the evidence we've been waiting for after 200 pages: the "Jesus Papers." An unnamed businessman found them in his basement, and is keeping them presently in a secure location. Let's see: Baigent can't read Aramaic, so he has no idea what the papers say. Furthermore, in 150 years of excavation in Jerusalem, no professional archaeologist has ever found papyrus (or textiles), so this is an utterly unique anomaly. Two (deceased) archaeologists, one of them the famous Yigael Yadin, supposedly said that they were important. What Baigent either doesn't know or doesn't confess is that anything ancient with writing on it would be considered important by archaeologists! So, we just have to take his word for it. How can he state he has evidence when there's no evidence to examine? Given Baigent's sensational lack of historical objectivity, we can only conclude that there was none to begin with. He's either spinning a great yarn or he's been fooled himself.
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