Apparently NBC is airing some lame-brained miniseries which attempts to retell some part of Church history. So strange -- it's not even Easter yet. I tell ya' -- no matter how dumb, there are people who will believe anything. I blame the public schools. ;0)

In any case, come give a listen to Carl Olsen and Sandra Miesel bust it up:

The Templars: The Mini-Series, The Myths, and the Truth | Sandra Miesel and Carl E. Olson | Ignatius Insight Podcast | January 25, 2009

Carl E. Olson, editor of Ignatius Insight, talks to Sandra Miesel, a medieval historian and co-author of The Da Vinc Hoax and Pied Piper of Atheism, about the NBC mini-series, "The Last Templar".

The mini-series, which airs Sunday, January 25th, and Monday, January 26th, is based on the 2005 novel, The Last Templar, written by Raymond Khoury. The novel was on The New York Times bestseller list for 22 months and sold over four million copies.

The novel is similar in many ways to The Da Vinci Code, including its use of the Templars, its reliance on the "Gnostic gospels," and its claim that ancient documents provide definitive proof that Jesus Christ was not divine. USA Today, for example, writes of the mini-series, "The last time you saw this template, it was called The Da Vinci Code."

The novel, according to its website, is "a thought-provoking exploration of religion in today's world, and of historic fact versus faith, particularly regarding the origins of the Catholic Church. Through the investigation into the Templars' history and their mysterious discovery, and though the interplay between Tess - the agnostic, scientific skeptic - and Reilly, who turned to the Church after his father shot himself when Reilly was just a boy, the book presents a spirited look at the early days of the Church and invites the reader to question matters which most of us take at face value."

Carl and Sandra examine some of historical claims of the novel and discuss the ongoing popularity of the Templar mythology.

Listen to mp3 audio file (25 minutes):



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