IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

[Doug Millison]

At 11:21 AM 6/24/97, andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk wrote:
>So, the quote comes from Constantine, presumably at his point of
>conversion. Wonder where Pynchon picked it up from.

The Constantine conversion story is discussed quite a bit in early
(Christian) Church history and writings -- another possible source for
Pynchon. I ran into it recently in a pop history treatment, "The Messianic
Legacy" by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, & Henry Lincoln. Baigent and
Leigh wrote an earlier book, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and produced some BBC
TV documentaries, I believe. (I apologize in advance if this has all been
discussed before on this list.) Since the late '70s, early '80s, they've
been following up the 20th century extension of an old Grail conspiracy
story -- that Jesus survived the cross, Mary Magdalene bore him children,
the bloodline continued through the Merovingian kings of France, down to
the present day. It all gets a bit hysterical at times, but remains an
interesting map to overlay on the history of the past 2,000 years.


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