THE Curate at St Paul's Church in Woodford Bridge has said he cannot see "what all the fuss is about" surrounding the book The Da Vinci Code.

Dan Brown's novel has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and is currently at the centre of a legal battle between Mr Brown and the authors of the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail who claim plagiarism by Mr Brown. A film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen is to be released on May 19.

Since its publication The Da Vinci Code has been criticised by many observers and members of the Churchfor daring to suggest that maybe not everything in the New Testament is true and that Jesus may have in fact been married to Mary Magdalene with a child from that relationship.

But after reading notes written by the Rev Ian Monks in the monthly magazine of St Paul's Church, the Guardian contacted the curate to delve deeper into his views.

He said: "I think there are some people who have been offended by this but whether or not Jesus was married doesn't have a bearing on the fact that he is the son of God and the saviour of the world.

"This book has generated interest in Jesus. That has got to be good for people who are interested in Jesus and has maybe helped to make more people interested."

Rev Monks said the second point in the book which could give offence was that the Templar Knights, the group of knights who protected the pilgrims on their journey from Europe to Jerusalem in the 12th Century, found something in Jerusalem which might have made them extremely rich and that the church hadsuppressed this.

Rev Monks said: "All sorts of rumours and allegations have been levelled at the Templars, one of the reasons being that within a short time of their foundation they became an incredibly rich organisation.

"So it does seem likely to me that they found something, possibly treasure, during their excavations under the temple mount in Jerusalem."

The book also suggests that the bible was re-written by the Roman Emperor Constantine, and is therefore not the word of God but the word of man.

Rev Monks says he believes the bible was not re-written by the emperor but admits "it is a fact that not everything that was written about Jesus found a place in the New Testament".

He said: "Some writings were hidden, like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of Thomas, to keep them safe from destruction, either by the Church, which considered them heretical, or from looters.

"These two only came to light in 1947 and there is no telling what else remains to be discovered or what has been discovered and kept secret.

In my view, instead of carping about the book and the forthcoming film, it would be much better to channel the interest that has been created into trying to tell the story of Jesus in an exciting a way as Dan Brown wrote his tale."