The book The Da Vinci Code was originally promoted as a work of historical fiction. That would have been one thing, but then Dan Brown changed his story and in interviews began claiming his book is a true history. Unfortunately, Brown’s “research” seems to consist solely of looking for references, however lame, which substantiate his conspiracy theory.
I had planned to read the book when it was fiction, but as soon as Brown started claiming it was fact, I determined not to buy it until it went to paperback – on sale! I just spent my $4.97 on the book last week at WalMart and laughed my way through the first half. I am no scholar, but I am a bit of a history and art buff, and even I can find countless holes in his book the size of large boulders.
Then I got to the second half, and I wasn’t laughing anymore. The book became so repugnant at that point and so tedious in pushing the “sacred feminine” vs. the “evil Christian” angle that it became laborious just to finish it.
Brown claims Jesus was a mortal, a good man but not divine, and that his “marriage” to Mary Magdalene produced offspring that survive today. He bases much of his “research” on some papers on the Priory of Sion that were supposedly “uncovered” in Paris (proven to be a hoax and the work of con man Pierre Plantard). Brown also points to the Coptic Gospels * and Dead Sea Scrolls which were not included in the Holy Bible for several reasons, none of which he documents. His main point is that Christianity is more or less a contrived religion that has “demonized” the worship of the “sacred feminine” so that men can be dominant, and this has produced all the ills of this world.
The book and reportedly the movie are full of unsubstantiated false claims including: Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife; they had a secret child; that Jesus bequeathed the church to Mary Magdalene; there were 80 gospel accounts of Christ’s life; the Roman emperor Constantine gave us the New Testament; and the divinity of Jesus and much of the New Testament are inventions of fourth-century church leaders at the Council of Nicea.
Yawn. I will be so glad when it is not PC to demonize Christianity. This stuff grows tiresome. Where Brown sees an M in Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” I see a reclining K. Perhaps that is Da Vinci’s secret message to me not to waste my time seeing the movie and to take a nap instead.
* Scientists at The University of Arizona’s NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Laboratory radiocarbon dated these samples of the Coptic manuscript at between A.D. 220 and A.D. 340. uanews.org
Note: The Da Vinci Code has spawned a host of books that explore and debunk the mythology and conspiracy theory of Dan Brown. Those books are probably well worth the money you would have wasted on tickets and popcorn to see the movie.
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