Yes, I know. This book is almost a year old and dozens of critics have written about it since it has sold well over 17 million copies and been translated in 42 languages, and it’s not even in paperback yet! So why am I bothering to write about it? Because it’s ‘popular’ that’s why! Sometimes popular things are worth writing about and sometimes they aren’t. I decided that this was one popular item that I needed to investigate before deciding to write about it. I’ve seen so many people reading it lately in school, on the subway, in the library, everywhere! I had read through a few critical articles on the web [1] and decided that this book was not worth my time so I thought, “Just forget about it.” Then a friend of mine recommended it to me in order to understand the origins of religions. Well that did it. I could hardly argue against a book that I haven’t even read. So I bought it and read it and boy am I glad I did!

What is it about?

Basically, this story is about how Christianity has, since the fourth century, conspired to create a suppressive patriarchal society by stamping out and covering up the ‘true’ religion of the ’sacred feminine.’ This was done, according to Dan Brown, by fabricating gospels in the Bible to invent a ‘divine Jesus’ and destroy any ‘real evidence’ that Jesus was really only a normal human being who married Mary Magdeline, had a daughter, and moved to France where the royal bloodline of Jesus still lives today.

All of this conspiracy is uncovered in an adventure/mystery novel by the characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. Sophie’s Grandfather, Jacques Sauniere, is the Grand Master of a secret society called The Priory of Sion. He is the keeper of the knowledge of the secret hiding place of the ‘Holy Grail’ passed down through the centuries from one Grand Master to another including Leonardo Da Vinci. The Holy Grail in Brown’s novel is not the cup of Christ but rather all of the supposed suppressed documentation that proves how the church has been built on lies of a false gospel for political power. This ‘Holy Grail’ also includes the bodily remains of Mary Magdeline. When Jacques Sauniere is killed by a brainwashed albino monk who is also after the whereabouts of the grail, the adventure begins. Jacques Sauniere leaves behind a trail of clues and codes inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci for his grand-daughter and Robert Langdon to follow to uncover ‘the truth!’

So why is it so popular?

This book has something for everyone. There is action with car chases, car crashes, near misses, police shootouts, the works. There is also a budding romance between the two main characters. The story is fast paced and easy to read with the longest chapters being only four pages. Let’s not forget to mention that it’s also practically pre-written as a screen play complete with product placements (Disney animation, SmartCar, Smirnoff vodka, Nescafe instant coffee). There are rapid scene changes and cliff-hanger chapter endings to keep you going. As you are reading it you can picture everything that is happening and can’t wait to see what happens next. Along with the action and romance there is also suspense with the mysterious figure refered to as ‘the Teacher’ who is active behind the scenes and who’s identity is not uncovered until almost the end of the story. And of course, Dan Brown rightly reminds us twice in this story, “Everyone loves a conspiracy!” [2]

Sounds like great story doesn’t it? Well, not to Christians it doesn’t. Dan Brown has asserted at the beginning of his novel that the Priory of Sion is indeed a real secret organization founded in 1099. He also asserts that “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” With a list of very impressive acknowledgments that include “generous assistance” from the Louvre Museum, Project Gutenburg, Catholic World News, John Pike and the Federation of American Scientists, and many others, it’s easy to see why many readers would mistake this fiction novel for an accurate historical record compiled by recognized and credentialed historians.

If it is true that everything Dan Brown has ‘uncovered’ in this fiction story really is true, then the Christian church really is on it’s last legs. All someone has to do now is actually prove that all these ‘facts’ are really true and that will be that. Unfortunately Dan Brown forgot to add footnoted references to back up his assertion that these are indeed actual ‘facts.’ But after all, it is a fiction novel so Dan Brown doesn’t really have to back up his claim or prove his theory … does he?

With allegations of plagiarism, [3] as well as a misleading preface of ‘facts,’ Mr. Brown may very well have to prove himself in a court of law some day (if not in this life, then in the next!). If the allegations of plagiarism prove to be true, this would not be the first time a writer has stolen a fiction story from someone and used it to mislead the masses. There is very strong evidence to prove that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, also stole the manuscript for the Book of Mormon from a fiction writer and successfully passed it off as as ‘another Testament of Jesus Christ.’ [4]

This book also harkens back to the hoax of ‘Chariots of the Gods’ by Erich Von Daniken back in the early 70s [5]. Von Daniken proposed that we humans on earth have been visited by aliens for millions of years and we are indeed the product of alien genetic engineering. He used the same ‘research method’ to ‘prove’ this theory as Dan Brown has used to ‘prove’ his. That is, come up with an idea or ‘borrow’ one (like alien origins or Jesus married and moved to France), then collect a number of historical and archeological facts, add a few myths and legends, then add a few outright fabrications to fill in the holes, then string them all together with connections that can only come from ones imagination and presto! You’ve got a best seller on your hands!

With the success of the book, the story is now set to be turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Hanks (who else?) in the lead role as Robert Langdon, the Harvard professor seeking the Holy Grail. Obviously, this news is bad news for real scholars and historians as they recognize the book as ‘rubbish’ full of errors and not ‘facts’ as Dan Brown claims. [6]

Fictions and Facts

The following is a short list of the ‘FICTIONS’ in the book that Brown claims are ‘facts’ along with the real ‘FACTS’:

FICTION: After being forced underground by the Church, Mary was protected by the mysterious Priory of Sion.
FACT: Although Brown says there is evidence of the Priory of Sion’s existence in the French national library, it was actually a forgery planted there by the fraudster Pierre Plantard, who declared it a fake in 1967.

FICTION: St. Sulpice Church in Paris was once home to the Priory of Sion, a fact supported by the letters P and S inscribed on its windows.
FACT: The church’s Father Henri d’Antin has trashed the story, calling the book “odious and contradicted by historical fact.” The letters on the window stand for Saints Peter and Sulpice, he says.

FICTION: Opus Dei, the Catholic prelature with headquarters in New York, is portrayed as a sinister monastic organization - practically a training school for assassins.
FACT: Although they have been accused of being a fundamentalist sect, they devote themselves to spiritual matters and founder Josemarie Escriva was declared a saint by the Pope in 2002. Members are not monks.

FICTION: The Louvre museum in Paris has iron bars that can drop from the ceiling to trap burglars.
FACT: The Louvre has no such deterrents. Jaqueline Marquet, who runs its art shop, says: “This book is a fraud, full of esoteric fabrications.”

FICTION: In the book’s first chapter, a character journeys from the Ritz to the Louvre, traveling past the Opera House.
FACT: The Opera House is well out of sight of the character’s route. It is located well north of the route.

FICTION: From one spot near the Louvre you can see three other museums, The Musee d’Orsay, the Pompidou Centre and the Deu de Paume.
FACT: The museums cannot be seen from one spot, says Louvre tour guide Ellen McBreen.

FICTION: After burning members of the Knights Templar - the monastic military order formed to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land - Pope Clement V threw their ashes into the River Tiber.
FACT: The Tiber is in Rome. Pope Clement was based in Avignon and never visited Rome.

FICTION: The Dead Sea Scrolls were Christian records discovered in the 1950s.
FACT: The Scrolls were Jewish texts recording events at the time of Christ and were actually found in 1947.

FICTION: Jesus Christ never claimed to be divine and was never worshipped as a deity until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
FACT: Jesus is called God (theos) seven times in the New Testament. According to Mark’s Gospel, a priest asks Jesus if he is the Christ, to which he replies: “I am.”

FICTION: Jesus married Mary Magdeline.
FACT: The book asserts the wedding as fact “because Jesus was a Jew and the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried.” There is no evidence they married. Celibacy among the Jews was common in Jesus’ lifetime.

FICTION: Christianity copied the Pagans by making Sunday the day of worship.
FACT: Early Christians chose Sunday as it was the day Christ was resurrected.

FICTION: The five rings of the Olympics are a secret tribute to the goddess Aphrodite.
FACT: The rings were designed in 1913 to symbolize the first five Olympic Games.

FICTION: The Church is so anti-women that it burned five million of them during 300 years of witch-hunts.
FACT: A more accurate figure is between 50,000 and 200,000 people, says Dr. Brian A. Pavlac of King’s College, London. Most were hanged; about a quarter were men. Hunts were mostly led by non-religious courts.

FICTION: Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married at Westminster Abbey.
FACT: It was St. Paul’s Cathedral.

FICTION: The Rose Line was laid in Paris to mark zero degrees of longitude before a committee decided in 1888 that Greenwich should mark the Prime Meridian.
FACT: The Rose Line has never had anything to do with the meridian but was laid to aid astronomical research.

FICTION: Mary’s remains are buried in the Louvre in Paris.
FACT: According to accepted Christian tradition, they’re actually kept in two locations: St. Maximin’s Basilica near Marsielles, France, and a Turkish monastery.

Many more could be listed but suffice it to say that Dan Brown is no historian. He sure knew what he was doing when he wrote The Da Vinci Code though. He has come up with a story that has something for everyone, men, women, teens, history buffs, art lovers and mystery lovers. He released it at a time when America was entering a heated Presidential election year that was painted as a ‘holy war’ between the religious right and the ‘enlightened left.’ The Da Vinci Code is really a political and religious world view disguised as a fiction novel.

The Apologetic Response

I have to admit that even though I know that this book is a fiction story written and introduced to the public with a hidden agenda, and there are a few chapters that really got my back up, I must admit that I almost enjoyed it as an action/adventure/mystery story. I love all that ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Tomb Raider’ stuff. Any story that has some ancient mystery and treasure hunting going on is a real attraction for me. It’s obviously attractive to a lot of readers as this book is now being called “the best-selling adult fiction book ever!”

For readers like me who really enjoy a good mystery that questions the origins of the church along with conspiracy theories, full of action and suspense spiced up with a bit of romance, I’d recommend A Skeleton In God’s Closet by Paul L. Maier. Jonathan Weber is a Harvard professor looking forward to a sabbatical year on an archaeological dig in Israel. But a spectacular discovery - a skeleton almost 2,000 years old matching all known descriptions of Jesus’ crucifixion - will either shed light on the life of Jesus Christ or be the death rattle of the Christian faith.

Delving into the worlds of science, archeology, politics, and religion, this fast-paced thriller explores the tension between doubt and faith and one man’s determination to find the truth - no matter what the cost. [7] If you liked The Da Vinci Code, I guarantee you’ll love this one. The advantage to this book is that it was written by a real historian and not a fiction-historian-wannabe writer.

If you’re a reader who is still curious about the claims made in The Da Vinci Code and would like to further research it, I offer you this short list of books written by real historians and researchers for further study [8]:

Beyond Da Vinci
by Greg Jones

This book tackles the essential historical and theological errors at the heart of the novel The Da Vinci Code for people who want their questions answered in some depth.

Cracking Da Vinci’s Code: You’ve Read The Fiction Now Read the Facts
by James L. Garlow & Peter Jones

Are your friends—or you—wondering if Dan Brown’s best-selling thriller is really fiction? After all, it reads like irrefutable fact! Garlow and Jones confront the suspense novel’s heresy and false teaching with true and accurate Christian theology. They trace Brown’s misguided hypothesis back to its roots, revealing pagan influences in today’s culture—and the church! 256 pages, softcover from Cook.

The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code
by Carl E. Olson & Sandra Miesel

The runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, makes claims about Jesus and Mary that it says have been suppressed by the church for centuries; then tilts toward Gnosticism. Olson and Miesel separate fact from fiction in this convincing critique of the novel’s dubious assertions. 250 pages, softcover.

The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code: A Challenging Response to the Best-selling Novel
by Richard Abanes Hot on the heels of The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction, Cracking the Da Vinci Code, and Breaking the Da Vinci Code, this shorter take on the information behind the best-selling novel is thorough yet more succinct. Dealing with the claims of the book in light of the truth, Abanes (Fantasy and Your Family: Exploring The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Modern Magick) in many cases shows the actual truth that the book occludes with its fallacious assertions. Covering the main points of conflict, Abanes shows how the work of fiction misrepresents the Christian faith and Catholic religion, and in the process allays many questions the average reader may have.
�����

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everybody’s Asking
by Darrell L. Bock, Ph.D.

Many who have read the New York Times best-seller The Da Vinci Code have questions that arise from seven codes � expressed or implied � in Dan Brown�s book. In Breaking the Da Vinci Code, Darrell Bock, Ph.D., responds to the novelist�s claims using central ancient texts and answers the following questions:

* Who was Mary Magdalene?
* Was Jesus Married?
* Would Jesus Being Single be Un-Jewish?
* Do the So-Called Secret, Gnostic Gospels Help Us Understand Jesus?
* How Were the New Testament Gospels Assembled?
* Does Mary�s Honored Role as Apostle Match the Claims of the New School?
* What Is the Remaining Relevance of The da Vinci Code?

Darrell Bock�s research uncovers the origins of these codes by focusing on the 325 years immediately following the birth of Christ, for the claims of The Da Vinci Code rise or fall on the basis of things emerging from this period. Breaking the Da Vinci Code distinguishes fictitious entertainment from the historical elements of the Christian faith, and it is by identifying these differences that one can break the da Vinci code.

Truth & Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary and Constantine
by Bart D. Ehrman

A staggeringly popular work of fiction, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code has stood atop The New York Times Bestseller List for well over a year, with millions of copies in print. But this fast-paced mystery is unusual in that the author states up front that the historical information in the book is all factually accurate. But is this claim true?

Notes:
—————————–
1.) Not InDavincible

Decoding The Da Vinci Code

Answering The Best-selling Novel The Da Vinci Code

Ludicrous

Gnosticism and The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Hoax

Dismantling The Da Vinci Code

The Truth Behind “The Da Vinci Code”

The Da Vinci Code: Secret hidden truth?

The Da Vinci Code: Of Magdeline, Gnostics, the Godess and the Grail

Critique of The Da Vinci Code

Answers to the Da Vinci Code …

2.) Conspiracy theories

3.) Da Vinci Code bestseller is plagiarism, authors claim.

4.) Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?

5.) Crash go the Chariots

6.) The Da Vinci Codswallop

7.) A Skeleton In God’s Closet

8.) You can order these books and more by clicking here.

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