The DaVinci Code – Part 1

“The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown: fact or fiction?

As a literary work it is fiction.

As a historical work it gross distortion of truth which looks the other way when facts contradict the thesis.

It greatly resembles another work, “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” by Michael Baigent, written in 1983. Time has allowed for that work to be totally discredited as representing facts.

Yet, ABC TV gave it a positive hour long review. Sony Pictures has bought the film rights to have it directed by Ron Howard. The book is a best seller.

The thesis of the book is that the religious world was dominated by women until Christianity distorted it and made it a male dominated fabrication.

The author writes in such a way as to represent his personal bias as historical fact. He cleverly does this by putting words in a character named Teabing who is depicted as being a reputable historian. The character is fictitious and so are his postulates.

If a person is truly interested in truth regarding the period in which the work is set and critical documents quoted a much better reading is “The Resurrection of the Son of God,” by N.T. Wright or “The Source of Christian Ethics,” by Servais Pinckaer. Neither of these works is easy reading because they are historical in nature.

Brown alleges Constantine hid certain truthful writings and manipulated the compiling of the Bible. He notes the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s that preserved many other gospels. Not! The Scrolls were found in 1947 and did not contain any gospels. They were from the Old Testament era. That shows poor research.

The bottom line is the work is fiction that incorporates many spurious accounts from pseudo-gospels old and new. Literary it is fiction. Historically it is a lie. Intellectually it is confusing.

A very good work on “The DaVinci Code” can be found on www.tektonics.org/davincicrude.htm under the title “A Review and Critique of the DaVinci Code” by J. P. Holding. Also Breaking The DaVinci Code www.christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2003/nov7.html is another good reference.