Home > Today's Christian > Today's Culture > Film
Today's Christian, May/June 2006
Get Ready for The Da Vinci Code
The bestselling novel hits the big screen this summer—and lots of water-cooler discussions are sure to follow. Here are some pointers for talking to your friends about the confusing religious questions raised by the popular book.
By Lisa Ann Cockrel
|
|
| Credit: Simon Mein/©2006 Columbia Pictures |
What do Tom Hanks, Mary Magdalene, and the Mona Lisa all have in common? All three are coming to a theater near you on May 19th.
Tom, Mary, and Mona have prominent roles in what's projected to be the summer's biggest movie—The Da Vinci Code. Based on Dan Brown's bestselling book, the story follows Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious symbology, and Sophie Nevue, a cryptologist with the French equivalent of the FBI, as they piece together clues to solve a mysterious murder in the Louvre. But it's not long before they land in the middle of an unexpected quest—the search for the Holy Grail.
Over 40 million people have read the fast-paced thriller since its 2003 release. But the popularity of the book has concerned many Christians because the characters—in words and deeds—take aim at central doctrines of the faith and suggest that the church is rife with corruption. And despite the fact that the book is fiction, many readers think The Da Vinci Code is on to something. A poll by the National Geographic Channel in 2005 found that 32 percent of Canadians who've read the book believe that the theories outlined are true—particularly that Jesus had a child and his bloodline exists to this day.
Now Oscar-winning director Ron Howard is bringing the story to the big screen with a $125 million budget and an all-star cast that includes Hanks as Robert Langdon. It's expected to draw large crowds. "We live in a very visual society and if it was bad with people believing the book, I think it will be ten times as bad with people believing the movie," says Richard Abanes, religion journalist and author of The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code.
But rather than calling for boycotts, many Christians are recognizing that this is a golden opportunity to use a popular movie as a catalyst to talk to their friends and neighbors about Christ. "People are already asking questions about Jesus and Christianity from the book," continues Abanes, "and I think that's going to increase ten-fold as well after the movie. People are going to want to talk after seeing it." And this provides the Christian who has done a bit of homework with a marvelous opportunity to share the true story of Jesus with friends and neighbors.
Remember, there's no need to be defensive and combative in the face of The Da Vinci Code. Enjoy the book and the movie as entertainment and be prepared to discuss it with your acquaintances in a friendly manner. "We have to understand that, out of the gate, we're the ones who look wrong," says Abanes. "And it's our responsibility, as Christians, to learn and then provide the correct information. And to do it in a loving way, with the confidence that comes from knowing the facts are on our side."
With that in mind, scroll down for some "class notes" to help you prep for the movie's release.
Lisa Ann Cockrel is associate editor of Today's Christian Woman, and a regular contributor to ChristianityTodayMovies.com
|
|
| The Da Vinci Critique: Separating Fact from Fiction |
Fiction
Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. |
Fact
Biblical eyewitness accounts from those who spent significant time with Jesus never imply He was married. Many family members are mentioned, but no wife. And, unlike what The Da Vinci Code claims, none of the Gnostic gospels within the Nag Hammadi library contain any references to a marriage between Mary Magdalene and Jesus.
|
|
Fiction
Jesus had a child and His bloodline is alive and well today. |
Fact
Nowhere in Scripture does it say that Christ was married or had a child. And none of the "scores of historians" who have supposedly "chronicled in exhaustive detail" the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ are actually historians. |
|
Fiction
Mary Magdalene is at the table in The Last Supper. |
Fact
The person in question is John, seated to Jesus' right. He's portrayed as a beardless youth—soft, innocent, slightly feminine. But this doesn't mean he's a woman. This feminized ideal of male beauty was popular during the Italian Renaissance.
|
|
Fiction
Jesus' disciples didn't think He was divine. It wasn't until the Council of Nicea in 325 that the idea of Jesus' divinity was first invented. |
Fact
By the end of His earthly ministry Christ's divinity was already being acknowledged, as evidenced by Thomas' words to Jesus, "My Lord and my God," in John 20:28. The Christians referred to Jesus in terms that denote His divinity from the earliest days of the church. They did so not only in Scripture itself (which Dan Brown argues was doctored after Nicea), but in the earliest extra-canonical Christian book, the Didache, which scholars agree was written no later than the late 100s. |
|
Fiction
The sacred name for God has a pagan origin. According to Dan Brown, the Jewish Tetragrammaton YHWH is in fact derived from Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah. |
Fact
The only thing truly known about the origin of the Tetragrammaton is that the ancient Israelites used it in reference to God. We don't even know its original spelling, nor do we know how it should be pronounced. It might have been spelled "Yahweh," but this is uncertain because ancient written Hebrew had no indication of vowels. |
|
Fiction
The New Testament is a forgery. |
Fact
Brown suggests the Gnostic gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls are the original Christian texts. This claim, however, is contradicted by an overwhelming amount of scholarship by Christians and non-Christians. Most scholars believe that the New Testament was written during the first century and that the Gnostic texts were written no sooner than the second century. As for the Dead Sea Scrolls, they do not contain Christian writings of any kind. |
|
Fiction
Christianity lifted its ideas from pagan religions, particularly the cult of the pre-Christian god Mithras who was called the Son of God and the Light of the World. |
Fact
According to author Amy Welborn in De-coding Da Vinci, "Mithras was a god with many forms. By the centuries after Christ, his cult was primarily a mystery religion, popular among men, especially soldiers. Mithraic studies do not find any attribution of the titles 'Son of God' or 'Light of the World,' as Brown claims. There is also no mention of a death-resurrection motif in Mithraic mythology." |
|
Additional Resources
To learn more about the The Da Vinci Code check out these books:
|
Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine.
Click here for reprint information.
May/June 2006, Vol. 44, No. 3, 50
Browse More Today's Christian
Home | People of Faith | Stories of Hope | Today's Culture
Build Your Faith | Laughing Matters | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try Today's Christian Woman Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.
If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift
Order a gift subscription!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
