The Da Vinci Code - Why Bother?

It's a best-selling novel.  It's been highlighted on TV.  It's a cell phone game, a video game, and is opening in theatres on May 19th.  It's everywhere.

But why bother with it?  One newspaper columnist (who shall remain nameless) puts the objection this way:

“The Da Vinci Code”: People are reacting to this novel, and the upcoming movie version, like it’s Armageddon — and I don’t mean the lousy movie with Bruce Willis. They actually take seriously the allegedly sacrilegious overtones of this story.

Here’s some facts, people, and I’m using caps to make this as easy to understand as possible:

“The Da Vinci Code” is a NOVEL. It is a work of FICTION, created by an AUTHOR using his IMAGINATION. “The Da Vinci Code” has as much to do with reality as “The Blair Witch Project” or “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

Why are you getting bent out of shape over this work of fantasy? Are your religious beliefs so fragile they’re threatened by a pulp writer’s story?

What can be offered in response? 

First of all, does it follow that a person's "religious beliefs [are] so fragile" because he or she is concerned about and responding to The Da Vinci Code phenomenon?  It doesn't seem to.  Most of the people I know are concerned about others who take the claims of the book seriously, not themselves.  As Christians, we want to see our Savior Jesus Christ properly represented, and this novel does the very opposite.  That some people might actually believe this stuff, then, for those reasons, is difficult to shake off.

But TDVC "is a NOVEL...a work of FICTION," right?  Is it that simple?

It turns out that there are reasons to think not.  Here are some of them:

• There is a "FACT" page at the beginning of the book which includes the following statement:

All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.

Among the documents discussed in the novel are the New Testament scriptures and various Gnostic texts (writings outside the NT and outside the Church Fathers, from the first few centuries).  So the claims made in the book by otherwise fictional characters are to be interpreted as "accurate".

• Dan Brown aggressively advocates the theories behind the story.  For example, take his appearance on the morning "news" show, Good Morning America.  Here's a partial transcript (edited for brevity):

Charlie Gibson: I suspect you cannot go anywhere without people saying to you, “Okay, how much of it’s true, how much of it’s not?”

Dan Brown: That is true, and that controversy is to be expected.  These are…heated topics, and passions run very high.  And the people who ask me how much is true…need to realize this theory about Mary Magdalene has been around for centuries.  It’s not my theory.  This has been presented really over the last two thousand years, and it has persisted.

Gibson: …This is a novel.  If you were writing it as a non-fiction book, how would it have been different?

Brown: I don’t think it would have.  I began the research for The Da Vinci Code as a skeptic.  I entirely expected, as I researched the book, to disprove this theory.  And after numerous trips to Europe, about two years of research, I really became a believer.  And it’s important to remember this is a novel about a theory that has been out there for a long time.

Gibson: …We showed it to a number of religious leaders…there were some Catholics which said, “Whoa—this is crackpot theory, a lot of it.”

Brown: Well, again, this is a theory that has been out there for quite a while.  When I first heard it I said, “This is a crackpot theory.”  I began researching it.  After two years I decided, this theory makes more sense to me than what I was taught as a child.

• Brown cites works as authorities in the book which are classified as non-fiction, e.g., Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

With the above in mind, it's simply a false choice to suggest that Brown's story is either FICTION or NON-FICTION, and that those are the only categories in play.  The fact is that Brown is positioning his book as historical fiction (or HISTORICAL FICTION, for those who like caps, like the opinion-writer above).  I don't know why this has been so difficult for people to grasp, but for some reason it has.

The Da Vinci Code is making a huge cultural impact through an ever-growing number of channels, as mentioned above.  At a popular level, the ideas in the novel will be getting much more exposure than those of the historic Christian faith.

Moreover, as hard as it may be to believe, it is affecting what people think about the church and about Jesus of Nazareth.  Anecdotes are flying about, but there's more.  Pollster George Barna comments:

Many Christians recognize that the book is a fictional tale and that its religious principles are not to be taken seriously. Conveying that point to the 80 million adults who consider themselves Christian but who do not crack the Bible may be more difficult than usual. After all, 53% of a national sample of adults who have read The DaVinci Code from cover to cover stated that the book had been helpful in their "personal spiritual growth and understanding."

Also, a survey was conducted in 2005 by National Geographic concluded that, of Canadians who had read the book, 1/3 of them believed the claims of Brown’s book—that “there are descendants of Jesus alive today and a secret society exists dedicated to keeping Jesus’ bloodline a secret.” 

“Dan Brown's thriller was such a phenomenal success because readers felt they were being let in on an explosive historical secret,” said Vanessa Case, Vice President of Programming, National Geographic Channel and Life Network.  “It is obvious that The Da Vinci Code has had a huge impact on Canadians and their beliefs.”

This is all quite tragic from the view of those who believe that Christianity is true, really true, capital-T True.  We desire to set the record straight, and to see Jesus recognized for who He truly is: God the Son who, in the words of the disciple John,

became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He is Immanuel--God with us.  We cannot permit a book which claims to be based on fact to so disparage the Son of God, the life which is "the light of men," and the only hope for our world.

HT to Da Vinci Hoax & Amy Wellborn's Open Book (and her Amazon blog) which provided some of the supporting evidence for this post.