CRACKING THE DA VINCI CODE PHENOMENON

“It's perhaps worth noting

that one of the very few books

to sell more copies than The Da Vinci Code

in the past two years is the Bible.”

(Time Magazine April 18, 2005)


The release of the movie version of history’s most recent best seller has served to heighten controversy surrounding the claims put forward relating to the integrity of Christianity and the church.

Most of the Christian responses to the release of the book and the film build around fifteen (or so) different claims that are presented as historically founded and challenge basic tenets of orthodox Christianity.

The matter would never have reached to current heights of controversy were it not for the statement in the front of the book that claims the references to names, groups and activities are historically accurate. In other words author Dan Brown claims to be presenting factual history through the story of the novel. At that point he puts himself in a different place to other writers like Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlam and Frederick Forsyth.

I have copied an copyright free article by Dr. Ron Rhodes that provides what I believe is an excellent presentation dealing with the challenges themselves. Most of the challenges to basic Christianity can be quite easily refuted. Some can be so easily challenged that one wonders how any of the other claims could be respected by sheer association. It also seems amazing that anyone could take Dan Brown seriously when his references are so easily discredited. The answer lies only in the success of the novel as one of the best ever best sellers.

As Christians in a society that has largely turned its back on God (except for a notable mention or two in times of crisis) the phenomenon of the book and film should stir us to respond to the real issues, not the largely bogus claims of the book. Those issues have to do with the answer to questions like these:

When a book that like the Da Vinci Code is so clearly portraying lies as truth, why is it so popular? What are the 40 million people (plus) saying when they buy and read the book?


Here are my own conclusions.


1. Getting Some Dirt on a World Famous Person

People like to read dirt on famous people. If Dan Brown and his researcher wife dug up some dirt on Brian Medway and then wrote it into a novel, it might be novel but it wouldn’t sell books. No one wants to know dirt on Brian Medway. You have to choose a famous person. It is also true that no one really blinks an eye when someone turns up dirt on a famous person who is known to be “dirty.” What sells copy is if you can find a famous person who is known for being “clean” and find dirt on them. What if you could find some so-called dirt on history’s most influential figure? And what if that figure happened to be associated with righteousness, holiness and love? That would be the substance for selling copies of anything. Don’t put it in a magazine article. Write a novel and weave it into the unfolding of a fast paced murder mystery. In other words, the reason people buy a book like the Da Vinci Code is a testimony to the greatness of Jesus Christ. It’s a bit like the fact the way the name of Jesus is used as an expletive in many parts of the world. It is horrible that the pure and holy Son of God is joined to an expression of disgust and anger. But have you ever wondered why the name of Buddha or Mohammed is never used as an expletive? The reason is that their name has no power. Their name is just another name. The name of Jesus is like no other name. The enemy of God’s purpose on the earth wants desperately to sully the name of Jesus BECAUSE of its uniqueness and power.
In the same way, the writer of the Da Vinci Code has a winner. Put up a proposal that Jesus was less than his claim and try to legitimize that proposal by referencing some discredited historical documents and a lot of less than historical assumptions. Either way it is about Jesus and the Christian church. It’s going to be a marketers dream.

So when you have an opportunity to speak with someone about the Da Vinci phenomenon, make sure you applaud the way this phenomenon marks the uniqueness and powerful influence of the Person of Jesus Christ in history. Say you are shocked that Jesus should be associated with such flagrant fraud, but explain that the reason it sells books is because of who Jesus is. The person who has influenced the history of the world more than any other by a country mile.




2. Write a book that presents the humanistic claim that we are alone in the universe by means of a good story and an otherwise “good” human figure.

The hero of Brown’s novel is the unassuming but amazing Robert Langdon. Mr. Langdon is just in Paris for a conference. His Harvard specialty is “Symbolism.” He happens to be at the Louvre Museum looking at the Mona Lisa when a murder is discovered of which he becomes a suspect. He is the epitome of humanistic heroism. He is unassuming and intelligent with an amazing array of skills. Along with a cryptologist from the French police who believes in his innocence they follow a trail of discovery unfolding a plot implicating the Catholic Church in the major coverup of all time and some of its members in murder. It also uncovers a group of people called the Priory of Sion who are the so-called protectors of the secret of the Holy Grail: the fact that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were either married or had a son. This line is said to be the actual Holy Grail. Apparently all kinds of famous people have been part of this secret society and have carried on certain rituals of their own with an overall purpose of keeping this secret for revelation at an appropriate time. Langdon is the hero who is good and intelligent and clever who will save the world from the lie of Christian faith.
The fact that he does it without falling into bed with his co-hero and with all the sincerity of a genuine researcher make him all the more believable. So another hero has been added to the stable of humanisms attempt to present an alternative to goodness that has no reference to God. In this case that goodness is particularly helpful to the humanistic cause simply because he will expose the “great lie.” More than forty million people want to adhere to humanism. This is especially so in the west. They like the idea of Jesus being less than the traditional claims of Christian faith and especially of the church. Dirt on Jesus means that Jesus can no longer challenge their autonomy as he might otherwise have done. That makes it easier to lock God up in a convenient box and let him out at crisis times.

The question to ask people when the Da Vinci Code subject comes up is: “Does the idea that Jesus might not have been the Son of God make you feel more comfortable? If so why?”


3. The alternative idea puts forward sexual experience as a form of gaining deep spiritual insight

In a world that has elevated sexual pleasure to the realm of essential virtue, the Da Vinci Code plays well to its audience. In that same intellectually winsome way, Langdon and his associate witness the Code’s alternative world view. It is a world view represented by the Priory of Sion. They reference the high point of the Priory’s cultis when the gathered congregation of “believers” witness the main man and the main woman of the order engaging in sexual intercourse on some kind of high altar. That will definitely sell to a set of cultures bound in a covenant with many different forms of lust. It plays into the willing hands of that society to have some of their adopted sexual practices endorsed by the long list of famous people supposedly (but historically discredited) committed to the Priory. As we engage with people who find comfort in such an endorsement we are not faced with a genuine and sincere discussion as to the legitimacy of such practices, but a society without any values reference points. This is a much bigger issue.

The Question I would be asking someone who considers the Dan Brown invention to have some value is: where do you look for a set of values that will sustain long term loving relationship and a stable caring society? If you look to the Robert Langdon discovery you will only find the exaltation of self as the primary virtue.



4. People are willing to believe a lie because they have personal preferences vested in values and views that are false.

Anyone who thinks that to provide an argument against some claims about Christianity and the church will make a major impression on an average pagan moviegoer will be disappointed. Its good to have the arguments there, but you will find very few opportunities to use them well. Most people aren’t the least bit interested in them. Even if they are shown to be watertight. Rational argument is not the issue when sin is on the line. Sin is a spiritual issue not a rational one. It has to be countered with spiritual strategies, not rational ones. I know there are instances where it is helpful to reason things and I know the Bible tells us to be able to give a reason for the faith inside us. The “reason for our faith” may not only imply close philosophical argument requiring tertiary level understanding. We have to come to term with the fact that our commitment to engage people relative to the impact of the Da Vinci Code will need to be other than at an academic level. If people would rather live according to the day to day dictates of their emotions we have to meet them at that point and offer something better than an unconnected series of emotionally created personal prisons. If people would rather take the view that they are masters of their own destiny, we have to meet them at the point where their mastery seems to fail them. Jesus did this all the time. If you tally up the number of things Jesus attacked in order to establish the kingdom of God you will find religious institutionalism high on a very short list. He preferred to point people to the works of God and the God of those works. One of the reasons why we prefer to present a raft of well researched arguments is because it is much easier to do that. To follow people to their point of real need is much more time consuming and far harder to predict. Rarely do you find Jesus coming, presenting an argument and leaving. With Jesus the arguments came as a result of the ministry, not in place of it. We tend to offer no ministry but offer sound arguments. I need to add that I am not despising arguments or reasons.

I have and will have the list of claims and responses handy when I seek to engage people about the Da Vinci Code. What I expect to find is that arguments will be less helpful than ministry based on discerning real needs. When you set out to interact with people on the basis of the Da Vinci Code Phenomenon try looking beyond the claims of the book to the reasons why people want to believe those claims. Try asking them would they consult Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse or Homer Simpson to solve their day to day issues. If they would be unwilling to tie their future to the Simpson flagpole, then ask them why they would place value in a set of false claims in a best selling novel.



CONCLUSION In all of this it is helpful to remember that while Christians take a lot of issues seriously, many people (many, many) like being entertained by a good story. At best the Da Vinci Code is an entertaining novel that has a crack at some very foundational tenets of Christian faith. Many people will not ever be conscious of these attacks. To presume that they are may be a serious misjudgment. When we engage people we may well have to explain the attacks before we can give any refutations.