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Cracking The Da Vinci Code
Copyright © 2004 Catholic Answers, Inc. All rights reserved.
1. The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?
What is The Da Vinci Code?
The Da Vinci Code is a novel. Its publisher, Doubleday, released it with
much fanfare in March 2003 and heavily promoted it. As a result, it debuted
at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has remained on it since,
selling millions of copies. The publisher claims that it is the bestselling
adult novel of all time within a one-year period.
So popular has The Da Vinci Code become that it has created a marketing boom
for books related to the novel, and it has become the subject of a major
motion picture scheduled to be released in 2005.
What is The Da Vinci Code About?
It is a thriller story involving secret societies, conspiracies, the
Catholic Church, and the fictional truth about Jesus Christ. Here is the
author's own summary:
A renowned Harvard symbologist is summoned to the Louvre Museum to examine a
series of cryptic symbols relating to Da Vinci's artwork. In decrypting the
code, he uncovers the key to one of the greatest mysteries of all time . . .
and he becomes a hunted man.1
During the course of the novel it is alleged that the Catholic Church is
perpetuating a major, centuries-long conspiracy to hide the truth about
Jesus Christ from the public, and it or its agents are willing to stop at
nothing, including murder, to do so.
What does Leonardo da Vinci have to do with the story?
Da Vinci is portrayed as a former head of the conspiracy guarding the
truth about Jesus Christ. In the novel he is said to have planted various
codes and secret symbols in his work, particularly in his painting of the
Last Supper. According to the novel, this painting depicts Jesus' alleged
wife, Mary Magdalene, next to him as a symbol of her prominence in his true
teaching. In reality, the figure that Dan Brown identifies as Mary Magdalene
is John the Evangelist, who traditionally has been regarded as the youngest
of the apostles and so is often pictured in medieval art without a beard.
Why should a Catholic be concerned about the novel?
Although a work of fiction, the book claims to be meticulously researched,
and it goes to great lengths to convey the impression that it is based on
fact. It even has a fact page at the front of the book underscoring the
claim of factuality for particular ideas within the book. As a result, many
readers-both Catholic and non-Catholic-are taking the book's ideas
seriously.
The problem is that many of the ideas that the book promotes are anything
but fact, and they go directly to the heart of the Catholic faith. For
example, the book promotes these ideas:
Jesus is not God; he was only a man.
Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
She is to be worshiped as a goddess.
Jesus got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter.
That daughter gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in
Europe today.
The Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor.
Jesus was viewed as a man and not as God until the fourth century, when he
was deified by the emperor Constantine.
The Gospels have been edited to support the claims of later Christians.
In the original Gospels, Mary Magdalene rather than Peter was directed to
establish the Church.
There is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships
Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive.
The Catholic Church is aware of all this and has been fighting for centuries
to keep it suppressed. It often has committed murder to do so.
The Catholic Church is willing to and often has assassinated the descendents
of Christ to keep his bloodline from growing.
Catholics should be concerned about the book because it not only
misrepresents their Church as a murderous institution but also implies that
the Christian faith itself is utterly false.
Should other Christians be concerned about the book?
Definitely. Only some of the offensive claims of The Da Vinci Code pertain
directly to the Catholic Church. The remainder strike at the Christian faith
itself. If the book's claims were true, then all forms of Christianity would
be false (except perhaps for Gnostic/feminist versions focusing on Mary
Magdalene instead of Jesus).
Who is the author of the book?
The author is Dan Brown. He is a former English teacher who has authored
three previous books. The first two, Digital Fortress and Deception Point,
were techno-thrillers. With his third novel, Angels Demons, he turned to
writing thrillers involving religion and the Vatican. The Da Vinci Code
continues in that vein, and it was popular enough to revive sales of the
previous books (which had lackluster performance) and pull them onto the
bestseller list.
Brown plans to use The Da Vinci Code as the springboard for a new series of
similar books using its hero, Robert Langdon, and which will be set in
Paris, London, and Washington D.C.2 In the
