Notable Links: The Da Vinci Code

Remember how in January I read The Da Vinci Code and promised to tackle the controversies at a later date? Well, today's the later date. But I don't think I'll give the full low-down, others have done it much better than I could have done, so I'm just going to give you a list of notable links.

Catholic answers has an excellent FAQ titled Cracking the Code. A few questions relate to Catholic institutions such as the Opus Dei that Brown misrepresents, but it includes general questions as well, such as the divinity of Christ, the reliability of the Bible, whether Jesus was actually married to Mary Magdalene, etc. It also has general questions like `What is the Da Vinci Code about?' for those who haven't read the book and want to know what the hoo-ha is about this novel.

RBC Ministries have produced a free booklet titled The Da Vinci Code: Separating Fact From Fiction. You can download it from their site. It is very thin and good to give away. Also, Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ and Covenant Evangelical Free Church have jointly produced a colouful magazine titled Beneath that Smile. Check out The Da Vinci Code project website.

Josh McDowell, who wrote More than a Carpenter and Evidence that Demands a Verdict, also has a book out titled Da Vinci Quest. This book is written in the style of The Da Vinci Code, i.e. a story. I haven't read it myself -- it seems like they sell it in packs of 10, but it sounds interesting. I may do a review of it if I can get a hold of a copy.

The bottomline is that while The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is a great thriller, but don't go to it for any real facts because a lot of it is fabricated and wishy-washy. The "evidence" for the bloodline of Christ was made up by a Frenchman, Pierre Plantard, who was once jailed for fraud and actually admitted in court that he made the whole thing up. And the most telling thing? The bloodline of Christ and Mary Magdalene ended in himself!

Neither is there any real evidence that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This spurious claim comes from a sentence full of missing text in the Gospel of Philip:

“And the companion of the…Mary Magdalene…her more than…the disciples…kiss her…on her…”

Er, so we conclude from this that Jesus was married to Mary? Okaay..

In any case, I don't think I'll be watching the movie. The book was good enough for me.