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Some Notes on the Da Vinci Code 2 Jose Eugenio Borao Some notes on The Da Vinci Code April- May 2006 SOME NOTES ON THE DA VINCI CODE 2 1. The fabrication of The Da Vinci Code Meanwhile, he also tried to get rid of all of A novel packed with many misleading experts Jesus’ progeny. He was successful in the former, but not in the latter, as some of It seems that the main intent of Dan Brown’s Jesus’ descendants fled to France and, best seller is to come up with an appealing centuries after, even occupied the French and seemingly credible account about “the throne during the Merovingian dynasty. real Jesus” that, in reality, only sows perplexity and suspicion in the minds of The Middle Age readers—Catholics in particular—as regards The history of the descendants during the a possible conspiracy in the Catholic Church Middle and the Modern Ages can be to hide a truth that would destroy the very summarized in their efforts to survive the foundations of its existence. Church’s constant persecution. For if this The times of Jesus truth were to come to light, then the Church’s authority would be demolished. In short, the novel’s linear narrative Thus the Church had successfully approach deals with Jesus Christ, a sage manipulated the Carolingian kings to exile who put forward devotion to “the lost sacred the Merovingians, which led them to form a feminine” and wished to reestablish it secret society called the Priory of Sion through his supposed wife, Mary Magdalene. whose aim was to protect the survivors of Thus, Jesus Christ was not the God he Jesus’ lineage and their secret. The Knights claimed himself to be but a man who, in Templar that had connections with the Priory order to give back to the world the “sacred were persecuted and killed. Some of feminine”, wanted to found a church that history’s great artistic and literary figures would restore this form worship; which was were clandestine Masters of the Priory but why he entrusted it to Mary, and not to Peter, only one, Leonardo Da Vinci, left clues to the as is commonly believed. If this story has not secret in his works. The Church carried on reached us until now, it is because, early on with its efforts to suppress the “sacred in the 4th century, or 300 years after Christ’s feminine” by spearheading, for instance, death, Emperor Constantine, the first Europe’s notorious and widespread Roman emperor to support and protect the witch-hunts, where millions of women were Church, abolished the “sacred feminine” persecuted. Nonetheless, Jesus’ lineage, from Christianity, denied Jesus’ humanity, the true Holy Grail, continued to live on in and decreed that Christ was God. To families, like the Plantards and the permanently establish this decree, Saint-Clairs. Constantine first manipulated the Council of Nicea (325 AD) wherein a patriarchal, The present time authoritarian, and anti-feminist ideology was Brown’s novel then moves on to the third imposed after a contentious voting process. period, which is set in present times. The Next, the Emperor chose as “canonical” four Priory has finally decided to reveal the gospels among the existing ones that were secret to the world through the Great Master considered “safe” and suppressed those Jacques Saunière, curator of the Louvre that contained any references to the Museum and an expert in goddesses and marriage of Jesus and the Magdalene. 3 SOME NOTES ON THE DA VINCI CODE the sacred feminine. Saunière is found grandfather was the Great Master of the dead—probably assassinated. However, Priory of Sion and that she is last in the line before he died, Saunière left a series of of Jesus’ descendants, and that Mary mysterious codes that he drew on the floor Magdalene’s tomb lies beneath the entrance with his blood. His niece, Sophie Neveu, a of Louvre’s crystal pyramid, which was a cryptologist who works for the Paris police, project of the esoteric, Mason, and former steps into the picture. Saunière had given French President Francois Mitterrand, The her an urgent call before he died because he novel closes with Langdon returning to the wanted to tell her something important about Louvre. He reverently kneels as he listens to their family. The primary murder suspect is a woman’s voice transmit to him the Wisdom Robert Langdon, a professor of religious of the Times. symbolism in Harvard who happened to be Fiction and reality in the scene of the crime. Sophie, however, believes that Langdon is innocent and helps The Da Vinci Code is certainly a work of him escape. She, with the help of Langdon fiction and so one cannot expect to draw any and the scholar Sir Leigh Teabing, amid historical truth from it. However, the author surrounding crimes and persecutions, confuses his readers in the section entitled immerses herself in studying goddess “The Facts” wherein he states, “All worship, leading her to decode Leonardo’s descriptions of artwork, architecture, paintings. Teabing also explains to her that documents, and secret rituals in this novel Constantine built the Vatican as a new are accurate.” In other words, he tries to power base. expound on historical concepts within the context of a fiction novel. Thus, as far as the In the meantime, the reader is led to critical reviews are concerned, the novel is believe that the Catholic organization Opus superficially written. Objectively speaking, Dei, which is ridden with juridical problems, Brown tends to make many claims without is behind the murders. Moreover, a any solid basis and commits numerous “progressive Pope” is thinking of breaking factual errors and inaccuracies. Here comes Church ties with Opus Dei. This moves the a short list: (1) Christian writings from the Opus Dei prelate to accept the offer of a first century already state that Jesus is God. mysterious Master to buy for a huge sum the For instance, the Muratori Canon (190 AD) proofs of the existence of the Priory. The already says that there were only four Prelate could then use these proofs to canonical gospels and excludes almost all of blackmail the Holy See. The said Master is the Gnostic gospels; (2) there was no form actually a wealthy English and anti-Catholic of contention or controversy in the Council of professor who wants to reveal the Priory’s Nicea and only two of the 300 participating secret to the world. In fact, he chides the bishops cast dissenting votes; (3) the Priory for keeping silent out of fear of the Vatican did not become the Pope’s official Church and even hires an Opus Dei monk to residence until the 14th century; (4) the carry out the above-mentioned crimes. Priory of Sion did not exist in the Middle The novel inevitably winds up with a Ages: it was a neo-chivalric organization that romance between Sophie and Langdon, was founded in Paris in 1956 by the French Sophie’s discovery that her Saunière esoteric Pierre Plantard; (5) many supposed SOME NOTES ON THE DA VINCI CODE 4 witches, indeed and unfortunately, were of special knowledge. Time and again burned at the stake in 17th-century Europe; gnosticism shows up alongside ways of but the figures did not reach millions at all thinking that are in vogue at the moment and, and not all who were killed were women. due to its extremely eclectic quality, it is What’s more, it was the Protestant countries difficult to render a precise definition of it. that registered the largest numbers of such Claims to possessing esoteric knowledge deaths; (6) Harvard University offers no usually emerge in periods of crisis, usually course on religious symbolism; (7) Opus Dei with the promise of acquiring a better has no monks in the organization. The list understanding of reality, of enlightenment can go on and on. that transcends current realities and, consequently, of a presumedly higher level Estrange success of wisdom that would lead one to consider A final question: How could such a novel sell himself untrammeled by the norms of millions of copies? It’s difficult to say but we established authority. It is this gnostic may consider the fact that, three years foundation that’s behind the huge success of earlier, Dan Brown published Angels and the novel The Da Vinci Code. Demons, a novel of a similar vein and even Modern gnosticsm with a character like Langdon. It was a flop. What made the difference between the two? Nowadays, gnosticism is seen in such On one hand, Brown toned down his movements as the New Age and in other anti-Catholic stance in Da Vinci to gain more forms of occult, neo-pagan, and radical credibility; on the other hand, he threw in a feminist groups. The first signs of gnosticism mix of the forgotten world of the Gnostics, may be traced to some concepts of Plato’s radical feminism, and occultism to give a philosophy, Irani theology, and Judaic new and provocative image of Jesus that tradition, before and after Christianity came gels very well with the New Age trend that is to be. Small wonder that in the second, third, very much in vogue in the USA and and fourth centuries AD, gnosticism should throughout the world, being introduced by also penetrate primitive Christianity with the teachers with an air of “Oxford-Harvard intention of explaining the figure of Jesus snobbishness”; in other words, a Christ in a manner different from the four “harrypotter” for adults. Lastly, the author biographies whose authors, incidentally, capitalizes on the poor religious instruction took pains to compose in the first century of many Christians to bring them to take and who either had personally known Jesus seriously a cleverly spun tale that passes off or met the first Apostles.
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