The Da Vinci Code

IN T R O D U C T I O N Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. In his quest to solve the enigmatic rid- Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code, dle, Langdon is stunned to discover that it leads released in 2003, with the movie to open May to a trail of clues hidden in the works of da 18, 2006 with Tom Hanks in the lead role, has Vinci, clues visible for all to see, and yet ingen- sold more than 30 million copies worldwide iously disguised by the painter. and has had a significant influence on the pop- Langdon joins forces with a gifted French ular imagination about Jesus and Christianity.1 cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns that the This is due in part to the sensationalist mix of late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, characters interwoven in the plot of Brown’s a secret society whose members included Sir novel. It is also a function of the way in which Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and da the book taps into “alternative” scholarship on Vinci, among others. The curator has sacrificed Jesus and the early church by the “Jesus his life to protect the Priory’s most sacred trust: Seminar” and other writers on Jesus, the location of a vastly important religious Gnosticism, and feminism. relic, hidden for centuries. The Da Vinci Code raises several important In a breathless race through Paris, London, questions that have a direct bearing on the and other European locations, the pair match nature and truthfulness of Christianity: Was wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears Jesus God? Was Jesus married? Are the to work for Opus Dei, a clandestine, Vatican- Gospels reliable? Is the Bible true? Did sanctioned Catholic sect believed to have long Christianity arise to suppress women, or, as plotted to seize the Priory’s secret. Unless Brown calls it, “the sacred feminine”? In this Langdon and Neveu can decipher the brief booklet, we will take a closer look at some labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory’s of the alleged “historical facts” in Brown’s secret—and a stunning historical truth—will be novel to see whether his claims, such as Jesus’ lost forever. marriage to Mary Magdalene, can be sustained As the inside cover teases, readers are treat- 2 by responsible historical research. ed to: For those who haven’t read the book (and • A mind-bending code hidden in the have no intention to see the movie) but who works of Leonardo da Vinci still want to be used by God to engage the var- • A desperate race through the cathedrals ious claims concerning the nature of and castles of Europe Christianity made by The Da Vinci Code, it will • An astonishing truth, concealed for be helpful to begin with a brief summary of the centuries, unveiled, at last plot of the work. This will be followed by a dis- A mind-bending code in the works of cussion of the book’s relevance and an assess- Leonardo da Vinci? A desperate race through ment of each of the six major claims set forth Europe? (Somehow this brings to mind the by Dan Brown’s novel, followed by an overall experience of American tourists “doing conclusion regarding the truthfulness of these Europe” in a week.) An astonishing truth, con- claims. cealed for centuries, unveiled at last? The code, Plot Summary the race, and the truth all center on the “revela- While in Paris on business, Harvard symbol- tion” that Jesus was married to Mary ogist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late- Magdalene, and that the two had a child, a night phone call. The elderly curator of the daughter named Sarah, eventually issuing in Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. the bloodline of the Merovingians, a French 2 3 royal dynasty. Astonishing, to be sure—but the Gospel of Thomas and other apoc- true? ryphal Gospels with the Gospels of Fact or Fiction? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The demonstrable inaccuracies in Brown’s For many, the immediate reaction may be to presentation of non-biblical data, therefore, do shrug off claims such as these by noting that, not inspire confidence in the quality of his transparently, The Da Vinci Code is merely a research when biblical information is at stake. novel, with obvious embellishments of the truth As will be seen, not only does Brown largely as are to be expected in this kind of genre. Why rely on secondary sources, the primary sources take these claims seriously and seek to refute he cites are late and unreliable documents that them on the basis of historical evidence, some in no way match the biblical records them- may argue, when it may be better simply to selves with regard to accuracy, authenticity, or enjoy the book, well-written as it is, for its credibility. entertainment value? Not only does Brown’s novel present a large- This, however, would be easier to do if Dan ly revisionist account of history, The Da Vinci Brown were not strenuously maintaining that Code essentially adopts a postmodern perspec- his book is not merely fiction but fact, which tive of reality. As Brown writes, “[H]istory is considerably raises the ante regarding his always written by the winners . the winner claims. In fact, page 1 of The Da Vinci Code writes the history books. As Napoleon once contains the astonishing assertion: “All descrip- said, ‘What is history, but a fable agreed tions of artwork, architecture, documents, and 5 secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” And upon?” In its cavalier approach to history, The the New York Daily News, cited on Dan Da Vinci Code is by no means alone. In fact, the Brown’s own website, says, “His research is novel is part of an increasing trend of blurring fact and fiction in which conventional genre impeccable.”3 Is it? categories are blurred if not entirely disregard- Amy Bernstein, in Secrets of the Da Vinci ed and where writers invent parts of their biog- Code, thinks not. She writes, “For while all the raphical or autobiographical accounts with plot inventions in The Da Vinci Code add up to impunity. a reckless joy ride through pseudo-history, Albert Mohler cites the example of Pulitzer those in possession of the actual facts will con- Prize-winning historian and biographer tinue to present him with some hefty speeding Edmund Morris and his 1999 biography of tickets. But Dan Brown already knows that the 6 revenues derived from his book sales will cer- Ronald Reagan, D u t c h . Morris openly acknowledges that it was his intention to cap- tainly pay for them.”4 ture Reagan’s essence by a mixture of historical As it turns out, even much of the non-biblical narrative, biographical interpretation, and fic- information in the book is demonstrably inac- tion. The publisher of the book, Random curate: House, even had the audacity to advertise the • There is no evidence for the encoding book as Morris telling the truth “in an altogeth- of symbols in Leonardo da Vinci’s er new way.” (This, incidentally, is not going to paintings. work for my children—making up a story about • The Priory of Sion is not a medieval why, say, they hit their brother or sister and then organization. claiming they are “telling the truth in a new • The Council of Nicea did not discuss way”!) the Christian canon, much less replace Another recent instance of this phenomenon 4 5 is James Frey’s bestselling book A Million Not that Brown did significant research in Little Pieces, a “book of the month” choice by the primary sources. In fact, little in The Da Oprah Winfrey. Even though in his book, Frey Vinci Code is original. As mentioned, Brown is “Bending the Truth in a Million Little Ways” draws extensively on a 1982 non-fiction book, (and some not so little ones), the publisher, Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Doubleday, chose to market the book as a mem- Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, whose oir rather than a novel.7 Frey, who exaggerates underlying documents have been proven a his predicament prior to his subsequent hoax. He also relies significantly on two books “redemption” to render the latter more impres- by Margaret Starbird, a lapsed Catholic and sive, justified his embellishments of the truth self-proclaimed heretic, The Goddess in the by asserting, cavalierly, that the “writer of a Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine and memoir is retailing a subjective story,” by The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary which he apparently means that events “retold” Magdalene and the Holy Grail. in an autobiography need not actually have Similar to the creator of the now-canceled taken place, even though, it may be pointed out, NBC series “The Book of Daniel,” who this has the deceptive effect of misleading one’s expressed dismay over the Christian outrage audience.8 concerning the blasphemous and off e n s i v e A third and final case in point is E. L. nature of his series, Brown professes surprise at Doctorow’s new novel The March, where the the negative reaction to his novel by many author freely concedes that, among other believers. Brown says his purpose is merely to things, he made up a condolence letter from raise questions to facilitate discussion. But the General Sherman to General Hardee after the book is not quite as neutral as Brown claims. latter, like Sherman, lost a son.9 Mr. Doctorow For example, he alleges that “the New claims that his books are rooted in history with- Testament is based on fabrications” (though out being weighed down by facts.

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