The DaVinci Code

Since I've brought up The DaVinci Code here are a few books that have been written to de-code The DaVinci Code.

Cracking Da Vinci's Code: You've Read The Fiction Now Read the Facts
By: James L. Garlow & Peter Jones

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everybody's Asking
By: Darrell L. Bock, Ph.D.

The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci
By: Ben Witherington III

Books the Church Suppressed: The Fiction and Truth in The Da Vinci Code
By: Michael Green

The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back: An Old Heresy for the New Age
By: Peter Jones

The Real History Behind the DaVinci Code
By: Sharan Newman

The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The DaVinci Code
By: Carl E. Olson & Sandra Miesel

Solving the DaVinci Code Mystery
By: Bradon Gilvin

The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction
By: Hank Hanegraaff & Paul L. Maier

The Da Vinci Deception: Credible Answers to the Questions Millions are Asking about Jesus, The Bible, and the Da Vinci Code
By: Erwin W. Lutzer

These books do document their research (unlike Brown) and show you where Brown got his ideas. I really like the book by Garlow and Jones. I used it for research for a couple of lessons I did on The DaVinci Code during a series of lessons on the development of the New Testament as Canon. I also consulted the book by Bock. I would read anything by Ben Witherington and Michael Green. The one really interesting book is The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back by Peter Jones. I bet that it will be a treat to compare the true gnostic doctrine to Brown's version of it. For those interested in seeing just how falacious Brown's novel is, any of these books will due. I hope these books will help any of you struggling with Brown's theory.

Crichton vs Brown

I'm going to attempt to compare two books today. One is Michael Crichton's book State of Fear and the other is Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. I know what you're thinking, "The two books have nothing in common. One is about environmentalism and the other about Christianity's second century developments." The two books seem only to have in common the fact that they are both novels. However, both books try to blend fiction with reality. They both claim that certain references to people, documents, organizations, and events within their respective books are accurate. The contrast then is not about the themes of their books but about the mind set of the two as fictional writers.

Dan Brown claims in the beginning of his book that certain references in his book (references to actual artwork, documents, secret organizations, and people) are accurate. However, he has spawned a whole cottage industry in the evangelical community to prove that his claim of accuracy is false.

Michael Crichton also claims that references he makes in his book are accurate. However, the difference is that Crichton gives actual footnotes so that the reader can check his facts and claim of accuracy. Crichton also ends his novel with a message stating his beliefs on global warming based on the research he has done. He then has two appendices one of which explains why it is bad to blend science and politics. The other appendix explains some of the web sites where world temperatures can be found. He ends with an annotated bibliography telling the reader briefly about the books and articles he read as research for his book. Crichton has done a superior job of blending fact with fiction. I believe this to be a crucial difference in the two authors.

Brown merely asserts that he is accurate, Crichton actually gives evidence that he is accurate. Here is a link to get you started on realizing that Dan Brown's novel is completely fictional http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2004/0200/0202.php The link is to an article by Craig Blomberg. Blomberg is a New Testament scholar and just briefly outlines some of the inaccuracies of Brown's novel. Among those inaccuracies are Jesus married to Mary Magdalene, 80 gospels in existence, Constantine deciding which Gospels to use for the New Testament. Jesus not being considered divine until Constantine, and that the Priory of Sion has preserved thousands of documents that prove Christianity is false. Blomberg also suggest some books to read that demonstrate Brown's inaccuracies in describing canonical and non-canonical documents.

I'm sure that some novels will try to influence readers to make decisions about political, religious, and social issues. A reader should be cautious and suspicious about any author's attempts at such influence. Brown and Crichton represent examples of an author trying to influence readers with a particular point of view. They also demonstrate which authors should be trusted with that influence.

Reading

I find it ironic that I was never much of a reader when I was growing up, but I choose a "profession" that requires vast amounts of reading. I have a library that grows faster than I can read. I also find it ironic that we have commercials with good looking celebrities (actors) who claim that if you read to your kids they will be readers. My Mom read to me, yet I did not become a reader until after I was married and started having kids. My wife read to our kids yet they did not develop her voracious appetite for reading.

I read in school because I had to and probably did not develop good reading skills. I did not read anything for pleasure. I started reading for pleasure in 1979 when my wife handed me a book and said, "I think you would enjoy this." The book was The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. It was HUGE! I think it was over 700 pages. I looked at her and thought, "She really doesn't know me that well." But she was right. I couldn't put the book down. In fact, one night I was close to the end and I stayed up until 2:00 AM to finish the book. A new direction in my life had begun.

In the first year of this new direction I read over 70 novels, including every Ludlum novel and all of Ludlum's novels are HUGE. I had fun going to the library and searching through the fictional section for new authors to read. I found Ed McBain, Lawrence Saunders, and a host of others to read. Lately I have enjoyed Clive Cussler's books. The books I enjoy the most are spy thrillers, police thrillers, and any kind of action oriented books.

I added another dimension to my fictional reading early in the mid 80s. One day on the Phil Donahue show (this was before he became known as an extreme liberal) he was interviewing a psycho-analyst about his new book, Me the Narssictic American. The book's premise was that no nation has ever survived success. The next book I remember reading that was non-fiction was Case Closed by Gerald Posner. His thesis was that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing president Kennedy and that the conspiracy theories that sold lots of books were wrong. It was as HUGE as Ludlum's books, yet I enjoyed reading it.

My reading has slowed down of late. I don't read novels quite as much as I did in that first year. I still don't have my Mom's appetite for reading nor my wife's. Both however have influenced me greatly in my reading. The current novel of my interest is State of Fear by Michael Crichton. I just finished reading Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. I will say a few things about the book and show what some churches are doing in response to it.

I hope to review in my blog some of the books I read. In the non-fictional category I am currently reading Working the Angles: the Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene Peterson. I really enjoy his books. I'm reading this for my study with a preaching buddy of mine. We meet one day a week and discuss the book. I'm also going to start reading Mapping Postmodernism: A Survey of Christian Options by Robert Greer. This one appears to be pretty heady stuff. I have a great interest in philosophical stuff. I hope to have some interesting things to say about both books.

Feeling Better

Definitely feeling better this Monday morning. Yesterday was good in spite of whatever it is that's ailing me. Got some special compliments on my sermons, especially the evening one. It still feels sort of funny (not ha ha funny, but strange funny) preaching for the congregation knowing that I will be leaving soon. And knowing that some don't get my preaching. God has humbled me in this and I will grow because of it.

My search for another congregation is slow. I'm not sure if that's because I'm not that aggressive or because we are too narrow in our target areas or because the churches we've contacted are just going slow. God is making sure we understand waiting on him and his time. I have to admit that I feel funny trying to push a church into making a quick decision about me. I guess I'm afraid that they will side on caution and say no. Only God knows where we will go and how we will do.

Got some new books this weekend. I go them from Wal-Mart online. One is on Postmodernism. One reason for choosing this particular book is that he talks about George Lindbeck, one of the authors of the post-liberal movement. I have always thought that Lindbeck was at least a little postmodern in his thinking and I believe this book will show that my belief was true. I'm sure I will have more to say on this later.

That's all for now. Time to get to work.

Back Home

We arrived home Friday afternoon around 5:30 PM. The trip was long (at least for those of us over 50, which included all four of us). We drove from Searcy, AR to Wytheville, VA. We spent the night at a Comfort Inn. They have wireless internet service for their rooms. I really like that. Then from Wytheville to home. Of course we stopped and had breakfast with our daughter (son-in-law was sick) and grandkids. What a joy!

I discovered the name of the song on CSI. It's called Mad World by Gary Jules. It is a cover song from a Tears For Fears album. I found the title on a forum dedicated to al the CSIs. I cannot imagine spending that much time on a forum talking back and forth about CSI. However, there are those who do.

This will be a short post. Don't feel well. Congestion, running nose, body aches, and such. Sounds like a NyQuil commercial.