Every couple of years an academic or pseudoacademic text is published which alleges to have discovered a new insight that will undermine the entire Christian faith. Some are attempts to reinvent Jesus while others are simply rehashing old theories and heresies. Whether subtle or preposterous these ‘discoveries’ inevitably lead some astray and unsettle the assurance of others. Mercifully these books generally have a small readership.
Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, is another story. On the New York Times bestseller list for about a year, this conspiracy thriller has sold millions and is being translated into over forty languages.
Certain to be given the Hollywood treatment, The Da Vinci Code capitalises on the marketability of reimagining Jesus by immersing its theories into a Ludlum-style novel.
And readers have been buying it. But the novel has significant detractors. Reviewers, particularly outside of the US, have panned it for its factual errors and clunking prose. Art experts and historians have been outraged by its various claims including those concerning Leonardo da Vinci. And Christians have been appalled at Dan Brown’s glib denial of Jesus’ messianic claims. Six books critiquing the novel are due to be published this year. So what’s all the fuss about? Why bother taking a work of fiction to task?
The Da Vinci Code has pretensions to scholarship and historical accuracy which blur the line between fact and invention. Before a word of the narrative is read, Dan Brown blends the genres. Under a bold heading, ‘fact’, he offers an explanation about Catholic organisation Opus Dei and the secret society, the Priory of Sion. He also insists that all “descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate”. It’s a blanket statement that seems to cover every bizarre claim made in the novel.
the story
When the esteemed curator of the Louvre, Jacques Saunière, is murdered in his museum, he leaves behind him a trail of cryptic clues. The police are baffled. His dying moments are spent not identifying his killer but attempting to pass on some peculiar and confidential information.
Enter Robert Langdon, the story’s dimpled-chin leading man – sorry, protagonist. A professor of symbology at Harvard University, Langdon is a less rugged version of Indiana Jones. As well as possessing a strong jaw and designer stubble, this forty-something lecturer is described as ‘Harrison Ford in Harris tweed’.
In Paris to address a large academic gathering, Langdon finds his qualifications of use in an unexpected context. Called into the crime scene he and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu begin to untangle Saunière’s riddles. But it’s not long before they are on the run from the police and a murderous albino monk. Can they unlock Saunière’s riddles and discover his ancient secret before it is lost forever? While the plot is preposterous, pure blockbuster fodder, The Da Vinci Code is an absorbing thriller. For those who enjoy this style of fiction the novel is a diverting read.
the conspiracy
Like many before them (including Indiana Jones) Langdon and Neveu are in pursuit of the Holy Grail. However according to The Da Vinci Code, the grail isn’t a drinking vessel but something far more controversial.
Through some erroneous evidence and dubious logic we are told that everything we have been taught about Jesus Christ has been a lie. Far from being a Nazarene builder (and the son of God), Brown’s version of Jesus was a wealthy religious leader with political ambitions. Married to Mary Magdalene, Jesus was executed while the pregnant Mary fled to France.
In the 2000 years following Christ’s death, the Church (always the Catholic Church) has sought to suppress the ‘truth’ about Jesus and Mary while the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion have preserved the documents ‘proving’ it.
Weaving all manner of esoteric and arcane information (most of it false or half-true) into the cliff-hanger tale, Dan Brown manufactures a bold and outlandish conspiracy. In this book, those who hold to orthodox beliefs about Christ are murderous, misogynistic or mad (or just plain dull) while the reasonable, intelligent and glamorous characters opt for the view that Jesus was a worthy but thoroughly mortal man.
Under the guise of erudition, Brown attempts to persuade his readers that what has been openly preached and believed for generations is really part of an elaborate conspiracy aimed at repressing women. Sadly, it’s a deception that has captured the minds of many of his readers.
Sarah Barnett
