As cinemas nationwide prepare for the screening of the Da Vinci Code, two groups from Macquarie University are bringing one of the world’s greatest experts on the controversial issues it raises to Sydney.

Dr NT (Tom) Wright, Member of the House of Lords and Bishop of Durham in the United Kingdom, is being brought to Sydney next week by Macquarie University's Society for the Study of Early Christianity in Ancient History Department and the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute.

The Da Vinci Code film starring Tom Hanks is due to be released in Australia by Sony Pictures on May 18 and Christian groups are keen to be prepared for the challenge it represents.

Dr Wright will be giving several public addresses and a one day workshop on topics including Decoding the Da Vinci Code, Hope in a Hopeless World and Does the World Have a Future? - the latter debating cosmologist Dr Paul Davies - from March 13 " 18.

Director of MCSI, Dr Gordon Preece, says Dr Wright "encourages people to take an honest historical look at the New Testament and the claims made for and against it'.

Dr Preece says it is vital to have open debate about The Da Vinci Code and the truth and falsity of Christianity before the movie is released in May.

“Further, this is the first and possibly only chance for Australians to see and hear one of the world’s most powerful and lively, albeit controversial, communicators of cutting-edge biblical scholarship,” he says.

“Not everyone who hears him will become an instant expert on all things Da Vinci or the New Testament, but they will leave with an increased understanding of the radical historical Jesus and the hope he offers an increasingly divided and hope-less world.”

Some of the topics Dr Wright will address in Sydney include: Who was the historical Jesus? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? Did he really rise from the dead? Was he divine or did the apostle Paul, the Church and 4th century emperor Constantine collude to make him so? Is there hope and a future for the world?

He is known as an encyclopaedic expert on ancient texts and an eloquent scholarly, popular and media communicator.

Scholars, Christians, Da Vinci Code fans and spiritual seekers are expected to take this opportunity to hear Tom Wright for the first time in person.

MCSI says church youth groups in particular have been eager to book tickets for their young people.

Dr Wright has managed to ruffle feathers over the years with his conclusions from years of working through primary sources and documents.

He is also understood to be the main author of The Windsor Report, currently the focus of key discussions on homosexuality and disunity in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

He is a strong advocate of the Making Poverty History campaign and critic of the Iraq War. He has recently written the widely regarded The Resurrection of the Son of God.

MCSI will be offering a new interdisciplinary university subject Decoding the Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown next August focused on discussing the issues raised in Dan Brown novels.

Details: visit The Macquarie Christian Studies Institute’s website or call 02 9850 6133.