New B&H Book Sets Record Straight About Worldview Behind The DaVinci Code
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Photo Gallery: DaVinci Code |
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NASHVILLE, Tenn., 4/17/06 -- It’s only fiction.
That’s the final line of defense when Dan Brown, author of runaway bestseller The DaVinci Code, is confronted about shoddy research or challenged about his Gnostic beliefs, according to Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner, who have authored a new book to set the record straight about Brown’s postmodern worldview.
Broadman & Holman on May 1 will release The Gospel According to the DaVinci Code: The Truth Behind the Writings of Dan Brown. B&H is the publishing arm of LifeWay Christian Resources.
The book refutes the worldview behind The DaVinci Code, the best-selling hardcover adult novel of all time and soon to be major motion picture. In addition, Boa and Turner look at Dan Brown’s other books, most notably Angels and Demons, to form a clearer picture of the spiritual relativism that guides his writing.
| Audio Resources: Co-author Kenneth Boa answers questions relating to The Gospel According to the DaVinci Code. | |
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Q: How has The DaVinci Code challenged churches? A: (0:57) WindowsMedia streaming QuickTime streaming WindowsMedia download QuickTime download Q: Does The DaVinci Code have a neutral agenda? A: (0:31) Q: What is the ultimate focus of your book? A: (0:17)
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According to the B&H authors, Brown promotes a postmodern worldview akin to the age-old heresy of Gnosticism, which became the greatest doctrinal challenge to the church in the second century. While taking on many complex forms, Gnosticism is basically a philosophical approach to the gospel that promotes secret "knowledge" (gnosis in the Greek), resulting in a denial of both the full deity and humanity of Christ, among other false teachings. Paul, John, Peter and Jude all addressed the germ of Gnosticism in their New Testament writings.
And therein lies the rub, according to Boa and Turner. Dan Brown claims, on the first page of The DaVinci Code, that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." In other words, he insists that he has built a work of fiction on solid church history. But in fact, his scholarship is slipshod and his sources have long been proven spurious, charge Boa and Turner. Still, because the church today lacks doctrinal depth and often ignores its historical roots, many Christians have gullibly swallowed Brown’s alternative gospel.
For example, some of the "secrets" that the characters in The DaVinci Code claim to know include:
- Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and they had a child whose descendants may still be alive.
- This made Peter jealous, so he covered it all up after Jesus died.
- The early church engaged in a massive cover-up to conceal Jesus’ marriage and his humanity in order to put men, rather than women, in control.
- Jesus was not considered divine until centuries after his death when the Emperor Constantine suppressed the ancient documents that tell the real story and had the Council of Nicaea cobble together what we have today in the New Testament.
All of these "secrets" are in fact unbiblical falsehoods. "Saying that Dan Brown’s book is about Christianity is like saying Finding Nemo is about marine biology," write Boa and Turner. "We have just as much evidence to suggest that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene as we have that clown fish talk."
Boa and Turner warn that The DaVinci Code may do for orthodox Christianity what the movie Inherit the Wind did for the debate over religion and education - replace fact with fantasy. Inherit the Wind was a fictional account of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial and inaccurately cast evolutionists as reasonable men and women of science, while creationists were depicted as bumbling simpletons. Monkey Business: The True Story of the Scopes Trial, released last year by B&H, sets the record straight on that historic event.
"Dan Brown says that faith is a continuum and that he is a Christian - in his own way," write Boa and Turner. "But the views Dan Brown showcases through his characters’ discussions are irreconcilable with traditional, orthodox Christianity. We’re not terrified by Dan Brown or his ideas and we’re certainly not asking you to be either. However, ideas have consequences."
And saying his book is only fiction is no defense.
About Rob Phillips
Rob Phillips is director of LifeWay's corporate communications department. He joined LifeWay in 2002 after 21 years in speechwriting, news writing and media relations for Phillips Petroleum Company and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He also served 14 years as a bivocational Southern Baptist pastor. He and his wife, Nancy, have two children and live in Nashville. Rob can be contacted at rob.phillips@lifeway.com.
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