Reviews for The Da Vinci Code
Review - Da Vinci Code, The
Everything I heard about this book convinced me that I wouldn't like it. But I had to read it for a lesson I'm writing at work contrasting the Biblical view of Jesus Christ with the world's view.
Obviously, the heresy is infuriating. It doesn't even make sense. If Jesus wasn't God, then what difference does it make that he still has descendents living? They would just be humans too? And if Christianity is just borrowed legends from pagan religions, then what difference does it make that Jesus wanted Mary to take over his church?
OK, enough of that. Even if you can manage the heresy, it's a lousy story. Brown keeps making statements that make no sense, then basing huge parts of the story line on the statement — "Hey, look. This piece of paper has two sides. That symbolizes the union of the "sacred male and sacred female."
OK, he didn't use that one, but he did use several just as stupid. The author's concept of fact is bizarre. For him, a fact doesn't need proof. It just needs to have someone believe it's true. That makes it a fact.
And then there's the bit about a dying man with a bullet in his stomach and only 15 minutes to live being able to create a huge series of obscure clues and planting them all over a museum on the off chance that his granddaughter would find them and be able to follow them.
And all through the book we were told that he gave these clues to his granddaughter because he was the last person who knew the secret of the grail and he was afraid the knowledge would be lost. Then at the end of the book, the clues lead the granddaughter to her grandmother who also knows the secret. Why didn't he just give his granddaughter the directions to her grandmother's house?
And then there's all the silly ways the main characters kept escaping in totally implausible ways. Or how the French police captain was convinced Landon was a murderer for half the book, then suddenly without explanation was convinced he wasn't.
Stupid and dull. I think it's a sad statement of the condition of the American mind that this book is selling at all. And then to think that many people, including the author, takes this stuff seriously ...
Obviously, the heresy is infuriating. It doesn't even make sense. If Jesus wasn't God, then what difference does it make that he still has descendents living? They would just be humans too? And if Christianity is just borrowed legends from pagan religions, then what difference does it make that Jesus wanted Mary to take over his church?
OK, enough of that. Even if you can manage the heresy, it's a lousy story. Brown keeps making statements that make no sense, then basing huge parts of the story line on the statement — "Hey, look. This piece of paper has two sides. That symbolizes the union of the "sacred male and sacred female."
OK, he didn't use that one, but he did use several just as stupid. The author's concept of fact is bizarre. For him, a fact doesn't need proof. It just needs to have someone believe it's true. That makes it a fact.
And then there's the bit about a dying man with a bullet in his stomach and only 15 minutes to live being able to create a huge series of obscure clues and planting them all over a museum on the off chance that his granddaughter would find them and be able to follow them.
And all through the book we were told that he gave these clues to his granddaughter because he was the last person who knew the secret of the grail and he was afraid the knowledge would be lost. Then at the end of the book, the clues lead the granddaughter to her grandmother who also knows the secret. Why didn't he just give his granddaughter the directions to her grandmother's house?
And then there's all the silly ways the main characters kept escaping in totally implausible ways. Or how the French police captain was convinced Landon was a murderer for half the book, then suddenly without explanation was convinced he wasn't.
Stupid and dull. I think it's a sad statement of the condition of the American mind that this book is selling at all. And then to think that many people, including the author, takes this stuff seriously ...
Reviewed by Roger on 2004-07-07 13:37:46
Comment added by Roger:
For what it's worth ... Here's the rough, first draft of the lesson I wrote.The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, was published in 2003 and almost immediately flew to the top of the best-seller lists. It stayed there for much of 2004. This book masquerades as a simple adventure suspense novel. But a lot of people are taking it very seriously.
If you haven’t read it, here’s a brief review.
The curator of The Louvre art museum in Paris is found murdered. He left a series of clues intending to alert his granddaughter and a prominent symbologist (someone who studies the meaning of symbols) and send them on a search for important historical information that’s about to be lost. They are pursued by various agencies and organizations, each pursuing the same information for their own use.
The information they seek is this — That Jesus Christ was just a man who never claimed to be divine. He was married to Mary Magdalene with whom he had a daughter. It was Jesus’ intention to have Mary head the church when he died, but Peter usurped the authority and Mary and the child had to flee. The documents that “prove” this happened were suppressed by men wishing to reduce women to a secondary role. The Emperor Constantine orchestrated events to eliminate from the Bible the books that told the “truth” about Jesus, Mary and the proper role of women as the sacred feminine. Leonardo Da Vinci knew the truth and painted secret codes and hints into all his works to keep the story alive.
This could be dismissed as just another fiction novel except that Dan Brown, on his website, claims to believe this massive conspiracy theory is true. When asked what he thinks of scholars attempting to disprove The Da Vinci Code, he says, “These authors and I obviously disagree.” And incredibly, many readers are finding his arguments persuasive. Brown cleverly weaves facts (although for him, a fact is anything that somebody believes to be true) and fiction and mixes in a large dose of outright misstatements (or lies?).
Incredibly, after going to such lengths to disprove everything we know about Jesus Christ Brown answers the question about whether he’s a Christian like this:
“Yes. Interestingly, if you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as immutable historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the obvious — that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment. I consider myself a student of many religions.”
Brown also states (in the novel) “… every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith — acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.”
There are several books and articles available if you would like to read point-by-point where Brown’s theory falls apart.
But what is interesting is the way his book is being received. Why are so many people so ready to make decisions on their faith based on a work of fiction? Why are so many so ready to believe lies about Jesus Christ?
Other world views offer a smorgasbord of values served with toleration and individual determination of truth.
Jesus Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
If any or all of the other world views are correct, it’s every man for himself with no accountability.
If the Biblical world view is correct, there are absolutes and everyone person will someday stand before a Holy God and be judged for his or her actions and faith.
It’s not hard to understand why people want no absolutes and no accountability, but to base their faith on an easy-to-disprove work of fiction …?” It almost leads you to believe that deep down they really know the truth. They just don’t want it.