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Cracking Da Vinci's code

Anti-virus

CRACKING DA VINCI'S CODE
By James L. Garlow & Peter Jones
Victor (Kingsway Communications)
252 pages. £8.45
ISBN 0 78144 165 X

In December's EN we ran a review of the recent best seller that has swept America and is now descending upon the UK -The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

There we tried to convey that, although possibly a gripping read and ostensibly a work of fiction, the barely hidden agenda is far from innocent (or even just racy!) fun. Brown clearly sets out to discredit and undermine orthodox Christianity in a deceptive and dishonest way. Among other things it perpetrates the idea that Jesus was married and that this was suppressed because the church is anti-female. How heartening then the emergence of Cracking Da Vinci's Code, co-authored by two men with impressive academic credentials, which systematically critiques Brown's thesis and the erroneous historical 'facts' he uses to support it.

Cracking Da Vinci's Code would be helpful to anyone who has been disturbed by the claims of Brown's book - and also to those who although not disturbed have been deceived by it into rejecting Christianity on historical grounds. It is unfortunate that these sorts of people are unlikely to read it! But if you have friends who fall into this camp -urge them to give this book a chance! Garlow and Jones do an impressive job, mounting a coherent attack against The Da Vinci Code into which they playfully weave their own fictional story.

They have obviously made an attempt to keep things lively and interesting and they succeed for the most part.

Overall the book is very readable and the authors are creative in the way they have presented their work. There is alarming information about the extent to which gnostic paganism animates the modern Westerner's spiritual quest. Garlow and Jones end with a reader's guide composed of questions to aid further thought, or possibly to be used in a discussion group, and the book is well annotated.

Alicia Felce