The Da Vinci con

First the novel, then the movie; the Da Vinci phenomenon continues to grow and gross millions for its author.

It has all the ingredients that appeal to us. As Dan Brown himself writes, “Everybody loves a conspiracy theory”. We are fascinated by the alternative stories of famous people.

If you add to that mix the possibility that the ‘powers that be’ might be involved in a cover up, you have an explosive mix. But why bother with it; will it not come and go as every major new blockbuster does? Perhaps, but before that happens millions will have three assertions presented to them as fact: (1) Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child; (2) the four gospels were chosen from among many that existed in the fourth century because they presented a divine Jesus versus a human Jesus in the excluded works; and (3) the divinity of Jesus became orthodoxy by a close vote at the council of Nicaea in AD 325.

The key to the novel’s plot is that many in the church knew that Jesus was married and to protect his late emerging divinity they conspired not to let that become known, even to the point of murder. Now, as fiction, this makes an intriguing story, but what about as a historical skeleton that lays claim to being almost quasi-non-fiction? What does it offer us?

An alternative history

Numerous names, places and movements are mentioned within a fictional setting; so skilfully is this done that it is gives the impression that everything is factual.

The author often manipulates sources. Brown favours late and unreliable documents. He calls the Dead Sea Scrolls together with the Nag Hammadi texts, ‘the earliest Christian records’. Nag Hammadi writings date to the late second century AD at the earliest, a full 100 years later than the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish sectarian documents that precede Christianity, mostly by close to 200 years!

The book distorts the truth. Brown even distorts the late and unreliable Gnostic Gospels which he uses to support his case. References to Mary Magdalene in the ‘Gospel of Philip’ as Jesus’s companion he takes to mean ‘wife’. With those references implying a rivalry between Mary Magdalene and Peter, he proposes the theory according to which the early church, contrary to Jesus’s original plan, elevated Peter in order to suppress Mary Magdalene, heir apparent to Jesus. Brown also misrepresents the early church (which was a persecuted minority) as a vast and powerful institution, suppressing its opponents.

An alternative orthodoxy

The novel offers a whole new set of holy books, like ‘Thomas’ and the ‘Gospel of Mary’. But in fact our modern translations of the biblical gospels are not based on corrupted manuscripts, but on reliable copies of the original documents. They have strong evidence supporting their reliability, unlike the material on which Brown bases his argument.

The Da Vinci Code claims that at the Council of Nicaea the Emperor Constantine rejected the earthly Jesus and claimed him to be divine for the first time. Brown writes on Nicaea: ‘Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet, a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal!’ Brown is clearly wrong here. Belief in the full divinity of Jesus was present from the outset of the Christian faith, not just from the time of Constantine and Nicaea. The letters of Paul, written in the first century, show that the early Christians believed that Jesus was God. Christian literature from just after New Testament times also supports this. Ignatius of Antioch (who had died by about 107) wrote this of Jesus to the church at Ephesus: ‘Very Flesh, yet Spirit too; Uncreated, and yet born; God-and-Man in One agreed’ (Early Christian Writings, p.63).

Brown is also wrong about the four gospels downplaying the humanity and mortality of Jesus. This is an incredible claim: John declares emphatically that ‘the Word became flesh’ and Jesus in the gospels is born, grows, eats, sleeps, is in agony, weeps, and dies. The gospels actually seek to show Jesus was a man. Ironically it was the Gnostics, the authors of those other gospels that Brown favours, who denied the humanity of Jesus. This is basic Gnosticism; far from being wonderfully in favour of earthly existence, they were the ones who hated the flesh.

Brown also gives us a different gospel. The drama of the novel works on two levels. At the level of the plot, heroes track down the Holy Grail, outsmarting enemies and overcoming resistance from all quarters. At the level of the code, a deep sub-plot — the sacred feminine — emerges from the shadows of the past. It emerges as a challenge to the male-dominated institutional church.

According to Brown, Christianity’s real origins are to be traced to goddess-worshipping paganism. Pre-Christian, peace-loving ‘matriarchal paganism’ and the ‘sacred feminine’ will overcome violent ‘patriarchal Christianity’ and the faith of the power-hungry early church fathers. As Tom Wright writes, ‘Those who were thrown to the lions were not reading “Thomas” or Q or the “Gospel of Mary”. They were reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the rest, and being sustained thereby in a subversive mode of faith and life which, growing out of apocalyptic Judaism, posed a far greater threat to Roman Empire and pagan worldviews than Cynic philosophy or Gnostic spirituality ever could. Why would Caesar worry about people rearranging their private spiritualities?’

An alternative spirituality

Don’t doubt it: The Da Vinci Code is selling an alternative form of spirituality. It is part of a bigger move within society to rehabilitate ancient pagan beliefs and practices.

The problem with mankind is said to be ignorance, not sin. It is a feature of the Gnostic groups that they held a secret knowledge which is available only to initiates. And in this new spirituality it is those who are in the know who have the blessing.

The answer to this problem is inside us not outside. In this new spirituality I find ultimate meaning not by coming to Jesus and trusting in what he has done for me or in the care of the living God. Rather it is found in understanding who I am and seeking that reality inside me. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas says, ‘The kingdom is inside you, and outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will see that it is you who are the children of the living father ... If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.’

The goal is inclusion not exclusion. The Code is ultimately the unity of all faiths, founded on the worship of nature and the goddess. This global faith will embrace a new pope and a church that follows him into pagan unity and the blending of opposing religions and philosophies into one. This is what we call syncretism. This goal of global religious unity has an appeal to people of our time who suspect that religion is responsible for all the world’s troubles. The goddess promises to unite ecological freedom, economic justice, human rights, woman’s liberation, equality and harmony between the sexes, pan-sexual freedom, personal significance, global peace, religious unity, Utopian dreams, life on our own terms, and deep spirituality. The Da Vinci Code is not a piece of fiction that adds a few facts to give it the ring of truth; rather, it is a piece of propaganda for a religious worldview.

The authentic Jesus

In the gospel story of the resurrection morning, we see Mary Magdalene at her best and truest. Far from squashing her role it gives her a great honour. At a time when a woman’s testimony was not even countenanced in Roman or Jewish jurisprudence, it is she who sees the risen Jesus first. She sees him in a resurrection body and becomes one of the first eyewitnesses to a story to beat all stories. Her testimony gets included (by men) in the first records we have of the life of Jesus. The whole thing is rather embarrassing and is only recorded because it is true.

How should we understand The Da Vinci Code? People love conspiracy theories, and we must be careful not to create one of our own. But we do know humanity has an enemy — Satan. He hates both God and humans. From the beginning of our story he has been peddling lies about God and about meaning and reality, and people have believed every half-baked idea he has come up with.

Liam Goligher

© Evangelicals Now - July 2006
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