The Admiral

I thought The Da Vinci Code a very poor effort. I have read Focault's Pendulum and Holy Blood, Holy Grail and as I remember both were far superior to The Da Vinci Code. But then, what do I know?

The Admiral

cognac

It's a work of popular fiction. I don't know why people criticize it, as if they're expecting literature or truth. Give me an f-ing break. Like griping about a baseball game 'cause it wasn't as good as Puccini. Take it for what it is.

When I read it, I thought it was a hoot. Sure, the characters are thinner than paper and the plot lacks any real coherence, but then I wasn't expecting that.

So give Dan Brown some credit. He's successful at what he does, which is giving people some quick escape and making lots of money. And I actually thought it was pretty cool that people are buying a novel where the main character is a scholar and the story centers around art and theology.

A friend, who's a conservative Christian, read it about the same time. He enjoyed it and didn't take it seriously either.

I personally don't see anything wrong with yoinking fiction out of any ahistorical ass.

Steven Avery

Yes, Bart did a surprisingly strong rebuff to the Da Vinci code stuff,
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/167/story_16783_1.html

He parleyed into the title of a book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...ternetinfidels
Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine

Here are some of the references from a more "Christian apologetic" viewpoint.
(Personally, I only got involved in the one Irenaeus post on the forum below.)

==========================

Ben Witherington III
The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Da Vinci (InterVarsity, 2004)
book preview
http://www.christianbookpreviews.com...sbn=083083267X

Discussion of the book ideas from his article at
Christianity Today, June 2004
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/006/7.26.html
Why the 'Lost Gospels' Lost Out... by Ben Witherington III

On the thread, post 19, I was defending Ben's representation of Irenaeus as referring to the Gospels
re: Irenaeus and the Four Gospels http://community.christianitytoday.c...0sE.0@.ee6b501

A related article on Beliefnet
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/145/story_14509_1.html
An Exercise in Pure Narcissism - Ben III Witherington III

==========================

http://www.spu.edu/symposia/wrightinfo.asp - N.T. Wright
“Decoding the Da Vinci Code: The Challenge of Historic Christianity to Post-Modern Fantasy�
http://www.christianpost.com/article...gination/1.htm
N.T. Wright Lectures on Combatting Evil, Da Vinci Code, and Imagination
http://advance.spu.edu/events/churchleaders/
Conspiracy theories and naïve incredulity abound in today’s culture. How does the Christian faith take us from fantasy to freedom and faithfulness? Upper Gwinn Commons

==========================
Some other books, short list at
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/d50aae.html

e.g Breaking the da Vinci Code, Darrell Bock, Ph.D.
Bock is 'Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary'

Two not on that list.

Brad F. Mellon, Bethel Seminary of the East
Jesus and Mary Magdalene: The Da Vinci Code as a Challenge to Truth
http://amywelborn.typepad.com/speaking/

De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code - Amy Welborn
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...ternetinfidels

==========================

Shalom,
Praxeas
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Messianic_Apologetic/

The Admiral

Artdude

I think you are missing the point. Those of us who criticize The Code are well aware that it is a work of fiction. We are merely expressing our opinion that it is a very poor work of fiction.

The Admiral

cognac

Admiral,

No, I think you missed my point. There are different kinds of fiction. This is just a silly novel. It's not literature. Take it for what it is. Like I said, if you go to a baseball game (a piece of popular culture), you're an idiot if you're expecting opera (a piece of high culture). The guy is not Eco, he's not trying to be Eco. A lot of people have enjoyed it. So what. You didn't. So what.

My criticism is of critical culture. People who criticize what other people try to create -- even if it's aimed at pop -- when they themselves never create anything, nor have the talent to do so.

--The Art Dude

The Admiral

Artdude

Okay, not really worth controversy.

Anyone

Was Holy Blood, Holy Grail really presented as non-fiction? It has been a long time since I read it and I don't have it in my library.

The Admiral

cognac

Admiral,

Agreed. Peace

The Art Dudd

NOGO

I like fiction which speculates on what we don't know but gets what we do know right! This book structout on the second part.

Why attribute Gospels of Jesus to the dead sea scrolls?
Why couldn't Dan Brown get this right? It isn't critical to the story in the book.

Why state that Constantine made Jesus a god while earlier Christians knew that he was a man? This too is not critical to the story in the book and is totally false.

And why make the Holy Blood and Holy Grail a scholarly book which it obviously isn't?

etc.

cognac

Thank you for stating what you like. It's much more honest than people who just say "it's crap." Crap based on what? Well, based on what you like. But they don't admit that. They think crap is some universal standard by which you measure all effort. Ok, if you are going to critique, have the honesty to state your expectations beforehand. I expected this, I got that. Therefore I didn't like it.

You answered your own questions. Because those issues are not critical to Dan Brown's story. He's entitled to make up anything he wants, even if it's historically wrong. It's his story. Historicity is completely irrelavant. He's spinning yarn however he wants. If you're expecting him to be historically accurate, you probably will be disappointed. But your expectations are not aligned to the author's purpose.

As to the notion above that Brown states in the beginning that elements are based on historical stuff. Don't you get it? That's part of the fiction. It sets up the ambience of the book -- "Every word in this book that I'm about to tell you is true. It happened exactly as I'm telling it." That's a really old trick in the storytellers bag.

[/RANT]

Amaleq13

The authors are clearly arguing that their claims are factual.