A Popular Myth?
Reflections on Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code"
Dave Crofts, 15th January 2005
Fact: Dan Brown's fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, has sold over 17 million copies worldwide and earned a reputed £140 million. Sales show no sign of slowing down. And as the book is made into a major film, tipped to star multi-Oscar winner Tom Hanks in the leading role, they will doubtless receive a further boost.
Of course, there are facts, and there are facts. As anyone who has read it will know, The Da Vinci Code itself opens with a page of 'facts' on top of which Brown constructs an elaborate and enthralling detective story that fuses the dynamism of Frederick Forsyth with the intrigue of Umberto Eco. And more than that, The Da Vinci Code raises some very pertinent questions about the nature of fact and fiction, about reason and religion, about faith, about the church, about Christianity and about Christ himself. Indeed, Brown himself claims that "My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history" [1].
A Success Story
Obviously, however, it would be rather naive to attribute the novel's runaway success principally to the significant issues with which it grapples. We should start by admitting that The Da Vinci Code is, first and foremost, a gripping read. Almost without exception, its 105 brief chapters end on cliffhangers - albeit cliffhangers that are sometimes rather contrived. It genuinely is hard to put down. The labyrinthine plot whips along at such pace that it is sometimes hard to believe that so much action could be squeezed into the 24 hours over which the novel takes place. The Da Vinci Code, as Brown's fourth novel, has reinforced his reputation as a master of suspense.
That's not to say the book is without its flaws. The cliffhangers can be very contrived indeed - it's almost as if Brown has challenged himself to finish every chapter with one. The character development is weak and the dialogue frequently laughable. Even the non-controversial aspects of the plot contain elements that are preposterous. At the end of the day, it is an effective trashy airport thriller, but it is not well-written literature.
Yet it keeps on selling. The book's genius lies in the way it incorporates obscure historical, artistic and religious detail into an undemanding story, flattering the reader's intellect. Indeed, some of the story's many puzzles and twists are set at such a level that the reader might just figure them out before the leading characters - a Harvard professor and a police cryptologist. Critics have heaped praise on this aspect of the book, calling it a "gleefully erudite suspense novel,"[2] "Both fascinating and fun" [3] and "brain candy of the highest quality" [4]. In short, it's well worth a read.
Still, that could be said of many thrillers. Brown's first novel to feature the Harvard professor Robert Langdon, Angels and Demons, which explores the tension between Christianity (specifically Roman Catholicism) and science, is arguably a better book, with a more coherent and exciting story. Yet it is The Da Vinci Code that has captured the public imagination and brought Brown to global prominence. Why?
The Truth is out there...
The Da Vinci Code raises questions that, even in our increasingly secular society, ring enough bells to attract widespread attention; questions that are raised by few bestselling novels; questions such as "Is the Bible trustworthy?", "Who was Jesus really?", "Is the church corrupt?" and "What is faith?" The fact that there is a place at the top of the bestseller lists for a book that asks these questions shows that people are still fascinated by religion, by Christianity - even if only to debunk it, which the novel attempts, to some extent, to do.
Moreover, the book assumes, at a fundamental level, that there is a correct answer to these questions - that the truth is out there, and that the truth matters.
Many of the opinions voiced by Brown's characters are pretty much old-school heresies - Jesus wasn't God, he married Mary Magdalene, the church tried to cover all this up to keep their power base, the Bible isn't historically accurate but has been changed and edited numerous times. But Brown's novel charts the search for evidence that will turn opinions into facts, and asks what will happen to the naive faith of millions "if persuasive scientific evidence comes out that the Church's version of the Christ story is inaccurate, and that the greatest story ever told is, in fact, the greatest story ever sold?" [5]
Brown is right about one thing: the historical truth about Christianity is massively important. Christianity is almost unique amongst world religions in that if the historical events of Christ's life, death and resurrection could be falsified, the whole thing would come crumbling down. If you could prove that Jesus never existed, that he never died, that he never rose from the dead, even, then Christianity is blown completely out of the water. As Paul told the Corinthian church, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" [6].
A significant question, therefore, has to be what in this book is true and what is merely fiction.
Fact or Fiction?
There are three different types of "factual information" in The Da Vinci Code: truth, half-truth and untruth. That is, accurately portrayed facts, details loosely based on truth, and completely fictional, fabricated information. And Brown muddies the waters between the three, leaving the reader without clear pointers as to what is actually true. Take this example, when eminent (if eccentric) religious historian Leigh Teabing explains that "almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false. As are the stories about the Holy Grail" [7].
Centuries of church teaching, much of it Biblical, is here placed in the same category as myths and stories. And because most people aren't experts in the field of church history, Brown finds himself on strong ground. The danger of the book lies not in the force of the arguments Brown's characters set forth, but in the fact that the vast majority of readers - even some Christian readers - may be tempted to swallow what they read without giving it a moment's critical thought.
The main issues at stake are - as they have often been throughout the history of church - the authority of the Bible and the divinity of Christ.
On the authority of the Bible, Leigh Teabing, who voices many of the more 'extreme' ideas in the book, seems to confuse Christianity with Islam when he points out that "The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds" [8]. Biblical Christians have never claimed that it did - whilst Muslims do make a similar claim for the Koran. The Bible is fully God's word and yet fully human - and it reflects the circumstances and the emotions of its human authors throughout.
Moreover, The Da Vinci Code attempts to cast doubt on the canon of Scripture, describing the Council of Nicea in 325AD as merely a political power play on the part of the dying Emperor Constantine to selectively compile a Bible that would transpose imagery of pagan deities onto the historical figure of Christ, thereby uniting the Roman Empire under one 'Christian' banner. In actuality, the Council by and large merely confirmed for official canonical inclusion the gospels and letters that were commonly held to be God's word anyway. Yes, dozens of other gospel accounts were rejected (as Brown points out), but for good reason. And dozens of books have been written on the subject, reinforcing the reliability of the Bible we have in front of us today.
And Christians have been talking about Jesus as God ever since he rose from the dead - you don't need a detailed study of the New Testament to reveal that. For example, Paul describes him as "the image of the invisible God" [9] and John says that "the Word," meaning Jesus, "was God" [10].
Contrary to the impression given by The Da Vinci Code, Christians can confidently appeal to history to back up their faith - and can encourage others to do likewise as they investigate the person of Jesus. Regardless of its literary or theological merits, The Da Vinci Code has laudably brought the question of Jesus' identity into the public arena - and the opportunities for discussion that this presents should not be squandered.
Steps of Faith
The Da Vinci Code envisages the church - specifically the Roman Catholic church - as a corrupt (if sincere) organisation trying to keep its followers in the dark in order to maintain its own power base. This is contrasted with the 'enlightened' ancient pagan religions, whose emphasis on the sacred feminine receives admiration from many of the novel's characters. Whilst the church has at times been overly patriarchal in its history, to go so far (as Brown does) as to assign the moral high ground to a sex rite seems ludicrous. As Brown asserts the value of the sacred feminine, he ends up taking the shocking position of glamorising what is essentially temple prostitution - something that surely demeans rather than elevates women...
Whilst the most direct criticism in the book seems to be directed at Christianity (in particular Roman Catholicism), there are passages which take a pop at all religions. As Robert Langdon (our hero) explains to Sophie Neveu (our heroine) [11]:
"Sophie, every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we can imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory and exaggeration [...] Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical"
It is here that the novel is at its most relativist. Compare that with the Bible's definition of faith: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" [12]. It is not about wishful thinking or metaphor for the sake of self-help. It is about having confidence in a reality you do not yet see.
The point of Christianity is not that it helps people to live better lives - the main (and possibly only) benefit as far as Brown's characters are concerned. The point of Christianity is that it enables people to find true life - eternal life, which means knowing God through Jesus. The journey of faith is important, but it's the destination that really matters. The desire for personal spirituality is fully satisfied only by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A journey that does not include him is both a waste of time and ultimately an eternal dead end.
When Robert Langdon finally arrives at his destination, the resting-place of the Holy Grail, it comes as something of an anticlimax. After the thrill of the chase and the anticipation of a revelation of the truth, the hero ends up worshipping at the burial site of some dead woman's bones. So much effort, so much trauma, and for what? The search has certainly been an enjoyable roller coaster but it is, finally, unsatisfying.
There's a brilliant opportunity here for comparison with Christianity - it's not a pilgrimage to a burial site, but a relationship with a living God. Not a tortuous struggle to uncover the truth, but a plainly and publicly presented account of a man who claimed to be that God. Not a mystical and unobtainable 'Holy Grail' that will ultimately never satisfy, but a real and personal saviour who has opened heaven's doors to welcome his followers in to real life. Fact.
References
- www.danbrown.com
- Janet Maslin, New York Times
- Washington Post
- Chicago Tribune
- Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p.356
- 1 Corinthians 15:16, English Standard Version (ESV)
- Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p.318
- Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p.312
- Colossians 1:15, ESV
- John 1:1, ESV