I read The DaVinci Code a couple years ago and thought it was a fun read. Brown's book, like most fun conspiracy theory books, plays fast and loose with facts and requires the reader to play along a bit. Enjoying a good conspiracy mystery isn't all that different from enjoying an illusionist do "magic." You've got to remember that part of the fun is the deception. It's a NOVEL, people!I guess we shouldn't be surprised when readers get confused about this since even the author (judging from some of the things he has said on his website) seems to be confused about it too. Maybe so many people taking a fictional mystery novel too seriously has Brown taking himself too seriously. Trying to gain insight about church history or theology from The DaVinci Code is like trying to learn American civics from a John Grisham novel. It's would be like White House officials learning how to do their jobs by watching West Wing. Wait -- I guess that probably does happen. Okay, so lot's of people are mixed up. Anyway....
The divinity of Jesus isn't something Christians invented or schemed up over centuries. It's not something the apostle Paul invented either. The divinity of Jesus is central to his own claims about himself. Just read the last five chapters of Matthew and you'll see it for yourself. Read the opening sentence of Mark, the earliest of the gospels, and you'll see the deity of Jesus Christ as plain as day. Read the first fourteen verses of the Gospel of John, and you'll see Jesus, the Word, God made flesh, living among us full of grace and truth.
Here are a couple interesting recent articles I've come across lately that relate to all the DaVinci Code buzz:
So Who Is Dan Brown? (Terry Mattingly, On Religion)
Breaking the DaVinci Code (Collin Hansen, Christian History Newsletter)
