ReligionLink

The film adaptation of the astonishingly popular novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, which has been on best-seller lists since it was published in early 2003, opens in theaters May 19. The film brings renewed scrutiny of the book’s unorthodox view of Christian history and another round of debate about Hollywood’s handling of faith. With more than 40 million books in print, this thriller novel asserts that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child and that the Roman Catholic Church’s Opus Dei organization will murder people in order to keep this secret. The book drew critical praise, millions of readers in 44 languages, more than two dozen books about issues raised by the novel, and inevitable adaptations: a movie and a video game. The film from Sony Pictures is directed by Ron Howard and includes an international cast headed by Tom Hanks.

Why it matters

The Da Vinci Code hit a theological and marketing nerve in the culture. However much the movie incorporates controversial material from the novel, it is shaping up as a blockbuster. Pop culture - through books, movies, television and theater - has shown great power to inspire interest and debate about religion. The resulting discussions have left people curious about religious history and Scripture and have drawn scholars into efforts to explain, debunk, argue and clarify what is authoritative. Why has a thriller novel sold millions and inspired a shelf of books debunking it, as well as commentary from so many religious leaders? What happens when America’s Dream Factory - Hollywood, with vast reach and resources - weighs in on such a contentious issue?

Issues to explore

• Sony Pictures is attempting to pre-empt potential religious critics of the film by giving them a public square. The web site The Da Vinci Dialogue includes essays written by an A-list of Christian scholars, pastors and educators about the issues raised by Da Vinci and a forum for discussion. After Mel Gibson’s box-office success with, and the controversy over, The Passion of the Christ, what does this say about Hollywood’s relationship with its religious critics?
• Some Christian groups are using anticipated interest in the Da Vinci film to evangelize. Tyndale House Publishers, for example, is organizing a “DaVinci didn’t convince me” marketing campaign that includes materials for churches. Dallas-based Josh McDowell Ministry has organized a Beyond Belief campaign that includes “DaVinci packs” for education. Yet other religious figures have drawn the line, saying they don’t want to help Hollywood make money off heresy. Catholic author and blogger Amy Welborn said you don’t need to read the book or see the movie to criticize what it says about Catholicism and Jesus. What do religious leaders and people of faith in your community think? Are they organizing anything around the film? Contact Tyndale, 630-784-5275; Beyond Belief, 330-328-5484; Welborn, amywelborn@yahoo.com.
• The Da Vinci Code explores ideas about the “sacred feminine” and gives the figure of Mary Magdalene significance for Christians. Author Brown asserts that “women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power.” To what extent does the film raise questions about women and religion?
• Dan Brown said of books written to debunk his novel: “The dialogue is wonderful.” What do your local religious leaders and people of faith think about the use of novels and films to provoke debate about theological issues?

Questions for reporters

• Are people who read the book going to see the movie?
• Whenever a popular book is adapted for a film, the question invariably arises: Is the book or movie better? What do Da Vinci fans think?
• Since the novel was controversial among some people of faith, what do local religious educators and clergy say about the movie?
• What do religious leaders of different traditions say about how pop culture can engage people in theological questions or influence their beliefs?
• Some critics have called the book misleading because it purports on an introductory page to be based on facts and research, though the book is labeled a novel and clearly includes some interpretations that are not fact. What do those who have read or seen Da Vinci think about how much a work of fiction or a movie can draw on history without clarifying which is which?
 

Background

• Read a Feb. 7, 2006, New York Times article about the Catholic organization Opus Dei, portrayed as villainous in the novel, mounting a public awareness campaign to counter any potential negative portrayal in the film.
• A Jan. 28, 2006, Orlando Sentinel article says that some Christians are viewing the film as an opportunity to evangelize. It’s posted by the Washington Post.
• The New York Times reported Aug. 6, 2005, that Sony Pictures asked those associated with the Da Vinci film to sign confidentiality agreements.
• Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown’s web site includes book reviews and articles about the book.
• Stories in Newsweek’s Dec. 8, 2003, issue explore new scholarship on the role of women in Scripture and discuss what is fact and what is fiction in The Da Vinci Code.
• Scholars of early Christian history have been revising their understanding of the role of Mary Magdalene as a follower of Jesus and agree that she was not a prostitute but a disciple. There remains disagreement about her importance in early Christianity. Beliefnet’s package of stories summarizes contrasting views expressed by scholars Ben Witherington III and Karen King.
• Read the text of the Gospel of Mary, posted by the Gnostic Society Library.
• The evangelical magazine Christianity Today has compiled a number of articles it has run that are critical of The Da Vinci Code’s portrayal of early Christianity.
• The faith-oriented online book club faithfulreader.com interviews authors who have written books about The Da Vinci Code and reviews their books.
 

National sources

GNOSTICISM / MARY MAGDALENE / EARLY CHRISTIAN HISTORY

• Elaine Pagels is the author of the best-selling Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Random House, 2003) and a professor of religion at Princeton University. She has written a number of well-received books on gnosticism, an early Christian movement considered heretical, and early Christianity. Contact 609-258-4484, epagels@Princeton.edu.
• Karen L. King is the author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle (Polebridge Press, 2003). A scholar of gnosticism, the body of nonorthodox early Christian teachings, and a professor of ecclesiastical history, she appeared on a Nov. 3, 2003, ABC television special exploring the claims of the novel about Jesus and Mary Magdalene. King is on leave for the spring 2006 semester but can be reached through assistant Catherine Lill, 617-495-4265.
• Bart D. Ehrman wrote Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code : A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine (Oxford University Press, 2004) and teaches religious studies at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Contact 919-962-3940.
• Author Brown explicitly acknowledges in his novel his use of Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln (Dell, 1983), which theorizes that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child. Baigent has a new book, The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006). Contact Baigent through his book publicist, Claudia Boutote, 415-477-4400.
• Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code , edited by Connecticut-based journalist Daniel Burstein, compiles research on topics in Brown’s novel, made best-seller lists and has been translated into more than 20 languages. Contact Burstein through Lottchen Shivers 845-876-8791, lottchen@earthlink.net.
• The Da Vinci Code refers to The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince (Touchstone, 1998 first edition), which was reissued in 2004, as a result of interest in Brown’s book. The British co-authors specialize in the occult and historical mysteries. Contact through Jamie McDonald, 212-698-7250.

CATHOLICS

• The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is sponsoring a multimedia campaign to counter “claims that appear in current popular media” about the life of Jesus and early Christianity. The Catholic Communication Campaign has developed a web site, a documentary for NBC-TV stations for broadcast the weekend of May 20, to coincide with the movie’s opening weekend, and a 16-page booklet on “The Authentic Jesus.”
• Some Catholics were angry about the portrayal of Catholicism in the book, finding it prejudiced. Linked to the novel’s villains, the organization Opus Dei rebuts at length the book’s characterization of the group and offers speakers about the organization. Contact Opus Dei U.S. spokesman Brian Finnerty in New York, 646-742-2781, press@opusdei.org.
• Theologian Richard McBrien of University of Notre Dame consulted with Sony Pictures on the movie’s script. Contact 574-631-5151, rmcbrien@nd.edu.
• Amy Welborn wrote De-coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code (Our Sunday Visitor, 2004), a Catholic response to the novel, and De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend and Lies (Our Sunday Visitor, 2006). Contact amywelborn@yahoo.com.
• The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code by Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel received attention as a Catholic debunking. Contact through Christine Valentine-Owsik, 215-230-8095, valencom@aol.com.
• The Rev. John Wauck is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei living in Rome, where he teaches literature and the Christian faith at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He blogs about the novel. Contact jpw@davincicode-opusdei.com.
• Read a Catholic Answers Special Report.
• Three Catholic organizations have created Da Vinci Outreach, a web site that promotes the book The Da Vinci Deception, described as an antidote to the “spiritual poison” of The Da Vinci Code. Members include Ascension Press, Catholic Exchange and Catholic Outreach.

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS

• Darrell L. Bock, professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote Breaking the DaVinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone’s Asking (Thomas Nelson, 2004), examining the historical issues the book raises. The book has sold 180,000 copies. Contact Bock, 469-767-8340, dbockdts@aol.com.
• Ben Witherington III, a professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., who has written extensively about early Christianity and the historical Jesus, is author of The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Da Vinci (InterVarsity Press, 2004). He says that in a culture that is biblically illiterate, almost anything can pass itself off as historical information. Contact 859-858-2329, ben_witherington@asburyseminary.edu.
• James Garlow is pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, Calif., and a co-author of Cracking Da Vinci’s Code: You’ve Read the Fiction, Now Read the Facts (Victor Books, 2004), which has sold 300,000 copies. Peter Jones, adjunct professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, Calif., the other author, has a new book, Stolen Identity: The Conspiracy to Reinvent Jesus (Victor, 2006). The publisher is issuing a youth edition of Cracking Da Vinci’s Code in May. Contact Garlow, 619-660-5000; Jones, 760-480-8474, pjones@wscal.edu.
• The Da Vinci Deception Experience is a new DVD from evangelical publisher Tyndale House based on the earlier book The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin Lutzer (Tyndale, 2004). Tyndale also is repackaging The Da Vinci Code : Fact or Fiction? by Hank Hanegraaff and Paul Maier. Contact the authors through Tyndale, 630-784-5275, mavissanders@tyndale.com.

FAITH, FILM, MARKETING

• Barbara Nicolosi is executive director of Act One, a firm that works with Christians in Hollywood. She was approached about the Da Vinci film. Contact 323-464-0815, barbara@actoneprogram.com.
• The Studio City, Calif. consulting firm Grace Hill Media worked with Sony Pictures in developing the film and Sony’s Da Vinci web site. Grace Hill has worked on the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia movies, among others. Founder and president is Jonathan Bock, 818-762-0000.
• See a 2004 ReligionLink tip on marketing and faith for more interview sources.

INTERNATIONAL SOURCES

• Robin Griffith-Jones is the author of The Da Vinci Code and the Secrets of the Temple (Canterbury Press, 2006), a New Testament scholar and Master of the Temple Church, the medieval headquarters of the Knights of the Templar. He gives Da Vinci Code-based tours of the church. Contact master@templechurch.com.
• New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, Anglican bishop of Durham, England, lectured at Seattle Pacific University in May 2005 on “Decoding The Da Vinci Code.” He says Brown’s book propagates a “myth of Christian origins” that he calls a postmodern fantasy. Contact Bishops.Office@durham.anglican.org.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Catherine Clark Kroeger teaches at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, specializing in women, sexuality and the Bible. She is familiar with the novel and is teaching a course on gnosticism. Contact 508-896-1963, ckroeger@world.std.com.
• Franco Mormando chairs the department of Romance languages and literature at Boston College and has a master’s in divinity and church history and a doctorate in Italian literature. Art history is one of his specialties, and he has written about the historical use of Mary Magdalene’s image. He says there is much in church history omitted from the official record. Contact 617-552-6346, mormando@bc.edu.
• Ross S. Kraemer teaches religious studies at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and specializes in women’s religions in antiquity. Contact 401-863-3104 (department).
• Mark S. Burrows teaches the history of Christianity at Andover Newton Theological School near Boston and wrote “Gospel Fantasy: Dismantling The DaVinci Code” in the June 1, 2004, Christian Century magazine. He says the novel is based on “manifestly bad history.” Contact 617-964-1100 ext. 235, mburrows@ants.edu.

IN THE EAST

• Katherine L. Jansen teaches history at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. A specialist in Mary Magdalene, her publications include The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Late Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2001). She says Brown has created interest in early Christianity. Contact 202-319-5484, jansen@cua.edu.
• Deirdre Good teaches at General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York. She has written about early writing outside the accepted body of Christian texts. Contact 212-243-5150, good@gts.edu.
• James H. Charlesworth is a professor of New Testament language and literature at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written extensively about early Christian texts. Contact 609-497-7920, james.charlesworth@ptsem.edu.
• Philip Jenkins is a professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University and the author of The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Hidden Gospels: How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way (Oxford University Press, 2002). He says the book is popular because it reflects a suspicion of traditional authority and orthodoxy. Contact 814-863-8946, jpj1@psu.edu.
• Anne McGuire teaches religion at Haverford College. She specializes in research on the Nag Hammadi ancient Christian texts and has taught courses on gnosticism, women in early Christianity and Mary Magdalene. Contact 610-896-1028, amcguire@haverford.edu.
• Diane Apostolos-Cappadona is a professor of religious art and cultural history at Georgetown University who curated the exhibit “In Search of Mary Magdalene: Images and Traditions.” She has been interviewed about The Da Vinci Code for a documentary and has written about it on Beliefnet. Contact 202-687-0289, apostold@georgetown.edu.
 

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Leo Sandon is professor emeritus of religion and American studies at Florida State University and is a co-author of Religion in America (Prentice Hall, 1982). He says that the novel, which mixes fact and legend, allows readers to participate in debate about religious history. Contact lsandon@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.
• Teresa Berger teaches ecumenical theology at the Divinity School of Duke University, Durham, N.C. She is a Catholic interested in feminist theology and women’s role in Christianity. Contact 919-660-3464, tberger@div.duke.edu.
• H. Gregory Snyder is an assistant professor of religion, specializing in early Christianity, at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C. He says that the book has serious historical difficulties and that Brown’s claim of accuracy invites challenge from anyone who cares about truth. Contact 704-894-2260, grsnyder@davidson.edu.
• Greg Jones is rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Raleigh, N.C., and author of Beyond Da Vinci (Seabury Books, 2004), a response the theological andhistorical inaccuracies he sees in Dan Brown’s book. Contact 919-782-0731, holyrector@yahoo.com.
 

IN THE SOUTH

• Hundreds of people showed up for discussions in 2003 of The Da Vinci Code at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Memphis. Church Rector John Sewel says that people’s interest in the book means they are asking what to believe. Contact 901-323-8597, jsewell@stjohnsmemphis.org.
• R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said in a review in the weblog section of crosswalk.com that the book was engaging but heretical. Contact 502-897-4121, mohler@sbts.edu.
• Amy-Jill Levine is a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville who concentrates on early Christianity and questions of gender. She says The DaVinci Code is fiction and that is how it should be viewed, that Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene or anyone and was most likely celibate. Contact 615-343-3967, amy-jill.levine@vanderbilt.edu.
 

IN THE MIDWEST

• Joseph F. Kelly is chairman of the department of religious studies at John Carroll University in the Cleveland area. He has lectured to groups about the book and its claims. He says the book is a work of fiction that has been effective in raising interest in early Christianity, that it rightfully points to the significant role played by women at the time, and that the earliest existing sources of information about Mary Magdalene contain no information about marriage or children. Contact 216-397-4713, kelly@jcu.edu.
• Charles W. Hedrick is an emeritus professor of religious studies at Southwest Missouri State University and has written extensively on early Christianity and ancient texts. His books include When History and Faith Collide: Studying Jesus (Hendrickson Publishers, 1999). He has read The Da Vinci Code. Contact charles@charleshedrick.com.
• Wes Bergen teaches religion at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan., is the religion chairman for the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association and is also a pastor. He is familiar with Da Vinci. Contact 316-283-0369, wesley.bergen@wichita.edu.
• Margaret M. Mitchell teaches New Testament at the University of Chicago Divinity School. In the Sept. 24, 2003, web-based column Sightings, she called the novel a “good airplane book” that contains historical accuracies as well as falsehoods and misleading statements. Contact 773-702-8236, mmmitche@midway.uchicago.edu.
• Pamela Thimmes is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton. She has written about trends in research on Mary Magdalene. Contact 937-229-4650, Pamela.Thimmes@notes.udayton.edu.
• Mary Rose D’Angelo teaches theology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. She has written extensively about early Christianity and women in Scripture and specifically about Mary Magdalene’s identity. Contact 574-631-7040, DAngelo.2@nd.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• John Martin is a professor of history at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and the representative for church history for the Renaissance Society of America. He has said the book is entertaining but not historical. Contact 210-999-7624, jmartin@trinity.edu.
• Roy Heller is a professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He has spoken at Dallas churches about the novel. He says the religion elements are an interesting sidelight of the plot and its history a mix of accurate and inaccurate. Contact 214-768-2096, rheller@mail.smu.edu.
• Laura Hobgood-Oster teaches religion and philosophy at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She has written about Mary Magdalene and gnosticism and esoteric Christianity. She says Dan Brown’s speculation makes for good fiction and Magdalene’s significance has been underestimated, but no documentary evidence supports the idea Jesus and Mary were married. Contact 512-863-1669, hoboster@southwestern.edu.
• Dennis E. Smith teaches New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., and is a fellow of the Westar Institute, which studies Jesus and early Christianity. Contact 918-610-8303, dennis.smith@ptstulsa.edu.
• Susan J. White is the Alberta H. and Harold L. Lunger Professor of Spiritual Resources and Disciplines at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She is also author of A History of Women in Christian Worship (Pilgrim Press, 2003). Contact 817-257-7599, S.J.White@tcu.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Margaret Starbird has written extensively about Mary Magdalene and the sacred feminine, including The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail (Bear & Co., 1993), which is selling as a result of interest prompted by The Da Vinci Code. She lives in the Seattle area. Contact starbird@wa.net.
• Marvin Meyer teaches religious studies and is director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. He has written extensively on early Christianity and ancient texts and practices, most recently The Gospels of Mary: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the Companion of Jesus (HarperSanFrancisco, 2004). He plans to see the film and says that interest in Da Vinci means that people are hungry for a new way of seeing tradition and that “we all like a conspiracy theory.” Contact 714-997-6602, meyer@chapman.edu.
• Michael Allen Williams, an adjunct religions professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, has written on gnosticism, ancient texts and religious secrecy. Contact maw@u.washington.edu.
• James M. Robinson is the former director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the school of religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif., and a professor emeritus at the school. He is the general editor of The Nag Hammadi Library in English (Harper SanFrancisco, 1990), a compilation of ancient texts that includes The Gospel of Mary. Contact james.robinson@cgu.edu.
• Karen Torjesen teaches the early history of Christianity and women and early Christianity and is dean at the school of religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif. Contact 909-607-9592, karen.torjesen@cgu.edu.